How would you make a backdrop that looks like this?
The back edge of the layout is about where the guardrail for the road is. Fortunately, the guardrail will be just above eye level so it will make a good divider between the scenery and the backdrop. Clearance above is 14" so there will be no sky on the backdrop.
Anybody done something like this? I'll need a lot of it and some sections will be as long as 15' so photo based options could get pricey.
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One of the classic ways of handling this is using multiple stacked thin (masonite or similar) cutouts representing the different ridgelines. These may be painted in progressively faded tones to suggest distance. The closest layer might be covered with scenic material, the ones further back would be paint.
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I think the brighter green ridgeline looks like a photoshopped pic imposed on the hazier ridgeline. The whole scene looks computer altered to me.
Back to the question.
Since the farther ridgeline is always hazier and less defined, you might get away with simply painting it on the backdrop and using real photographs for the more detailed front ridgline. At least it would cut down the cost by half.
- Douglas
I used narrow and wide sections of photo backdrop on mine.
carl425Anybody done something like this? I'll need a lot of it and some sections will be as long as 15' so photo based options could get pricey.
I have used some of these "Realistic Backgrounds" photo backgrounds. You are right about cost but I just have them in a few select areas. Some I bought at a train show at a closeout price. Fifteen feet will run 'ya about $50 at MB Klein's price.
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Scenic-Backgrounds-s/1346.htm
Some are a little too glossy and I oversprayed them with Krylon Matte finish. My layout room walls are covered in a gray fabric material and these backgrounds are stuck in place with a few tabs of Velcro I put on the back.
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullmanI have used some of these "Realistic Backgrounds" photo backgrounds. You are right about cost but I just have them in a few select areas. Some I bought at a train show at a closeout price. Fifteen feet will run 'ya about $50 at MB Klein's price.
If I could find what I need, I'd gladly pay $50 for 15 feet. I've seen some photo based stuff they offer printed to a custom size that would be great, but it's about $25/square foot.
DoughlessI think the brighter green ridgeline looks like a photoshopped pic imposed on the hazier ridgeline. The whole scene looks computer altered to me.
You don't have kudzu in Indiana?
Good answer, Carl. My wife and I were totally amazed at the kudzu, on the many trips we made to NC., while taking various routes, to visit our son, when he was active duty AF, on Pope.
I don't remember seeing any on our way through Indiana.
You can look at all my back drop pics in Photoshop, by going to my pages, listed below. Everything is hand painted, on drywall. The city scenes are from BackDrop Wharehouse, cut-up segments, layered with 1/8" masonite, with hand painted trees in between.
I guess if it was my layout, I'd try hand painting first.
Mike.
My You Tube
Carl, not yet, but we are moving to Georgia soon so I will have my fill of it.
BTW, I didn't mean to slight the photo by saying it looked photoshopped. When you mentioned the cost of photo backdrops, I was also thinking of how possibly to make your own photo backdrop.
Take a hazy picture of a distant hilltop, then a separate but closer picture of a hillside. Then print, cut, and paste the closer pic onto the print of distant pic and you would have something like what you showed above. I'm not sure how easy it would be to make 15 feet of it though.
The separation of the treeline in the foreground from the distant hill is very crisp, almost 3D-like, as if one pic was imposed onto the other.
DoughlessI didn't mean to slight the photo by saying it looked photoshopped.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you did. It's not my photo anyway. Kudsu can look almost surreal to someone that's not used to it. It actually presents a problem to me making my own photo backdrops since I'm modeling 1975 which was before the kudsu took over.
I'm not far from the Blue Ridge Parkway. There's surely some spots there where I could get some usable photos. You got me googling. I found a place that will print a 12 x 156 panorama for $24.75. Based on the price of Photoshop, I have Photoshop Essentials. I'll have to dig into it and see if it will stitch photos together to make a panorama.
DoughlessThe separation of the treeline in the foreground from the distant hill is very crisp, almost 3D-like, as if one pic was imposed onto the other.
It is an interesting photo. I've been to the spot. It really does look like that.
Yeah, that's just a second ridgeline filtered through atmospheric haze. Almost every summer picture I've taken in the VA-MD-WV-PA mountains looks like that.
What a brillant idea of using a photo! Looking at it more closely enables me to conclude that replicating reality isn't too hard. What I did was use a small amount of light blue paint added with a roller. Just go in a wave fashion along the masonite backdrop; you can do likewise for the green hills.
I read that someone got two different shades of green to create backdrop trees. He squeezed a vertical line of the differnt shades next to each other. He then put a foam brush between the green. By not blending the two shades, you create a very visually appealing tree line. I did that on my layout and really like the results. Making different types of elevation further creates depth.
Hope this helps!