Backdrops

[Anonymous]

You can give Webshots a try (just type webshots on any search engne). That's where I ffind almost all the pics I need for special occasions or projects.... there are millions of them. Just put key words (Skyline, city, buildings) in the search engines and you have a choice of dozens. When you find the one you like, save them on a disk or print them and go to your local photoshop to have copies of them in the size you want.

Oh, I'm back to model railroading in HO... after an absence of 30 years. It sure has changed....

[Anonymous]

You can give Webshots a try (just type webshots on any search engne). That's where I ffind almost all the pics I need for special occasions or projects.... there are millions of them. Just put key words (Skyline, city, buildings) in the search engines and you have a choice of dozens. When you find the one you like, save them on a disk or print them and go to your local photoshop to have copies of them in the size you want.

Oh, I'm back to model railroading in HO... after an absence of 30 years. It sure has changed....

[Anonymous]

You can give Webshots a try (just type webshots on any search engne). That's where I ffind almost all the pics I need for special occasions or projects.... there are millions of them. Just put key words (Skyline, city, buildings) in the search engines and you have a choice of dozens. When you find the one you like, save them on a disk or print them and go to your local photoshop to have copies of them in the size you want.

Oh, I'm back to model railroading in HO... after an absence of 30 years. It sure has changed....

[Anonymous]

You can give Webshots a try (just type webshots on any search engne). That's where I ffind almost all the pics I need for special occasions or projects.... there are millions of them. Just put key words (Skyline, city, buildings) in the search engines and you have a choice of dozens. When you find the one you like, save them on a disk or print them and go to your local photoshop to have copies of them in the size you want.

Oh, I'm back to model railroading in HO... after an absence of 30 years. It sure has changed....

[Anonymous]

"Is there a rule of thumb about how far back to go, or will I just have to rely on eyesight and experimentation?" Yes to part two. You can also try building "flats" in a smaller scale to give an illusion of distance. Put lichen trees in a "wall" between backdrops and track. Backdrops are really an art and there are no set answers or flowtrees to follow. If it looks right to you it's right. Also, occasionally bend over and step on a box to get the height prespectives of other people. I still find missed spots doing this. .

[Anonymous]

"Is there a rule of thumb about how far back to go, or will I just have to rely on eyesight and experimentation?" Yes to part two. You can also try building "flats" in a smaller scale to give an illusion of distance. Put lichen trees in a "wall" between backdrops and track. Backdrops are really an art and there are no set answers or flowtrees to follow. If it looks right to you it's right. Also, occasionally bend over and step on a box to get the height prespectives of other people. I still find missed spots doing this. .

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased some scale backdrops from Realistic which I found in Internet Trains. The pictures are very good but since my track runs along and very close to the back edge, I need to have the back drop far enough away from the back edge of the layout to gain the right perspective. I have planned to add on to back of the layout to add other scenery. Is there a rule of thumb about how far back to go, or will I just have to rely on eyesight and experimentation?

Thanks,
Roger

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased some scale backdrops from Realistic which I found in Internet Trains. The pictures are very good but since my track runs along and very close to the back edge, I need to have the back drop far enough away from the back edge of the layout to gain the right perspective. I have planned to add on to back of the layout to add other scenery. Is there a rule of thumb about how far back to go, or will I just have to rely on eyesight and experimentation?

Thanks,
Roger

[Anonymous]

I went to a GATS show, sometime ago, at Pomona Fairplex, in California. There was a person there, that can take your photo's, blow them up, and make backdrops for your layout. Contact GATS for this person. I have his card here somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I went to a GATS show, sometime ago, at Pomona Fairplex, in California. There was a person there, that can take your photo's, blow them up, and make backdrops for your layout. Contact GATS for this person. I have his card here somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I like low resolution pics printed on card stock as it gives the appearance of distance, haze, and is cheap. There are high resolution pictures on the internet, but you have to pay for them. Just search landscape pictures, city pictures, and stock pictures in Yahoo.

[Anonymous]

I like low resolution pics printed on card stock as it gives the appearance of distance, haze, and is cheap. There are high resolution pictures on the internet, but you have to pay for them. Just search landscape pictures, city pictures, and stock pictures in Yahoo.

[Anonymous]

I believe all of the computer modeling software contains various samples of backdrops, including city and urban stuff. You might visit some of their websites and get into the demos to see what you can find.

[Anonymous]

I believe all of the computer modeling software contains various samples of backdrops, including city and urban stuff. You might visit some of their websites and get into the demos to see what you can find.

[Anonymous]

To get the perspective correct on buildings over about 2 stories requires use of a Perspective Control lens. This means you're going to need to use a Digital SLR to shoot, and even that's problematic, as PC lenses rarely work with the digital bodies, even if they mate. IIRC only Nikon PC lenses will mate with any Digital SLR's, Nikon, Kodak and Fuji DSLR's to be exact, and the only DSLR's that will meter with Manual focus lenses like all PC lenses, are the F4 and F5 based 3MP Kodaks from a few years ago, which are still extremely expensive, as they were upwards of $6000 new. And PC lenses aren't cheap to start off.

So, this is a non-trivial exercise.

[Anonymous]

To get the perspective correct on buildings over about 2 stories requires use of a Perspective Control lens. This means you're going to need to use a Digital SLR to shoot, and even that's problematic, as PC lenses rarely work with the digital bodies, even if they mate. IIRC only Nikon PC lenses will mate with any Digital SLR's, Nikon, Kodak and Fuji DSLR's to be exact, and the only DSLR's that will meter with Manual focus lenses like all PC lenses, are the F4 and F5 based 3MP Kodaks from a few years ago, which are still extremely expensive, as they were upwards of $6000 new. And PC lenses aren't cheap to start off.

So, this is a non-trivial exercise.

[Anonymous]

One thing to consider is how far away the backdrop will be from the viewer (the further away, the less detail needed). For what ndbprr indicated, a switching layout, I'm thinking that the backdrop might only be a couple of feet or less away and so any photos used on the backdrop will need to be pretty clear and of high resolution.

On the other hand. if the backdrop is to be viewed from several feet away, you might even want to blur the image a little bit, to give the illusion of seeing the building a the haze or whatever.

[Anonymous]

One thing to consider is how far away the backdrop will be from the viewer (the further away, the less detail needed). For what ndbprr indicated, a switching layout, I'm thinking that the backdrop might only be a couple of feet or less away and so any photos used on the backdrop will need to be pretty clear and of high resolution.

On the other hand. if the backdrop is to be viewed from several feet away, you might even want to blur the image a little bit, to give the illusion of seeing the building a the haze or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I am going to try to use pictures that I took myself in the general area I'm modeling and have them blown up commercially so I can attach them in front of my sky backdrop.
J Hunter

[Anonymous]

I am going to try to use pictures that I took myself in the general area I'm modeling and have them blown up commercially so I can attach them in front of my sky backdrop.
J Hunter

[ndbprr]

The problem with scanning magazine pictures is the scale correction. The printing gets fuzzy if enlarged and there really isn't any way around that as the scanner can't really improve the quality of what it sees. There are some pictures I have found but in general it takes at least 2.7 megapixels to equal film quality at 4"x6". It takes 4.0 megapixels or higher to enlarge even digital pictures. I will probably have to go take some of my own but getting good clear perspectives at a 90 degree angle to a building is difficult and there aren't that many that are candidates. Printing a high quality photo with one of the new photoprinters after reworking seems like a way to control costs. I was just curious if anyone knew of someone who was collecting pictures like that for modeling purposes and it would appear I am pushing the envelope. What my original thought was is to put building pictures between the low relief background buildings that range from 1" to 4" apart to give the appearance of more cityscape. I thought photoquality printing on glossy paper would give the most realistic representation (after it was dullcoated). I will probably just have to experiment some. I just didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

[ndbprr]

The problem with scanning magazine pictures is the scale correction. The printing gets fuzzy if enlarged and there really isn't any way around that as the scanner can't really improve the quality of what it sees. There are some pictures I have found but in general it takes at least 2.7 megapixels to equal film quality at 4"x6". It takes 4.0 megapixels or higher to enlarge even digital pictures. I will probably have to go take some of my own but getting good clear perspectives at a 90 degree angle to a building is difficult and there aren't that many that are candidates. Printing a high quality photo with one of the new photoprinters after reworking seems like a way to control costs. I was just curious if anyone knew of someone who was collecting pictures like that for modeling purposes and it would appear I am pushing the envelope. What my original thought was is to put building pictures between the low relief background buildings that range from 1" to 4" apart to give the appearance of more cityscape. I thought photoquality printing on glossy paper would give the most realistic representation (after it was dullcoated). I will probably just have to experiment some. I just didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

[Anonymous]

what if you scan the magazine pics into your scanner and print it out thru your puter??

[Anonymous]

what if you scan the magazine pics into your scanner and print it out thru your puter??

[ndbprr]

That is the ultimate goal. Magazine pictures are not a high enough quality when compared to digital pictures of 3.1 megapixels or higher that can be blown up to 12"x20" with no loss of clarity. I just need a source of digital pictures.

[ndbprr]

That is the ultimate goal. Magazine pictures are not a high enough quality when compared to digital pictures of 3.1 megapixels or higher that can be blown up to 12"x20" with no loss of clarity. I just need a source of digital pictures.

[steamage]

Finding buildings that don't have a telephone pole or shadows across a wall is really hard to do. Being as your using a computer to print out a picture of a building then why not use an Adobe Photoshop program that will allow you to remove unwanted details or shadows and will even allow you to cut and paste your building together. Works for me.

[steamage]

Finding buildings that don't have a telephone pole or shadows across a wall is really hard to do. Being as your using a computer to print out a picture of a building then why not use an Adobe Photoshop program that will allow you to remove unwanted details or shadows and will even allow you to cut and paste your building together. Works for me.

[nfmisso]

An EARLY sunday morning field trip, camera in hand, would be worthwhile.