Living in the heart of suburbia means very limited access to real-world locations for my dio shoots, especially ones involving water.
So I decided to try making a miniature beach in my backyard. I built a rectangular frame out of PVC pipe (about 3'x4') and laid it flat on the concrete, then lined it with a large blue plastic tablecloth.
The frame was only a couple of inches deep. I put a few rocks on the corners of the plastic sheet to weigh it down, especially on the corners inside the frame.
Then I took my trusty 10kg bag of play sand and made a pile in one corner.
I put the garden hose nozzle on its "mist" setting and wet the sand down, smoothing it out and spreading it around. Once I was happy with it, I filled my new mini-pool set all the way up. I also tinted the water with tube acrylic paint.
I propped up a sky-colored backdrop behind it, then I was ready to go!
Here's a couple of the shots I did with the setup:
I made the waves by agitating the water with a stick, although you could also set up an electric fan to blow across the water surface for more constant ripples.
Keep the camera low to help hide the rear edge of the pool, or use manual focus (if your camera is so equipped) to blur the horizon. I blurred mine with Photoshop, and added clouds as well.
Cleanup was simple too, if a bit time-consuming - I drained the water and left the sand on the plastic sheet to dry in the sun, then scooped it back into the bag.
I hope some of you find this useful.
I'll post more pics in my diorama thread.
So I decided to try making a miniature beach in my backyard. I built a rectangular frame out of PVC pipe (about 3'x4') and laid it flat on the concrete, then lined it with a large blue plastic tablecloth.
The frame was only a couple of inches deep. I put a few rocks on the corners of the plastic sheet to weigh it down, especially on the corners inside the frame.
Then I took my trusty 10kg bag of play sand and made a pile in one corner.
I put the garden hose nozzle on its "mist" setting and wet the sand down, smoothing it out and spreading it around. Once I was happy with it, I filled my new mini-pool set all the way up. I also tinted the water with tube acrylic paint.
I propped up a sky-colored backdrop behind it, then I was ready to go!
Here's a couple of the shots I did with the setup:
I made the waves by agitating the water with a stick, although you could also set up an electric fan to blow across the water surface for more constant ripples.
Keep the camera low to help hide the rear edge of the pool, or use manual focus (if your camera is so equipped) to blur the horizon. I blurred mine with Photoshop, and added clouds as well.
Cleanup was simple too, if a bit time-consuming - I drained the water and left the sand on the plastic sheet to dry in the sun, then scooped it back into the bag.
I hope some of you find this useful.
I'll post more pics in my diorama thread.
