Backdrop at Mason Park Bridge

[Gary S]

Don't forget you can airbrush or wash/drybrush grass, trees, etc. That's one step beyond 'novice' in my book, is adapting colors on the 3D objects to match the backdrop. In otherwords, using the same base colors (minus the blue or white wash haze) on the backdrop as the scenery up front. This is why I like to build my trees from scratch vs. buy out of the box, but even those can be modified.

I put a wash over the grass on the left, that's how it came out to a close match of the backdrop grass. The technique you mention definitely works. Like in my reply to S-two -fitty, these trees were made several years ago and are really just stand-ins for now. The 3D scenery is nowhere near complete in either color or texture and is really just a "mock-up" to get the overall feel of what is going on.

Also, have you used the hole card trick to identify color yet?

I haven't, but it could come in handy, thanks for letting me know about that. Really for this backdrop though, I'm not trying to match the colors to the real thing, as overall, the photo is too dark for my taste. And on that, I even "brightened" and added some contrast to the real photos in Microsoft Photodraw, and they were still darker than what I wanted. Perhaps this is where the "artist" takes over and the "duplicator" leaves off.

in one of the bazillion threads you've got started right now.

Guilty as charged. Since I don't particpate in other forums or media outlets, I post all my railroad stuff here. :oops:

I did it with the 'white' line on the water's edge in your prototype photo and it's actually tan. Perhaps that may help clear up the mystery a bit.

I had seen that it was somewhat tan, but I also saw that it really stood out and "grabbed ya". So, to make such a tiny line on the backdrop more apparent, I chose to do it in light antique white. As for the mystery line, it wasn't the tiny tan line that was referenced, it was the huge whitish green line that was my attempt at making the water get lighter and lighter to represent distance. The good folks of Big Blue thought it was supposed to be the bayou bank. Now, the great thing about that is, where my tunnelvision had me thinking that the scene was looking okay, it came to my attention that the light green water was not working. And that is the beauty of Big Blue!

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions, they are appreciated.