"Forcing" The Issue

[nachoman]

Think of how your brain judges things being farther away - smaller, less details are visible, and the colors are more subdued. But you also need to consider the "optical illusion" In other words, if you look at it from the wrong angle, your brain interprets it for what it is instead of being "fooled". Part of that illusion is having nothing in the scene that can be used for a direct comparison of size. If the trains are too close to the scene, the illusion gets ruined. Also, if there are nearby objects such as wall switches or shelves, one immediately knows the buildings are of a smaller scale. Think of the full moon - it looks larger when it is near the horizon because in your same view are objects of which you know the actual size of. When the moon is at zenith, all you see is the moon and it is difficult to judge how large it is. We interpret this to be that the moon appears larger when it is near the horizon, but in fact it appears the exact same size. The perceived difference is your brain being fooled.

Most of the forced perspective scenes I have seen look much better when photographed than in person. And most look best when placed as far from the layout edge as possible, and as closest to eye level as possible.