Pirate stuff is really cool. I mean, with all the stories out there, old or new, there is plenty of inspiration to make something fun!

Last week I took that inspiration out for a stroll by creating my first ever diorama. It wasn’t the most elaborate thing and definitely wasn’t perfect with scale and story but it really taught me a great deal about visual story telling and lore.

A Simple Idea

At first glance, you can probably name a few sources of inspiration. Pirates of the Caribbean, Treasure Island, Peter Pan. I didn’t look up any specific reference material but just worked out of my head from all the movies I’ve seen in my life.

The primary vision I had in my brain was Cortez’s treasure trove on Isla de Muerta from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Gathering the Elements

Im not sure where the original spark for this idea came from but I knew I wanted a glossy black skull to use. So after some googling, I found a company called Skullis that makes skull shaped gemstone carvings of all kinds. Now I don’t believe in any voodoo healing crystals in any way whatsoever but their products are really high quality and look incredible.

For the treasure chest, I literally just found some miniature ones on Amazon that were designed for the Dungeons and Dragons game. I know nothing about DND but they were perfect so I snagged ’em.

The only other major set pieces I needed were the rocks. I wanted them to look very dark and jagged and thankfully my dad had the perfect ones left over from a construction job a couple years ago.

The rest of the elements like the key, seashells, rum bottles, gold coins, rope, etc. were all purchased on a scouting run to Hobby Lobby and Michael’s. At that point, I had no idea all the things I wanted to include, I was just on a mission for anything pirates!

Building the Set

Once all the elements were gathered, it was time to build the diorama. I knew the general idea, so I set the backdrop with black paper, set the floor with glass covering blue foam core for water, then started stacking rocks.

I decided it was important to focus on the set before trying to compose my camera. Of course I knew the general direction I was shooting in but I didn’t want that to pull away from the whimsical nature of a set built for real life and not just the lens.

As you can see, the set is pretty simple! I stacked the rocks on the glass, stacked the props on the rocks with the treasure up top and then just added the effects and lights.

One key light focused on the treasure, a fill, a bounce, a cyan top light to reflect the water, an orange back light to diffuse through the haze and some good old glycerin solution sprayed over all the parts of the set that should look wet.

The Edit

Once I got all the shots I needed, it was time to edit. I wanted it to look super dim and contrasted to compliment the jagged rocks. I added a decent bit of clarity and texture in Lightroom along with a massive gamma lift with the curves to give the shadows a boost since the scene was pretty dark, but the chest was really shiny.

I also used the secondary color sliders to adjust the blue water to look more dark and teal rather than bright blue. That way the shine of the cyan glow would cut through.

A little secondary exposure to dim the edges and bring focus to the chest and voila!

Conclusion

My main takeaway from building and shooting this set was that it’s soooo worth the effort! I didn’t have the strongest idea and it shows, but it’s so much richer than just a plain old skull on a black background.

Next time, I’ll definitely improve the composition and story so that the focus is more clear and the viewer feels more than just “cool set” in their brain, but overall, I’m super stoked with the outcome and have learned so much in the process. Stay tuned for more to come.