03-14-2011, 09:56 PM
I'm gonna need a bunch of them "implying depth" tricks! 
I took a bunch more background photos, unfortunately it was a dreary day, but on the other hand, maybe that will help me stay "faded and far away" instead of picking out the details shown by a bright sunny day. I parked by the edge of various fields, stood in the bed of my truck, and overlapped the photos. I took a set at normal focus and a set at zoom. Then printed them out and cut the photos into usable rectangles. From there, tried different tree heights to see what would look good.
This is the one I like best for behind the bayou. It has a natural slope of the horizon from right to left, like the ground is naturally sloping to the bayou. There is a modeled building to the right (brown rectangle) and there will be a couple 18 wheelers against the backdrop, backed up to the loading dock . This will cover the backdrop/layout junction there. The building on the left is painted backdrop, the edge will be behind model trees.
I won't try to paint the photo exactly, but will use it for just the overall shape and horizontal lines. Hopefully I will keep the detail down and the colors faded so as to "stay in the distance" rather than become a focal point, as we have discussed.
I took a bunch more background photos, unfortunately it was a dreary day, but on the other hand, maybe that will help me stay "faded and far away" instead of picking out the details shown by a bright sunny day. I parked by the edge of various fields, stood in the bed of my truck, and overlapped the photos. I took a set at normal focus and a set at zoom. Then printed them out and cut the photos into usable rectangles. From there, tried different tree heights to see what would look good.
This is the one I like best for behind the bayou. It has a natural slope of the horizon from right to left, like the ground is naturally sloping to the bayou. There is a modeled building to the right (brown rectangle) and there will be a couple 18 wheelers against the backdrop, backed up to the loading dock . This will cover the backdrop/layout junction there. The building on the left is painted backdrop, the edge will be behind model trees.
I won't try to paint the photo exactly, but will use it for just the overall shape and horizontal lines. Hopefully I will keep the detail down and the colors faded so as to "stay in the distance" rather than become a focal point, as we have discussed.