We Need More Posts!

[upguy]

If you folks don't hurry up and post some more items on the forum, I'll have to go work on some projects. When I come home from work, I like to look at the new posts that have come in during the day. Lately, there hasn't been all that many. It almost seems that I have been monopolizing the forum by posting something to keep myself occupied. Oh well, at the risk of boring you-all further...here is another picture.

Let's see what it turns out to be....

 

[Tyson Rayles]

You are right about the Forum being quiet lately. Maybe Catt needs to run a tighter ship (just kidding). Your picture shows amazing detail for Z-Scale!!!! Tyson Rayles

 

[upguy]

Actually, it is N N N-scale not Z Z Z, but thanks anyway. Here is another picture.... (The mountains end rather abruptly on the right side of the picture. The camera takes a little more that the viewfinder shows.) I will be working on getting some other mountains moved into position this weekend. I just love this attachment device!

 

[Drew1125]

Nice work, upguy!
I love that backdrop!
Excellent pics, too. Is that a digital camera?

 

[Tyson Rayles]

You should have said it was Zn3, that would really have wowed us. T.R.

 

[upguy]

Yes, it is a digital camera. (I don't own a scanner.) The digital camera is really great for getting a quick turnaround on the pictures taken. All you have to do is slip the disk into the computer to look at results, delete the ones that didn't turn out the way anticipated, and retake the pictures as needed. (You can probably do the same things without taking it out of the camera, but I like the large screen provided by the monitor.) Here's another pix....

 

[upguy]

Well, I changed the color cartridge on my printer, reprinted some of my photos, and altered the backdrops to some of my scenes. Check out the photo section for some more pictures. I am really pleased with the results. I'm about to rethink how I will be doing my backgrounds if the color holds on these photographs. It sure will beat painting all the backgrounds. It is much easier to cut and paste.

 

[roryglasgow]

Very nice! I think you've really hit on something here...

 

[Woodie]

backdrop

UPguy,

How high is yur backdrop? Did you blow the pics up to, say A4 size? What did you print them on? Photo glossy quality paper? Are the pics as taken, or zoomed in (using the pooter) to select the approriate content?

Looks good!

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Looks Really Good, T.R.

 

[upguy]

I think that the backdrop on the module with the mill is 14 inches. The pictures were printed on regular copy paper without any enlargement or shrinking of the original photos. I did have several photos from which to select different size buildings. (In the original photos the buildings were of slightly different sizes because they were taken with my digital camera which has a zoom lens.) I did overlay the composite mill picture on another series of pictures that made the hills and mountains in the back after I had cut along the roof line of the mill and discarded the original background. I'll post another picture of the mill with more light on the subject.

 

[upguy]

Here is the mill picture taken with a flash.

 

[Woodie]

Backdrop

Looking good!

Did you take the pics at ground level? From the side of the hill? Cause the perspective seems to fit in real well.

 

[upguy]

The mill pictures were taken from a hill overlooking the complex. It worked quite well for most of the scene, but I am going to take more pictures from closer in an attempt to get the building right behind the boxcar to suit me.

The pastoral scene (I guess that's the word for the cattle on the range picture) was taken from one place where the animals were far enough in the background to "shrink" them to N-gauge size. I also tried to avoid anything in the foreground that would give the viewer something to challenge the perspective that I was attempting to create. A nice, smooth (blah) foreground was just what I was looking for to create the effect. No fence posts allowed!

 

[Woodie]

coulda fooled me!

Well, UPguy, you coulda fooled me! Just worked it out.. DOH! Here's me thinking ALL the buildings were models! And was trying to workout where the layout finished and the backdrop started!

Just checked all the pics for perspective and realised the background building are in the pics, not the layout!

Well, you fooled me, so it must be good enough!

 

[roryglasgow]

I did the same thing, Woodie! I thought for sure that the little white building in the back on the left was part of the layout, so it took me a while to figure out that NONE of the back buildings were on the layout!!

Good job, upguy!

-Rory

 

[upguy]

Below is the latest attempt at correcting the part right behind the boxcar. I have added the truck shop (in case you were not aware of the change). Compare this latest picture with the first picture at the start of this thread to see the progession.

Keep in mind that the mill is on a module unit that is two feet deep and four feet long which is connected to another module that is six feet long. These two modules back two other modules that are the same length. Below is an end shot that shows the mill in the lower right hand portion of the picture.

Thanks for looking. N-joy!

 

[upguy]

Here is another picture using a background made with digital camera photos taped together and placed behind a couple of models.

 

[Bill Pontin]

Upguy - have a question? How do you post your picutures? I have a Mavica digital camera and each time I try to post a picture attachment I am told the attachment is too large. The camera allows me to use just about any format.

 

[upguy]

Bill,

I'm not a computer expert by any means, so this may or may not help....

I have my images in jpg format on my 3.5" floppy disk that I use with my camera. I just put the disk in my computer disk drive and click the browse button at the bottom of this form where it says, Attach file:. Then all you have to do is select the file you want to attach and open it. With that it should upload to The Gauge's server.

If you are getting the warning that your file is too large it may be because you are using a bmp form or you are using a MEGA pixel photo (I think that's what they are called). My JPG forms are usually from 15KB to 50KB and I don't have any problems uploading them.

Hope this helps.

Everett