Barry Harker's Post Apocalyptic Chase Diorama

This time barry went ALL OUT and made a five-meter scale cardboard road and painted to fit the scene! He then went to an outdoor location and shot over 90 photograghs of his post-apocalyptic models, this time trying to get a more realistic look and feel to the photos. The are going to be part of his Dangerous Highways Story. Then, I can't even imagine how many hours he spent in PhotoShop to get the look he wanted! Awesome work! Here are the steps he took to get his pictures, and some background information about Dangerous Highways.





First things first was the cardboard road made from six pieces taped together and then sprayed with automotive paints to get the "patchy" look of a worn road, and it gives a speckled effect from the over spray. The yellow lines were applied with a yellow pencil crayon! The cracks on the road were drawn and shaded with black pencil with white pencil highlights. The next job was to find a suitable location to shoot the photos. Once I found a spot that could look like a desolate waste land (after driving around for a few hours!) I decided on a spot just of an unused dirt road, perfect because of the hills in the background and the road could raise in the background allowing the road to disappear in shot and with enough perspective to give the illusion of a long road. Once the road was in place I scattered and sprinkled fine sand on the edges of the road to blend it in with the surroundings. and then all that was needed to do was put all of the models in place and take as many photos as my rib cage could take after lying on the hard ground and gravel! (next time I'm taking something to lie on!)

With all of the photos taken for now (I intend to take a lot more now I have found the location), it was time to put the photos through Photoshop and some effects. The background was where a lot of work would take place due to the fact the grass an foliage would be out of scale! So that was all airbrushed out and blended together and then blurred into the background to give better depth of focus. Next was the edges of the road were in some places the sand would shift and sink, and then show gaps and the edge of the cardboard road. This was also airbrushed and blended together to give it a more seamless look. The model cars themselves received no alteration or airbrushing (they didn't need it) however the wheels on each of the models received motion blur to give the look of spinning and rotation. The headlight effects added some light rendering. Next was to adjust the light settings to give a more "desert" feel by upping the highlights and adding more red and yellow faint filters. The last and most effective effect was to add a "radial blur" to give the vehicle the effect of motion and speed.

All in all, a whole lot of fun in building the models, setting up the scene, and then adding all of the effects.

And I'm just getting started !



THE DANGEROUS HIGHWAYS is set in a similar future timescale to the Mad Max story line, however there is still civilization to contend with! It is set some 70 years after WWIII and technology ground to halt with the collapse of all of the major Governments. Out of the dust, cities were built (similar to the Megacities in JUDGE DREDD) where a civilized society could exist. the problem was the transporting of goods and mail between the cities. Not many aircraft survived the war and there was even less development of any new aircraft. So 90% of all goods, food and mail would need to move by road. and there lies the problem..............

The cities are there for the "civilized citizens", so all the wasters and criminals live outside the city walls. They will try and do just about any thing to rob and steal from transports and vehicles traveling between the cities with their mad vehicle creations scavenged and built out of whatever they can find. That is why all of the vehicles are old cars and trucks; nothing built after the WAR. So they have to get a little "creative!"

The same goes for the drivers trying to get from city to city which is why all of their vehicles are armed and armored to the teeth! Drivers for hire, that will carry packages between the cities for a big pay packet.

I have yet to Build a "Land Train Transport", some extra vehicles and... a city! Well, some of it. That will be the challenge; the city walls and some city streets with buildings in the background. This project is going to keep me busy for a while, but I will have a whole lot of fun doing it!