http://images.google.com/imgres?img...hern+Caboose&start=54&ndsp=18&um=1&hl=en&sa=N Pretty impressive backdrops here....hows this done??
Can we say "photoshopped"? There is one pic of almost the same place with 2 different backgrounds. Let's see some pics of how the layout looks in person, without the glitzy "after effects" added. -Mike
Since the clouds appear to change from image to image, this must simply be layout photos that have been Photoshopped to add a real background, rather than just showing a bare layoutroom wall. It's not difficult to do once you learn how: NYW&B
That's kinda what I thought, looked funny around the poles. I know you can buy prints for backdrops too though.
If you look carefully at all the photos, you'll notice a few (particularly some of the Soledad Yard ones) that show what the actual background of the layout looks like before the Photoshopping - just some short, plain, blue-painted skyboards. Manipulating the image takes a rather ordinary modeled scene and changes it into something spectacular. But how much real value is there to this approach? Fun it may be but isn't it better to see just what the abilities of the hobbyist really are? With the ever wider use of programs like Photoshop being applied in our hobby, I get an uneasy impression that sooner or later we'll be seeing most posted images of layouts not at all as they really are but as greatly enhanced, surreal versions of what's there. A sort of a dreamscape of the hobby. Certainly, you can already find it creeping into the magazines. NYW&B
This is one reason I am probably going to stick with a solid light blue color for my backdrops. Of course, with Photoshop you can go both ways--in this picture I managed to bring the real CSX into my layout under construction: Long live Photoshop! Jamie
Very good, Jamie. But now I kinda wonder just when someone is going to post a picture like that somewhere on the Net and try to claim that it is really of their model railroad! ;-) NYW&B
Yeah, most have that stuff added to them using photoshop or any other picture editing program. IMO, it takes away from the model and picture, even though the owner is trying to make it look better. Some people like it thou. -Mike
You gentlemen seem to know your way around computers. I'm building an 8x14 ho suspended from the ceiling of my garage. Need back drops to hide the paint cans etc. Do you know of a resource for FREE downloadable pictures/scenes? Im an old retired guy working on a tight budget.
Actually, Mark, if you just go through the countless sites on the Net that host scenic images, you'll turn up quite a number that are suitable for blending with foreground layout scenes. The catch is, of course, that you need have something along the lines of Photoshop to blend the images properly, as well as being willing to take the necessary time to learn the Photoshop functions. You might find it easier (and cheaper) to purchase one or two photo backdrops from one or another of the hobby dealers specializing in these things, paste them up on a piece of 2'x6' Masonite board and just prop the background up behind the section of layout to be photographed. I did this for the scene shown below and think its reasonably presentable. NYW&B
