Composing a layout with a photo editor
This evening I took some smartphone photos of my current layout project, something that I quite often do as it progresses to get a sort of scale eye view of things. I think of the layout, in scenic terms, as a set of cameos shaped by images and recollections. In the case of this layout, although I can contribute to the scenic setting from my own memories and photos, the details of the railway must all come from photos in books and online.
Because I have been thinking about backscenes quite a lot recently, I decided to edit in a photographic background that would roughly match my imagination. It's a photo I took from a hotel window as it happens. The result is pretty rough and ready but I think this addition transforms the images. They become a lot more like sketches of the desired result.
No apologies for the grainy photos or the fact that everything is far from the finished state I would like to reach. That's the point. And also, the fact that I've sliced out the background very roughly and the lighting angles and colour cast don't match. This is impressionism rather than documentary!
Firstly, the station depicted by the layout is cut into slightly higher ground and the back of the layout includes the slope where the area cleared for the railway land meets the natural land level. The slope has been cut back to give space to a large shed that has something to do with the freight transfers that take place on the outermost track. These features are shown below.
And again with the photographic background
Secondly the station building at the very end of the branch.
Here is is with the natural background
And with the photographic background.
Must straighten that whistle. And get on with the layout!
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