Modeling with Real Photos in Background

[mondotrains]

Hi Guys,
There was an article in Model Railroading some time ago about using real photos to "fill in" areas between 3-dimensional buildings and act as a backdrop. Well, last labor day I went to downtown Hartford, Connecticut and photographed numerous buildings (being a holiday, there were fewer people and less traffic). I used my digital camera and went to Wal-Mart and used their Kiosk to print the pictures. The good thing about Wal-Mart is that they print on matte, rather than glossy paper. I then used a glue stick to mount the photos on foam board and then used a sharp X-acto blade to cut out the buildings.
If you look at my first picture, the pictures of 4 brick buildings in the center forground are ones I took. What's neat about taking your own photographs for backdrops is that you can include some familiar structures. For instance, the 6-family brick building just by the front of the blue truck is where my uncle Quido and my aunt Ann lived back in the 1950's. Yes, I really did have an uncle named Quido but he didn't know Tony Soprano. He had "other" connections.

The building in the upper right of the photo, just above the GP-9, is the Aetna Insurance Company, where I spent 22 years of my career in Information Technology. I took that photo standing in front of the Hartford Armory.

As you can see, having shot the photos from various angles gives the scene the illusion of depth. In fact, it is only around 5" from the outer mainline track to the very back of the sky backdrop.


In the second photo, the photos in the background are of the Stanley Works in New Britian, Connecticut, including the catwalk that connects two of the structures. The depth of my layout here, from the front edge of the street to the sky backdrop is only 10", yet the buildings look to be farther away. I think the illusion is much better than just using building flats which I had done in the past like so many other modelers.



In the last photo below, you can see Holo-Krome, a company that helped me earn my college degree by hiring me to work summers and part-time during the college year. Not only does this picture bring back memories, but it enhances the industrial look of this scene, with the 3-dimensional factory in the foreground and Holo-Krome in the background. Again, this helps create the illusion of depth.

I have to tell you that while the 8" by 10" photos can be costly at $2.50 each, they add a lot of fun to my layout because of the familiarity of the sturctures. When people come over, they recognize a lot of the background "buildings". Fun is what it's all about and the photos were fun to shoot and fun to install.

Hope you enjoy the photos.
Mondo

[Anonymous]

I c an't access your pictures. Take out a free account at www.trainboard.com and you can post your pics directly into your post, like you see others do. Railimages is the name of the forum at trainboard.

I am a big fan of using real pictures. To me most of the backdrops I see look like they were painted by some one who didn't major in art, if you know what I mean. I think the background is very critical to establishing believabilitgy, era, atmosphere, and visual references to a layout. Can you imagine watching movies on the big screen with backdrops done by some of the guys I have seen. For some reason, a guy will spend tens of thousands of dollars over the years acquiring rolling stock, engines, and structures, then slop on a backdrop with paint that must have cost him $75 dollars and looks it.

Funny, when I replied your picture appeared.

[mondotrains]

Hi Rick,
Thanks for your note. I forgot to preview my pictures and sent in my post before the photos were properly set up. I hope you come back and look at the two other pictures I posted.

Thanks,
Mondo

QUOTE: Originally posted by rsn48

I c an't access your pictures. Take out a free account at www.trainboard.com and you can post your pics directly into your post, like you see others do. Railimages is the name of the forum at trainboard.

I am a big fan of using real pictures. To me most of the backdrops I see look like they were painted by some one who didn't major in art, if you know what I mean. I think the background is very critical to establishing believabilitgy, era, atmosphere, and visual references to a layout. Can you imagine watching movies on the big screen with backdrops done by some of the guys I have seen. For some reason, a guy will spend tens of thousands of dollars over the years acquiring rolling stock, engines, and structures, then slop on a backdrop with paint that must have cost him $75 dollars and looks it.

Funny, when I replied your picture appeared.

[Anonymous]

This is a great way to make brackdrops that is often overlooked. I started a pair of HO scale modules and wanted a local scene on one of the four foot modules. I took a series of digital photos from one vantage point and blended them all together with a panoramic computer program. Since my printer/computer combo would not print a four foot long image (about 8" high"), I put the image on a CD and took it to a local firm that does this stuff. They printed it full length and mounted it on foamboard, making it easy to handle. It cost me about $45.00, but was well worth it. Anyone who will eventually see the scene will instantly recognise it.

Another friend did much the same to produce the background scene on his modules, which were of a local railyard. With the help of some friends, he was able to get up in a bucket truck and take a photo over the actual rail yards. He had the image enlarged and then mounted on his backdrop, with sensational results!

Yet another friend wanted some local backdrops for his home layout, so I took some photos of the area around where the downtown railway station used to be. He took the prints to a copy shop and had some color photocopies made from them. They were then mounted on cardboard to make the background scene. Probably the cheapest way to do it.

Lots of fun!

Bob Boudreau

[cheese3]

That is cool i am going to have to try that one!

[Anonymous]

Great job Mondo!!! Looks super!!!

DON

[davekelly]

Mondo,

Way cool! Congrats on a job well done. Gonna have to try this out myself!

[BRVRR]

Mondo,
Great work! I have been experimenting with the same procedure, though I print the photos at home. I have to admit, my results are no-where near as good as yours.
How do you 'scale' your photos? This seems to be the biggest stumbling block for me?
Again, great work!!!

[CBQ_Guy]

I'm planning on doing this on my layout. I inherited a small collection of National Geographic magazines from the 1950's-60's, and have been clipping various photos. I also have some old calendars with pictures I may be able to use. A few years ago I went out with my camera and shot all types of landscape and structure photos locally which I may be able to incorporate into my background as well.

Doug Tagsold does this on his layout and illustrates installing them on his layout video that Allen Keller produced:

http://www.allenkeller.com/GMR33.htm

There was another video in the series that did similar, but I can't recall who it was at the moment. It may have been Lou Sassi's layout at:

http://www.allenkeller.com/GMR23.htm

...or possibly Bill Henderson's "Coal Belt" layout at:

http://www.allenkeller.com/GMR19.htm

[mondotrains]

Good question....it took me a while to get the scale right. I shot some of my early photos too close to the building and when I blew it up, my doors and windows were way out of scale. I plan to try to sell them on Ebay, to someone that models O scale, for a couple of dollars, rather than throw them away. I guess all I can say is to step back a little more from the building and I should tell you that some of my photos were 5"by7", not 8" by 10".

Trial and error got them right for me.

Hope this helps.
Mondo

QUOTE: Originally posted by BRVRR

Mondo,
Great work! I have been experimenting with the same procedure, though I print the photos at home. I have to admit, my results are no-where near as good as yours.
How do you 'scale' your photos? This seems to be the biggest stumbling block for me?
Again, great work!!!

[davekelly]

There have been a couple of articles in MRR concerning the proper distance to be at from an object to have it appear in scale when printed. Once was many many years ago when a fellow had the great idea of photographing himself, then cutting out the print and putting him in the modeled scene. The distance is a function of the scale, size film, enlargement size and lens focal length. You might want to try the index at the top of this website.

[Anonymous]

Hey Mondo,
That's looks great, I live in the Pacific Northwest(OREGON) and we have alot of scenery around here forest and such my layout has three towns, a mid size city and forest land, I'm going to take pictures and add them to my layout!! Thanks for the idea, that is great:)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davekelly

There have been a couple of articles in MRR concerning the proper distance to be at from an object to have it appear in scale when printed. Once was many many years ago when a fellow had the great idea of photographing himself, then cutting out the print and putting him in the modeled scene. The distance is a function of the scale, size film, enlargement size and lens focal length. You might want to try the index at the top of this website.

With computers and film or digital cameras such work is fairly simple if you have a graphics program - just enlarge the image until it is the right size. Make a few test prints to check the size. No need for the expensive Photoshop, I use Paint Shop Pro which is available for a fraction of the cost.

As to putting yourself or others in scenes, I've done that a few times using the above methods. Once you get the hang of it, the process is fairly simple. On my Xmas card a few years ago I put an image of myself in the cab of an On30 Shay. I was using a 3.3MP digital camera at the time.

Bob Boudreau

[RoyalOaker]

What a great Idea, and it does not look to hard to do. I think that getting the shots in scale might provide the most challenge.

Your results really look great.