Once Upon a time.........
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
I am a man of few words but lots of pics
I quit drinking beer because the download was taking longer than the upload !
mobilman44,
Maybe so by John, but I am certain that the LION is reading this thread. The LION doesn't like dioramas. The LION doesn't even like photography. Him only likes trains.
Rich
Alton Junction
Richotrain,
Do you get the feeling you (and I) are being ignored ?????
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Here is another little composition that was made up of different elements temporarily brought together.The Model T on the left is actually a diecast and the one on the right a plastic kit.I enjoy doing relaxed poses where a lot of movement is not really expected.A driver catching a few rays of spring sunshine while waiting for the mail to arrive.The signs above the window gives us only a few hints about the storyline.The open door into another room ,the corner,the car pointing inwards all help to add depth to the piece.The colors of green,red , gray and various earth tones harmonize well with each other.The pic before this one is of the various parts required for one overhead light assembly.I had to make about 30 of them for this one diorama and wire them all together just for my own picture taking purposes.It will never be lit this way again.I will however send a copy of the pics to the museum to show them how it was originally intended to look when I built it.
mobilman44 Yes, you are so right! This is a model railroading site !
Yes, you are so right!
This is a model railroading site !
LOL
I don't think that John is listening or reading, just posting.
mobilman44, you raise a good point. This is a model railroading site, not a photography forum.
With all due respect to John Reid, I am surprised that the forum administrators remain silent on this point.
Maybe I can start a thread on my latest project - - - rebuilding my 12 year old cedar deck.
mobilman44 John, With all your expertise, why aren't you writing a book or article for Kalmbach, instead of putting all your time and effort into this posting?
John,
With all your expertise, why aren't you writing a book or article for Kalmbach, instead of putting all your time and effort into this posting?
Great idea, but would probably be best suited to Kalmbach's "Fine Scale Modeler" magazine, as the photos have very little to do with model railroading.
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
I took a series of pics of my 1/72 scale HMS Victory as it sits in a case in my home.These pics were taken in a darkened room through a plexiglass case using nothing more than my camera on auto,a flashlight on a stand and a sheet of kleenex for a filter.By playing with the light and camera angles I could get specific shots of areas of the ship that I could get no other way.Here is my fancy set up:
Smoky and dusty with filtered light,your typical 1920's workshop.The pin up girl is Mary Pickford,a Canadian girl that went on to fame and fortune in Hollywood.Under the other light is Harley the company mascot sitting in the cockpit of a Jenny Canuck biplane.The darkened area beyond could lead to another room or to an outside porch.If I knew how to do it I would tone down the shiny hinge on the door as it attracts too much attention for my liking.This is another shot that I took when the diorama was under construction,there is an exterior wall where the camera is now positioned.I have again used the rooms corner and the open door and slanted window for increased depth.The lighting is again dollhouse with real bulbs screwed into in a modified Christmas bell type fixture.In this case out of focus is a good thing.The open window set at an angle adds a little interest and suggests maybe a hot and humid summer evening..
Here is a fun shot through one of the windows.The lighting is dollhouse from fixtures in the rafters above.Unfortunately these shots will never be available again and were taken during construction of the larger diorama.The interior lighting will be impossible to maintain in a museum setting which is too bad but at least I have the pics.This downshot uses the flooring to advantage for a 3D effect.There are a lot of square shapes in this piece so I took the pic at an angle to make it more interesting.I got lucky with the depth of field as my camera set this up automatically.Each pane of glass has its own reflective surface and is quite clear considering the problems usually involved when shooting through glass.It is high quality plexiglass with little or no distortion.
This is very unusual subject matter but interesting nonetheless.Even wreckage and junk can be interesting to look at.This pic was taken outdoors in natural light and converted to B&W.The title comes from an old pilots saying "any landing is a good landing as long as you can walk away from it".I blurred the edges of the pic to concentrate the viewers attention on the cockpit area.It is an upshot of an upside down WW1 biplane fuselage with trees from my backyard in the background.The camera was hand held and set at auto with a little magnification.
Here is a little vignette that I set up while the larger diorama was under construction.I wanted to capture the look of fear in the face of the figure yet at the same time project a kind of defiant pose of bravado against the unknown.Overhead lighting can be used very effectively to your advantage.The face has been underpainted a flesh color only with no other detail painted on ,it is the lighting alone that is used to bring it to life.I used one overhead doll house bulb to light the doorway and another inside the office.The pic was taken in a darkened room with the camera on auto.Except for the face I wanted the rest to be out of focus.The sign above the door has been cut off as I didn't want it to become a center of attention.An old classic car with its drivers side door left open was used in the foreground.The rest of the story is left up to the viewers imagination.
In this pic I used just the interior lighting of the doll house bulbs which were installed especially for my own picture taking purposes.This is a vignette taken from a much larger diorama while it was under construction.It is a good idea to arrange small vignettes like this while you still have easy access to the shot that you are after. There is no doubt here what the main subject matter is,the airplane under construction.There is enough here to keep the viewer interested without using a strong storyline.I like my figures in relaxed poses where the viewer really doesn't expect a lot of movement.The only thing moving here would be their mouths in conversation about something which is left up to the viewers imagination. The airplane is purposely off center and here again I have used the left wall and corner to help add a third dimension.The colors are selected for harmony red,green,gray and earth tones.I make it easy on myself and use tube colors rather than mixing my own like I did when painting birds.Various tones can be achieved later using pastels if you like. It is not always necessary to complete everything for example I wanted the viewer to know what type of construction was used on the fuselage, so I showed only one plywood panel being installed on the far side and out of the way of the framing. For those unfamiliar with old aircraft construction it was normal practice to put the open structure together for fitting and preliminary rigging purposes,disassemble it and then it would be reassembled after the fabric and plywood was installed on each mayor component.Finally it would be re-rigged and adjusted for flight.It is depicted here in flying position and the tail is resting on a stand. The important thing here is not the subject matter but the composition.Anything that you could build in an old barn ship,car,stagecoach whatever could be the center of attention.
Hi J. R.
I love your work, just amazing. I have to wonder where do you find all the little pieces, tools, engine etc?A true artist.
Regards
Lee
This is something a little different ,a birds eye view of the same area that I dressed up a bit in photobucket.The floor makes for an interesting background.I left it a little clean for a shop floor because I liked the pattern and ah what the hell they may have just changed it recently anyway(artistic license)You will notice with this composition that I have not lined up anything in rows or 90 deg to one another .This is a good general rule but in this case almost an necessity because of the uniform floor pattern.The theme is common to any engine shop or genre of modeling and the era could be old or modern,unless you can read the newspapers on the floor !