\ said:
You are right Patrick there is lots going on. My preference is for busy models I find them more interesting.
Oil drums. They were just shoved around during taking photos. You can see on one has the mark from the White Tack. Poor attention to detail must have a word with my assistant. o_O
Photography not happy. Must invest in some photo lamps.
Laurie
On photography I have often wondered what makes a model look really real (if that is actually possible). However, a good model is still that even if it doesn't fully trick the eye. That's for sure.
The top photo of one of the originals of your model (in post "More on the condition they worked in") is obviously and instantly seen as real. Why? One factor is the background. A good background helps to trick the eye. It is very difficult to get vegetation to look real and with that knowledge, when the eye sees what seems to be a real background, this can add to the illusion of reality throughout the scene (provided the actual models are really good).
But its much more than that. That photo of the original is exceptionally sharp, showing a lot of sharp detail. Many real edges are not rounded but are themselves sharp. The harsh sunlight greatly contributes to sharpness and I have done lots of experiments with one light (and a white card reflector on the other side to improve shadows) which improves things. Another factor helping the sharpness is the quality of the camera. The one used to take the original's photo seems a good one. Another is depth of field. This is difficult with a diorama but the only fuzziness in real photos is usually confined to distant background like hills. But actually even those still look fairly sharp to the viewer on the ground because he/she usually moves the line of sight, and therefore the focus of the eyes, around the scene. Also I think something in the model very close to the camera should not be fuzzy and if that is impossible it should be removed (for the same reason that applies to distant hills: in a real scene the viewer's eye will re-focus on a nearby object).
Also, objects in the scene should look very like they do in reality. Cloth bags etc. should not be shiny and need to have a fabric-like surface, tarpaulins need to drape with no stiffness etc. Cobbles and bricks should not be uniform and should have signs of wear or flaking. A broken window or pane, a cobweb, leaves or rubbish gathered in a corner help. And lots of objects strewn about like tools, bottles, boxes, a partly eaten sandwich!
And then there are the figures. A real photo of mechanics re-arming a Spitfire shriek reality: the texture of the skin, the folds in the uniforms, the bent posture, hair. (If I am wrong, please post some examples.)
We humans see other humans every day of our lives and can tell a model instantly. I have never seen a model figure in a diorama that is really convincing.
Has anyone other factors that help realism?