Not used for Contest 2013

[Federreptil]

Oh yes, for nothing I want to miss this contest. However it was very hard to pass the finish line in time, because near to the end the weather was grey and the options for a shooting run out. I think I will try an similar scenery next spring again. Some of the protagonists have to wait at this shooting, time was too short for some variations.
After the finish of the contest I will show here some pictures from the long preparation and the making-of. It's hard to wait, but a sneak preview would tell too much.

[Ridureyu]

Not used for contest this year (due to subject matter):

[alexeratops]

Funny! The scale of the rex to the human really sets it off!

[Hynerpeton]

Ok. other pic looks cool.

[Arul]

Not used for contest this year (due to subject matter):

your pic is good,"wrong place in the wrong time" btw why you not choose this pic ? This is creative

[Federreptil]

It's a pity, that this time machine is not used. It will be such a joy if it would possible to take a look 65 million years and more back. Most of the time thinking about dioramas I wonder, what can be a possible setting. Most of questions are so speculative because the fossil record is so small and stones tell not everything. So we take further suggestions for analogous situations to today behavior, appearance and coloring.

[Federreptil]

Hello, as I promised I will show here some preparations, making of and details from this year entry 'Horrible Horn Horde'.
You will see, the basic is a true diorama in a classic sense with an indoor model landscape as stage for a big herd of trikes. The herd is again the point of interest for the staging. Since CGI is arriving in the representation of dinosaurs in movies and documentations, we have seen big herds in action and bring this feeling to a diorama shot is here the challenge.

First you need a herd. If you take more than 4 or 5 models of one kind it's difficult to avoid an unreal repeat of positions and looks of the herd members. Today shapeways give you sometimes a wider range individual postures of the same species, but if you use the normal sources you should take a common species like the Triceratops to get a wide bunch of individuals.



The next problem is soon visible. They don't look like a herd because their coloration is too different. So I choose one master and have to paint the other ones in the same direction. Here it is the first polyresin Triceratops from Favorite/Dinostoreus who gives the direction for the blue-grey appearance of all members.



This was the first test after the first paint-jobs in the middle of April. I know that it will be difficult to do this year more than one big diorama or other dinosaur-fun so a lot of preparation go in this project. After a while the herd is growing to more than twentyfour members. After reading in the dinosaur book of Dr. Holtz the puppies of all ceratopsids are far similar, the little Pachyrhinos of WWD will turn in young trikes with a little cutting of the frills and resculpting the noses. The normal Triceratops babies like the new Papo one are too big for my belief. This picture is the next test with Schleich trees:



Last year at the end it was not easy to find a correct combination of dinosaurs in the same period and habitats. To often I mentioned spectacular movie scenes and my knowledge was not deep enough for bloody mistakes. So I try to do it this time better. But it's always not perfect - see at the Euoplocephalus in the final shot. It have to be a real Ankylosaurus and not a sloppily named one from the first Favorite Softmodel series. Nevertheless I want more species in the diorama than only Trikes.



In this stage of planning this are Pachycephalosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Troodon and T-Rex.



The T-Rex hunters don't match the final motif. So the horn horde become calm movement without dramatic actions. Here another postural test in September:



Next section is the making-of and more pictures of the forerun are here:
http://heinwerken.blogspot.de/ Unfortunately the text is german.

[Arul]

Next section is the making-of and more pictures of the forerun are here:
http://heinwerken.blogspot.de/ Unfortunately the text is german.

What a huge diorama  i love how you combined them all and the repaint is good

[Federreptil]

This is the next step: the day of the making-of. It becomes an indoor shooting because the time runs out till the deadline and the weather is in the meantime changeable to rainy. 7 to 8 big boxes and a good friend are packed in the car inclusive birds sand and iceland moss. Next stop is the photo studio of a helpful friend with space and sunny spotlights. And an archaic landscape is formed the next two hours:



The setting of light make a bright sky:



For three times the angle is lowered to make the herd bigger. Some Trikes have to change their position, because their last standing looks now not longer satisfying:



This is an overview at the whole scene. but after four hours the whole Cretaceous is passed again and 7 boxes are wandering again to the car.

[Arul]

Woww...what a perfectionist person two thumbs up 

[Federreptil]

Thank you Arul for your kind comments an your lively interests. So here the next section: some details of the diorama for a closer look.
First a close-up of the final entry. This shows the protagonists even better and some people around me – while we wait for the results – think this could be a better choise for the contest. In the whole picture the animals are very small and in the limited digital resolution you lost the fine details.



The next one is a shot in pterosaurus-view. Here is finally the Pachycephalosaurus herd visible which is running side by side with the Triceratops animals. In the final low angle the small dinosaurs vanish behind the blue giants. The schedule for this scene keep an analogy in mind: it could be a herd like todays Cape buffalos in company with some Gazelles, which use the protection of huge animals in a big herd. In this kind of view the Troodons are like Hyenas and the single Ankylosaurus is like a lonely Rhinoceros.



This picture above the the favorite of my wife and she asked me, why this becomes not the contest entry. But I'm not certain, weather this overview shows the scenery more as a model setting as the chosen low angle. Although this diorama is such a big scene, it looks always very tight. In my view the compact combination of so many interactions makes this diorama very classical in the traditional way of museums or exhibitions.



This detail uses another lens and focal length for more depth. The second row is more blurred. This can be the direction for another attempt with the same personal going outside. I hope there will be some time for this in the next spring. In the next shooting there is maybe the space for the pack of T-Rexes, which find here no place in the cretaceous savanna.

[Georassic]

Spectacular diorama in every respect. A well-deserved win.

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, what a production! Impressive work there!

[alexeratops]

Great dioramas!! I think what really sets them off is how the plants and surrounding area are to scale with the dinosaurs themselves. Good going!

[Rathalosaurus]

Man, I love that ''Horrible Horn Horde''.

[A.Garcia]

Thanks for posting this- the pictures are great. This shows some impressive dedication, both collection-wise and in planning a diorama. I liked your diorama (in particular the large background pterosaurs), but due to the contest format I couldn't make out the details as much as I would have liked. In these pictures you can really appreciate the details of the animals and the scene; I'll have to spend more time looking! Also, after this I'm tempted to put some paint on my dear Favorite ankylosaur.

[Federreptil]

Thanks to all the stimulating comments and constructive words to the horn horde. I hope to show here next spring some new situations with the same personal. It will be a pity, if this herd will only vanish in the boxes because the next contest need unknown protagonists.

[Federreptil]

The Dilopho is searching for his companions. Just arrived as part of the winner package from Everything Dinosaur, he is now just solo entertainer because the others are not his time. So we will see who is the perfect group for a Dilophosaurus.


Thanks to Everything Dinosaur for this quick and safely packet.

The last shot combines two late acquisitions – the Diplodocus from Battat and the Allosaurus from Favorite. It seems a little bit dangerous to be a theropod in these days under the tamps. And the swinging whip tail is also near.


It could be a nice year 2015 to expand this idea.

[Arul]

Emmm and exactly what is the right companion for dilopho based on the scientific ?

[Federreptil]

Emm, yes – It's not easy, because there seems only a small record of fossils in this era – the early jurassic.
A direct companion and prey should be the Scutellosaurus (an early ancestor of the Ankylosauria). But I know no model of it. The Scelidosaurus is maybe a neighbor and – this is a fortune – there is a model from Collect A.
The Protosuchus as Safari Toob Mini is also a possible visitor in the scene.

In the same era but not at this place are the Lufengosaurus, a Sauropodomorpha from China, the Lesothosaurus and Massospondylos (also no model) from Africa.
If I had a wish for a the diorama, I want a herd of small dinosaurs in size like the triassic Coelophysis. But not with a long head as a Theropod, but instead with a short snoot as an Ornithischian (e.g. like Lesothosaurus).

So I don't know until now, what kind of diorama will be here realistic.