I'll admit it. It can take me months to finish a set. A diorama set. For my DioStories (you know, I photograph action figures in either handmade sets or outdoor locations that tell a big ass story). I've been working on an engine room for months and it'll only be for a handful of shots for the scene!

I stopped at Ace Value (or Ace Hardware, whichever you want to call it) and picked up some random plumbing pipe pieces. It turned into what is pictured. What'll be fun here is that I can reuse that tubing in different ways; just a quick repaint and it'll be something entirely different. The engine room set, well, it's pretty close to being finished up. I'm actually waiting for the paint to dry on the base. Cuz then I'll use a watered down black paint to make it look slightly dirty and weathered (like what you see here).

My sets are usually pretty simple. I'm not a welder or sculptor so I don't do some of the really cool diorama sets. Plus, I do stories so I need the sets to be able to be broken down easily and quickly. Then used again. Even the walls are reused. Because I almost never show the whole set, the viewer doesn't get to see the whole thing. It's very manipulative in that way. Which is sometimes a mistake on my part cuz I won't convey the possible sense of 'grandeur' of the set. And honestly, sometimes it's not worth showing the whole thing.

Even with the set shown, you really don't need to see anything else cuz there's nothing there! :D