Lighting dioramas

[Joerg]

@Ed,

I tought about it once more:
Please find attached pictures of big dioramas I made years ago, that show -my hope- that the silhouettes you mentioned are no inevitable consequence of using tubular ligh sources in the upper front.

I had the impression, that the effect you don't like did not occur.
And I gave sparce attention to the question, if it were necessary to keep the foreground free.

Regards
Joerg
 

[Joerg]

...Is it beyond human ingenuity to devise a method whereby all the figures are lit from the front with a gentle, diffuse light which does not cast distracting shadows, and ruin the visual effect of a beautiful diorama?....
 
Ed H

As far as I can see it - YES.
There is NO source for light, that matches the light used during painting sessions and being capable to light the whole box sufficiently.
May be, nowadays the situation will getting better with the use of LED.... You can place them in the upper left corner (and only there!), but with large dioramas the problems still remains, how to bring light to the rest of the box.

The only way to avoid the dark silhouettes you mention, is, to place the front figures more in the middleground of the diorama.
But what will you do with the empty space in the foreground?

As far as I can see it - a problem without a satisfying solution.
Joerg

[Glen]

X2, though I doubt you'll get a free week. Maybe an entry fee discount. If nothing else, maybe you'll plant a seed...

Glen

[Nicholas Ball]

You should write to them Ed, they may give you a free week there as a consultant.

[Ed Humphreys]

On Kulmbach Sunday this August, having cleared away the display, I made the usual pilgrimage to the Plassenburg, and as usual, I was bitterly disappointed with the displays. Someone with little understanding of the concept of a flat figure diorama has placed harsh fluorescent lighting in the roof of each box. This means that the figures in the foreground, which should be the most important, are often just dark silhouettes with unrealistic shadows, while the figures towards the rear are brightly illuminated with an unnatural light which picks out all the imperfections in groundwork and backdrop.
In painting flats, we lovingly take control of the direction and intensity of the light, but whoever is charged with setting up the display completely ruins the effect. Is it beyond human ingenuity to devise a method whereby all the figures are lit from the front with a gentle, diffuse light which does not cast distracting shadows, and ruin the visual effect of a beautiful diorama?
 
Ed H