What would be the best thing for a backdrop? buy one from a company or make my own? Could anyone describe to me how they did theirs?
As this is your first post , and can we have a little more information.
This is a start, I am sure others will add their comments and questions
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Welcome aboard
Here's a link of when I did mine:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/172338/1891830.aspx#1891830
Here's a place that sells them.
http://backdropwarehouse.com/indexbdwh.htm
Springfield PA
Welcome to the forums.
A few more questions before the answers start to come in. Height of yur layout? Will it curve around corners or be a scenic divider down the middle of table? Do you favor masonite, vinal or metal? Will you be attaching to a wall or will it be freestanding?
Enough questions. MR does have some books on painting your own backgrounds. Some of their more general scenery books also have a chapter on sky, clouds and some more foreground painting. A nice blue sky is not hard to do, blending in a lighter low sky, takes just a bit more. Clouds, a number of methods.to make them.
Some things to think about, read, then come back with some more questons.
Good luck,
Creating your own photo backdrop is really easy. Just need a decent camera, and a cheap tripod. Then stitch it together using photoshop, you can get help here for doing this, that's what I did.
Then have it printed on cheap matte finish photo paper.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Boiler Up !
Alton Junction
Craig North Carolina
AikidomasterWhere do you go to get the backdrop printed? Can one do this with a regular digital camera? I would love to make my own backdrops of the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
Yes I took my own photos using a $200 Canon camera. I used a $20 tri-pod. I took like 4-5 photos rotating the camera left to right making sure to overlap the photos by about 25-30%.
Then I asked for photoshop help on this forum (Hamltnblue) who stitched them together into a single panorama photo.
Then I took a usb drive with the panorama photo on it, to a local print shop. For a 24" x 120" on cheap matte photo paper cost me around $75.
This is the panorama here:
I print my Photos on shelf paper cut to 8 1/2 inches. I can only set my inexpensive program and printer to 44 inches. Cut out the mountains and paste them to a painted background. The next set overlaps the first, that way there is no seam. I did a workshop on this and it was well received.
Jerry