Compare the photo above with the one below - note how the trees help push the brick mill further into the distance and frame the building.
I haven't really had much of a chance to get down to the basement in the last week or so - bascially work was busy early last week and Stic and I headed up to NERPM where I had a great time seeing old friends and making some new ones.
But before I left I did spend a few minutes Thursday evening playing around with the forced perspective scene in Stafford Mills. Something was bugging me about it, but I couldn't quite get a handle on what it was.
I liked how the HO scale store and N scale brick factory looked - the forced perspective trick seemed to be working well - but the mill looked just a little too close to the store.
I added a couple of vehicles and they didn't seem to all that effective at making the factory seem further away. I planned to replace the shorter trees (each tree about 3"-5" tall in the strip of land between the road and mill stream in front of the factory. But first I dug out some larger (7"-9" tall) "full size" trees and placed them along the road. I started with two trees to the right side of the scene. Then, remembering I'd heard along the way that an odd number of trees always looked better than an even number I added a third tree to the grouping spaced a little further to the left. I think the fact they're taller than the top of the tower on the brick mill helps make the brick structure seem further away. And I like the way the trees "frame" the tower on the building.
Next step will be to add some leaf texture - but not a lot - the idea is these trees have gotten a gust a wind that shed most of their leaves - and then "plant" them in place.
Speaking of trees, I also received a shipment of MBR trees. These are true foreground models. I saw them used with great effect on Tom Johnson's Cass County Railroad and ordered a few specifically to help frame some scenes in town. They really are quite nice. That's one to the left in the picture below.
The two trees at right appear to be close to the foreground building. However the tree at left appears (to my eye) to be closer to the background building. And being the tallest tree, it appears to dominate the factory building. I'd try using a smaller tree at left to see if it helps to force the perception of distance.
ReplyDeleteSimple experiment to try.