Diorama with projector (photography related)

[Giga Bread]

I want to get into making diorama pieces to display my customs when I photograph. Basically, my pictures show all of the custom's detail but fail when it comes to creating an attractive atmosphere.

Since I have a large workspace with limited natural light, I thought I'd try to experiment with different setups for photographing. I'm wondering if this will work.

It will have a light box with 3 light sources but with the back open. A projector will project different skylines onto a surface placed about 8 feet behind the lightbox. I like the idea of the projector because I can manually alter the focus. I was going to put a "light shield" in to shield as much of the light that's not focused inside the box as I can so it doesn't interfere with the projections.

Back when I was kid, I use to make stop motion with small jungle dios and a projected image in the background but they were intended to be dark scenes and didn't incorporate a light box.

 

[footloose]

thats a good idea..wish i had the equipment to try this out

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

No idea if it'll work, but I'm definitely interested to see the results...Sounds like it could be really cool especially with the ability to put stuff in the distance out of focus

 

[Monkeywrench]

very interesting. Can't wait to see what you figure out

 

[Fled74]

An old Hollywood trick that I'd love to see used for 1/18 dios.

 

[The Willoughbian]

You could probably use an old slide projector.

 

[Meddatron]

An old Hollywood trick that I'd love to see used for 1/18 dios.

yup, can't wait to see this.

 

[WVMojo]

My bosses's husband is a professional photographer, and he had a setup in his studio that used a projector system along with some other shit (I do photography on the side and I'm not sure all he had only saw it one time) but basically it was a blank background...person sets in front and when you look through the camera, you see the different backgrounds. Was pretty ridiculous. Course I think he said there was $18,000 worth of equipment I was looking at.

Anyway, back to your setup,

That's going to be pretty damned hard to match the light from the projector to the lights on the light box - try to match the bluish tint that projector is going to give off with the box lights as close as you can, shoot in RAW format and adjust the color in post.

 

[Giga Bread]

My bosses's husband is a professional photographer, and he had a setup in his studio that used a projector system along with some other shit (I do photography on the side and I'm not sure all he had only saw it one time) but basically it was a blank background...person sets in front and when you look through the camera, you see the different backgrounds. Was pretty ridiculous. Course I think he said there was $18,000 worth of equipment I was looking at.

Anyway, back to your setup,

That's going to be pretty damned hard to match the light from the projector to the lights on the light box - try to match the bluish tint that projector is going to give off with the box lights as close as you can, shoot in RAW format and adjust the color in post.

That's good advice, I've been using full spectrum lighting but I didn't think to match the projector.

Anyways, it's going to take a few to get the setup made.

 

[WVMojo]

thinking about this more, now that I sold my projector...wish I would have thought to try this shit out a few days ago...

Anyway. In your setup image, where's the position of the projector? A rear projection screen might work really well for this as most of the problem light will bounce back from the screen (light grey as opposed to white projection screen will also reduce light bounce without messing up colors).

Here's what I'd do (and might do this weekend since the projector wont be shipped out til early next week).

 

[Giga Bread]

Nice. I wasn't planning on using a screen but I will now that it looks like a much better setup.

I think you'll still need something to block the excess light from the sources around the light box.

 

[WVMojo]

Guess I'm keeping the projector...