CN Yellowhead Division

[Scottl]

I tried and I tried.  My painting would not get me far in art school.  Time for something different.

I have great photos of the area I am modelling from my May 2023 field trip.  I thought, why not try photo backdrops?  I have done this before, several layouts back and with rather modest results, but my photographs were well suited for this and printers have improved a lot since 2009.  I found Staples had a great deal on banner printing (~$2/sqft) so I did not bother to blend the photos in GIMP.  I just put them together into composites and submitted them for printing.  This was strictly an experiment.

The photo shows the first area I put up the banner at the siding at Devona with the distinctive mountain Roche Ronde in the background.  It is just taped up loosely but it looks pretty good to me and I am sure I can't do better with a brush and paint.  It looks really detailed, but in reality, because these are sourced from a cell camera, they are a bit fuzzy-pixeled, but that does not come through on the layout even from close track views.  I have four more to put up and try but I think this is a promising route to go.

As it turns out, this seems to be a good height for the mountain image as it shows well in photos from a variety of perspectives.  I need to figure out how to deal with the sky- either cut out the mountains and used a painted sky, or, extend the sky in the image for the full 24" height of the backdrop.

[basementcalling]

Looks pretty damn good from 3,000 miles away. I'd cut out the sky and paint one rather than spend hours in GIMP trying to blend and match the shades of blue. Cheaper too instead of paying for feet of blue printout.

[Scottl]

Thanks for the feedback.  I still need to go into GIMP and match the photo tones anyway, so the blue sky is not too much of a problem.  I worry about the sharp edge of the mountains if cut it and use a painted sky.  I will probably try cutting it on one of the four backdrops I printed to see how it looks. 

[packers#1]

I think the cell phone blurriness helps a bit, as you’re not necessarily going to see far off mountaintops in super HD from the tracks anyways. Unless the paper is super thick, I’d lean towards cutting the mountains out; you could take a grey marker and run it along the cut edge to eliminate the white of the paper, and then you’ve got a consistent sky color for a lot less than printing a wide roll.

[Scottl]

I agree about the cell resolution, it actually plays to my needs here.  My wife had suggested I transform the pictures with "painting" filters to make them more like a painted backdrop, but this seems to work reasonably well.

In terms of printing cost, the banners are printed 24" wide and that is the height of my backdrop, so a printed sky does not cost me anything per se, but I want the best look so I'll explore cutting the mountain edge and see how that looks.  I think if I went that route I would replace the sky in GIMP as opposed to matching the sky, as @basementcalling points out is challenging. 

Incidentally, I mistakenly printed one backdrop in a glossy finish.  The color and visual rendition of the glossy print seems much better, which might be part of the printing process or it might be that the image in question was better.  I need to look closely at that, but it may be I can improve the quality here with glossy prints and then spray coat them with matte for finish and to protect them further.

Regardless, I am starting to prefer the look of the photo backdrops over my painted efforts.  But everything is on the table here and it is still very much a process of selection.

[MK]

One caution if you are going to cut out the mountain and paint the sky.  You have to glue the edges of the mountain REALLY good to the wall.  Photos/prints tend to curl over time and if you don't fasten them well, the edges will pull away giving it an even more contrast from the sky look.

If you are going to spray them with matte for protection and knocking the "impact of the sharpness" a little lower, I've had great success with the Krylon Matte finish spray.

[Scottl]

Good point.  These prints really want to curl

Here are few more in place.  Obviously not as well suited to the space but that is the point of this first experiment.

First is Windy Point.  I placed this where I think the mountain height should be, so the image would be stretched down to fill the gaps.  I tried this image as it was a long panorama format so the sky is consistent across the image.  I'm not too enamored with the forest fire remains here, but the prospect of pre-2022 images is zero.  I might be able to regrow that forest in GIMP.  I think however, it does work as a backdrop nicely.



The next area is Jasper yard.  Most of the photography you will see from here distorts directions and mountain scenes quite a bit, but I am playing to that in the sense that I have 18' of backdrop and I can't have one mountain cover the entire length.  Despite how they appear, both backdrops are level.  The extreme tilt in one is the forced perspective.  In both cases, the mountains are placed at a height that I think fills the scene best for photos, so they would be stretched down to the rail level.  The glossy print of Pyramid mountain looks to be better rendered to my eye, so that is a fortuitous error.   I could only print two 4' lengths here, but the gap between the two backdrops works very well spatially. 



This is a classic view of the yard looking eastward to the Collin Range of peaks (see https://railpictures.net/photo/828707/.  The mountain height looks about right and needs to be stretched to the track level. 

[Scottl]

Last scene at Park Gate.  This is the one I spent days trying to paint before I sought alternatives.  The background is very unfamiliar in the rail photography literature due to the emphasis on the cool rail perspective down by the river.

This works pretty well as scaled and the sky is completely from the image.  Note that the foam terrain will be extended to the right for construction of the tunnel so the background is sufficient there.



The view along the tracks is good too, if a bit two dimensional.  I'm not sure I can get around that acute perspective but most photos would focus lower without the backdrop.



I would need to do some creative GIMP work to merge this scene with the Devona scene.  The apparent difference in heights reflects the proximity of the tracks to the background mountains and may require some fine tuning at Devona (scaling up).  I can see how this would work reasonably well:

[Scottl]

This is how I see the two scenes connecting.  It is quite prototypical, despite some manipulation of the relative heights.  I think I need to fine tune the foam scenery profile a bit too to help everything hold together.

[basementcalling]

Last scene at Park Gate.  This is the one I spent days trying to paint before I sought alternatives.  The background is very unfamiliar in the rail photography literature due to the emphasis on the cool rail perspective down by the river.

This works pretty well as scaled and the sky is completely from the image.  Note that the foam terrain will be extended to the right for construction of the tunnel so the background is sufficient there.



The view along the tracks is good too, if a bit two dimensional.  I'm not sure I can get around that acute perspective but most photos would focus lower without the backdrop.



I would need to do some creative GIMP work to merge this scene with the Devona scene.  The apparent difference in heights reflects the proximity of the tracks to the background mountains and may require some fine tuning at Devona (scaling up).  I can see how this would work reasonably well:

Can't explain why, but my eye really likes the way the 3D and photo parts blend together on the LH half of this scene. It works fantastically. The RH half however is not as effective in the transition. Maybe it's a perspective issue, but the mountain shape and slope steepness seem off there, exacerbated by the more gentle slope in the foam carving. Not sure what to suggest to improve it though. Big foreground trees maybe?

[Scottl]

I think I know what you mean.  It is a bit incongruous the switch from cliffs to open valley but that is the look of the prototype.  See https://railpictures.net/photo/768471/ to get a sense of things.   

Like you, something in the steep foam terrain does not work for me.  I have already carved it down once last year to ease the slope, but I think I need to take it down some more.  It will be covered mostly in rock castings so quite a distinctive scene.

[dandopinski]

Looking westward in Jasper yard you need a good picture of Mt Edith Cavell

[Scottl]

Looking westward in Jasper yard you need a good picture of Mt Edith Cavell

Agreed! Mt Edith Cavell will be the last mountain on the backdrop.  It fits almost perfectly.

[Hawghead]

I'd like to something similar for my layout (I'm hoping to get to Colorado this fall to take the pictures) and I was wondering, are you cutting the photos to conform to the 3D scenery or are you slipping the photos behind the 3D scenery?

Thanks,
Scott

[nuno81291]

Looking excellent! I prefer a good photo backdrop to create a sense of immersion and I think suits our ever increasingly prototypical models. Can’t wait to see you finalize the backdrop and get to the dirty work of scenery!