It's been a long time!

It's been quite a few months since I've done any actual work on the BNML.
Work?! Nevermind that... It's been a Long Loooooooong time since I've even operated a train on the BNML.

I've simply been swamped with actual work and haven't had any time. And when I've had time, I've lacked motivation. Mostly because I was still sorting out in my mind (read 'dreading') how I would tackle my backdrops.

I know I want to do photo backdrops. The hang up has been centered around the approach I wanted to take. I also know I want my backdrops in place before I begin scenery work.

Some people like to paint the sky and fix images of buildings and distant trees to the sky. They trim the paper pieces for each scene and stick them on.  Meh. I'm pretty sure that's not how I wanted to do this. I think the hard edge of the top of the treeline would bother me - even if it was blended in with the sky paint. Although I have seen some very good results here on MRH.

Stay Tuned...

Approach...

I have the software and skills to do the photo editing, so I decided that would go with full photo backdrops. The backdrops will be created from photos I took in 2014 of buildings, fields and specific scenes along the prototype right of way.

Editing the photos will allow me to selectively compress the scenes to fit the layout and it's going to "look right".

This is exciting stuff!!

Wow this is going to be a lot of work.

Sign me up!

I'm trying to fine tune my use of photos in my modeling so I'm looking forward to see your challenges and their solutions.

Problems...

So my camera lens has an artifact/blemish/something on it and the photos I took in 2014 all have a little dark spot on them in the top left quadrant. (BTW: My layout is set late summer/early fall 2012 - 2014.) I figured would edit the spots out - I planned to replace the sky anyway - even still, the blemish is frustrating to me.

Looking through the lens, I can see it, it looks like a little metal shard on the 2nd lens inside. I've known it was there for a long time, it just hadn't been in my way until now.

I took the camera in August to get it fixed in Winnipeg. I got it back in early September and it's all good now.

Around September 5th I was inspired to start stitching some pictures together. I started with the photos for the St Vincent area of the layout. This section is located along the wall above my office desk.

Awk! I can't find my photos from this location!  Oh, it could be because I didn't take any.

On Sunday September 11th, I drove down the the prototype location and shot a set of photos at St Vincent. Everything that would be on the backdrop still matches my general photos of the area from 2014. Yay!

I put together a great scene and took a 2ft section of it to my local print shop for a test.

Here is the test scene, the original image is 24" x 10.75", 7200px wide:

The test was printed on heavy matte photo paper on their wide format printer.

It looks great, but it was actually a bit of a show stopper for me.

The photos I took of the distant fields were not high enough resolution for me. My foreground trees look fantastic, but the midrange trees in this photoset (see below) look terrible, and the distant ones are too blocky. I know why. I enlarged them too much. I know better than that, but for this scene they needed to be bigger.

The bins on the left are great. The middle bin is acceptable, the augers are too low res and the bins on the right are also a bit too fuzzy for the look I want here.

Mid Range Trees:

If it were not for the mid range trees which will be about 4" tall, this would be passable. The trees and bins are all from separate photos. I think I need to up my game.

There's only 1 thing to do...

Take Two!

Yesterday the weather was nice and the sky was clear, so I knocked off work early and headed back to St. Vincent. I returned home with a pile of new photos.

Between Last night and Tonight, I have redone the backdrop for this area and I think I am happy with the results. A test print will come on Monday and that will be the final word.

Here is an image showing the Mid range trees from the old photos and the new photos:

Newest is best

Bill, the newest photo definitely looks the best, with the most clear resolution.

St. Vincent

This image shows the St. Vincent trackplan and the backdrop aligned with it:

These are the images I composted to create the backdrop. They are 12MP images taken on my Panasonic DMC-ZS6.

The actual backdrop for St. Vincent is 241.6" x 11". Here is a small version (33") of the final image as of tonight:
(click for bigger view)

And finally, these are the individual components that make up the entire backdrop:

Newest is best

Thanks Moe,

Yes, and it's pretty amazing since those trees are about 1/4 mile away from the lens.

How it's done...

Looking at these components, you see 4 panoramas and a series of separate details.

The top Pano is cut from the 2nd one. The bottom two are mirrors of each other.

I use Microsoft ICE to make the panoramas. ( you can get it here)

Microsoft ICE is a FREE photo stitching tool that works wonders. You feed it a group of images and it puts them together perfectly in a very short time. NOTE: It does not work well for images that have a lot of straight lines, such as grain bins or buildings.

To take the photos you stand in one place and take photos while you pivot around.

Here's what it looks like when processed:

Once I have chosen my images, I drop them into CorelDraw X7 and line them up over my trackplan.

Using the built in tools in CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint, I edit, chop, and shop the photos until they fit together the way I want. This involves a lot of trimming, straightening, feathering, blending, and fading.

I won't get into photo editing 101 here, I just want to give you an idea of how I put it together.

Back to the Test Print...

I almost forgot... Here are some photos of the original test print on the layout!

These were taken after I cut this into 2 pieces just to see how seams would look.

Backdrops

Those look great, Bill! I've been struggling to decide what to do about backdrops - other than the plain blue skies I put up so far - and a photo backdrop was certainly considered. May I ask how expensive these are going to be?

Great Backdrops!

Bill,

Thanks for posting your backdrop work. I've been thinking about what I'd like to do on my new layout, and your thread is definitely swaying me in favor of a photo backdrop. I'm not a photographer and certainly don't have any graphic design skills as you do, but there are probably ways around that for those of us who are only mere mortals! 

Keep up the great work, and keep the pictures coming!

"Here are some photos of the

       Hi Bill, Those look good to me. You might be worrying for nothing, it seems like trees a quarter mile away don't need to be too sharp? It looks like the lighting on the second set of photos is different which makes most of  the difference?   Are these for a double deck layout? I think the height of the average backdrops is why many folks paint or print just the lower area and glue it to painted sky instead of trying to get and install a tall photo. 11 inches sounds a lot more manageable than the normal 2 feet or more.. ......DaveB

Thanks!

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.

@Steve B. I have not decided yet on the material or print shop I'll be using, but the sample on matte photo paper is $6 CAD per ft. The paper is 2ft wide, so I can print 2 backdrops at a time, making the backdrop on this paper from this printer $3 CAD per foot. I will also be looking ast some vinyl options from another print shop here in town. If you know a good printer in Winnipeg, let me know.

@Paul K. I'm no photographer, but I've been doing digital graphics and photo manipulation for 27 years.

@Dave B., My layout is a single deck, but it's only 11" below the edge of a sloped ceiling on the 2nd floor. Good point about the higher backdrops. I wasn't thinking about that. The test print does look great, but at 2 feet away, I want a little more definition.

Stretching photos is not a great idea, especially distant ones. Here is a comparison of the original Pano and the New one. These are shown at their native sizes relative to each other. 

As you can see, the difference is huge. The clump of trees in the middle are the "Mid Range Trees" in question. On the new pano, the trees are pretty much ths size I want them to be, and because they are far away from the lens, the natural distortion is about right and it's pleasing to the eye. The distant tiny tree line looks right too.

The original pano was taken with the camera not zoomed at all. When I went back to the scene for 'Take 2', I took advantage of the 12x optical zoom on my camera and got a much better result. I zoomed about 1/2 way.

This is what my camera looks like, It's a Panasonic DMC-ZS6

It's a point and shoot 12 MegaPixel with 12x Optical Zoom and a big LEICA lens.

Got my interest peaked

Looks great Bill. Glad you are sharing your thoughts and process so we can follow along and understand. Seems to me this would be a great idea for Trainmasters, along with a tutorial on the computer and software you are using to make this all happen. Hmmmmmmmm

Michael

Following with interest...

I think it's great knowing a fellow modeler who has the same sort of space to build in, as I do.  Those sloping ceilings...  The backdrops look great so far and I have every confidence they will work out well.

Regards,

Nice thread!

Bill,

This is a very interesting thread and even though I'm not in the market for a backdrop I'm following along.  Thanks for posting!

Hi Bill That photo back drop

Hi Bill

That photo back drop looks very good.

What dpi are you getting from the pictures? I the ICE link software looks very user friendly to use

When I do my backdrop. Im going to get one of my good friends to print it out. Luckily he works for Canon and has access to one of these

Its a Canon large format printer. Can go up to 1200 x 1200 dpi output on coated and uncoated paper stocks. Basically you can print a backdrop as long as you want. Or until you have to change rolls.

Regards Phil

Good job!

What DPI did you scale your image to?

DPI

In the original test print, the panorama is 55 dpi, The foreground trees and bin on the left are 180 dpi, and the bins on the right are only 84 dpi.

In the current iteration, the panorama is 250 dpi, and the foreground trees and bins are 180 dpi.

New Test Prints

Here is the test print on heavy matte photo paper with the new images...

This afternoon I will be checking out Vinyl options in Winnipeg.

the test print on heavy matte photo paper

  That looks fine to me. I guess the only problem could be getting the shadows on the modeled stuff to match the shadows on the backdrop?  Does the vinyl come in matte or flat finish, I don't think a shiny backdrop would work too well.....DaveB

Photo Backdrops

Bill,

What you are attempting is a great idea! At the moment I am also debating what to do about backdrops.

I discovered the following site and am thinking about using their products.

http://www.larcproducts.com/railroadgraphicscd.html

This site has six different CDs of 100s of various backdrop photos for sale at a fairly reasonable price, $26.95 USD each or $69.95 USD for all six. You can use a standard inkjet printer to print your own backdrops. I am not sure what type of paper one would have to purchase? Once printed, just trim the prints and mount. I am guessing that a wallpaper paste would work for mounting.

Ken

Photo backdrops

What you are doing so far looks very good. This is something that I have been thinking about for some time. I have the photographic skills to do this but lack the computer knowledge. I am watching your progress with great interest.

Mel