Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Fooling with Photoshop

Train Number 16 rolls by a small pond just west of Waverly on the Milton branch. Gopher Ridge is in the background.
Today, I was preparing a presentation for the upcoming NMRA Mid-Continent Region convention which will be held here in Kansas City. Being asked to do a presentation on period railroading, I have been making new photographs of the railroad to illustrate it. While using Adobe Photoshop to make slight corrections such as cropping and image size, I decided to try something different.
 
The original photo is all right but a bit bland in the background.
The original photograph looked like the above  with the background being just the blue-painted backdrop on my railroad. I decided to add some mountains to the picture. Using a photo I had taken near the modeled location, I inserted it into the background followed by another photo of clouds. You can see the result. This was the first time I have tried to alter a photo and I was pleased with the results. Now, all I have to do is to brush up on my painting skills so I can make the backdrop look as good as the photo.