Sepia Filter Effect For A Diorama

[Mark Cassidy]

Folks ,

 

Am not sure if this is the right place to ask this and I hope I can articulate what am really trying to achieve,  I have an idea to create a diorama set in the sunflower fields of ukraine, one half of the diorama will feature a modern t-80 and the other will have a ww2 t34 or is2 tank. 

 

The effect I would like to achieve is something that reflects the passage of time and I though maybe a sheet of perspex between the two halves. With some sort of black and white or sepia filter so that when viewed from the modern side of the diorama , u have the modern side in colour and the historic in sepia or black and white.

 

I used to use filters in photography that used welders glass but thats too dark. I have tried tamiya smoke sprayed on a test piece but that still let's some of the colour through from the historic side.

 

Hopefully I have described what am trying to do lol, do u have any thoughts how I could do this?

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[Casey]

That's a super cool idea!

 

Probably not going give the answer you look for, but I got inspired with your concept and it got me thinking of how *I* actually would approach doing it?

 

I am aware that a simple black&white glass that delivers b&w view is not physically possible, so I'd focus on sepia filter (which basically does the same except the result is, well, yellow) and I would try to see how a sepia or tobacco filter would work in practice - I found some Cokin filters on ebay - they are too small for the purpose but they could give me an idea what to expect and they are rather cheap (8-10$ or so).

 

If this worked, I would try to find a larger tinted glass that has similar property. May be not easy task.

 

But when I was thinking of it, I also got an alternative idea - I had visited one of those "Amaze your kids science fair" I had seen a "monochromatic light room". It looks like that:

 

 

It would require you to install switchable sodium lamp (or other monochromatic light source) on diorama, but this could definitely do the trick too... Maybe in form of "Past vs Future" switch? If you pick colors right, you can have details on diorama that will be visible in one light conditions and almost invisible in another...

 

Just giving you ideas, not solutions since photography is not my thing, but I love colors! (or, in this case, lack of them)

Edited July 29, 2022 by Casey

[Mark Cassidy]

Cases mate thats great, that's certainly food for thought bud  thanks am off to explore monochromatic light sources now mate 

 

Cheers

[cmatthewbacon]

What about something like gold window tint film? The kind that looks like a mirror from the outside but a smoked glass from inside. If you put the mirror side facing the WW2 side, if you view it from there, you’ll see two T-34s in the fields, but from the other side you’ll see the T-80 and a washed out T-34 beyond. There are definitely some tricksy stage/museum lighting effects as well where you could actually conjure up a “ghost” T-34 if you were prepared to build a slightly more complex display (see “Peppers Ghost” online.)

 

Best,

M.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Ok… here’s an idea you might completely hate but…

 

Why not paint the historical side exclusively in black and white shades and the modern side in full colour? 
 

You could still perhaps divide the two sides with Perspex - or whatever- but then it would not have to provide any kind of optical filtering.

[cmatthewbacon]

29 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Ok… here’s an idea you might completely hate but…

 

Why not paint the historical side exclusively in black and white shades and the modern side in full colour? 
 

You could still perhaps divide the two sides with Perspex - or whatever- but then it would not have to provide any kind of optical filtering.

That was my plan for an “SAS in the desert” diorama I have in mind, centred around an LRDG truck…

Best,

M.

[Mark Cassidy]

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Ok… here’s an idea you might completely hate but…

 

Why not paint the historical side exclusively in black and white shades and the modern side in full colour? 
 

You could still perhaps divide the two sides with Perspex - or whatever- but then it would not have to provide any kind of optical filtering.

Steve thanks mate , I don't hate it, and I had considered this, the only thing that puts me off is hand painting 60 odd sunflowers 😀 

5 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

What about something like gold window tint film? The kind that looks like a mirror from the outside but a smoked glass from inside. If you put the mirror side facing the WW2 side, if you view it from there, you’ll see two T-34s in the fields, but from the other side you’ll see the T-80 and a washed out T-34 beyond. There are definitely some tricksy stage/museum lighting effects as well where you could actually conjure up a “ghost” T-34 if you were prepared to build a slightly more complex display (see “Peppers Ghost” online.)

 

Best,

M.

That sounds intresting mate I will check this out as an option

[dcrfan]

This photo montage is based on the original b/w photo which is deterating hence the 'raindrops'

 

Dof3389 by tankienz, on Flickr

 

and a modern colour photo taken on exactly the same spot montaged together.  As mentioned above what about just using colour and b/w colour chemes?

 

OH 06-0687 by tankienz, on Flickr