Photography in CTT

[NYC Fan]

I wi***hat the guys who photograph the layouts for CTT would do a better job at giving us a feel for the entire layout. It's really been lacking for the past couple of years. They seem to want to give us close-ups. To me that's just showing off your macro lens. I don't need a close-up of a Mikado or a SD90; I want to fee the bleeping layout! Sometimes I find myself wanting to stick my head into the photo so I can look around. It's almost frustrating to have to look at these photos.

In my opinion, CTT should take a lesson from it's big brother Model Railroader and from it's competitor OGR, and rethink it's whole photo editing process. And I am speaking as a CTT subscriber from day one.

Skip

[prewardude]

Speaking of photographs, has anyone else noticed the "prototype" photo of the S1 on page 116 of the January '04 issue? That thing looks WAY undersized to me! Maybe it's just an optical illusion, but the people look afully big in comparison to the locomotive to me.

[Anonymous]

Hi Skip,

Not everyone's layout works as an overall shot.

Sometimes the photographer (be it one of ours or the layout owner himself) can't back up far enough to get a shot because the layout is only a foot or two away from the walls of the room.

Sometimes the layout itself wraps around walls, a furnace, a sink, a water heater, etc., and there is no overall view for a human let alone a camera lens.

Sometimes, the walls, floor, or ceiling of the train room are unfinished and really detract from any sort of overall photo, and no amount of lighting or other manipulation can disguise things.

And sometimes, depending on the nature of the layout room, there may not be a way to light the entire layout all at once even with several lights on hand.

Our goal is to get an overall photo of every layout in CTT, but it can't always be done.

Sincerely,
Neil Besougloff
editor

[brianel027]

I personally like both mags - OGR and CTT. Yeah, Fred Dole does some amazing stuff for OGR. But that's not to knock CTT. To me, it's like asking who was better... John Lennon or Paul McCartney? They both had their strengths, they were both different in their approach and still complimented each other.
I look forward to getting BOTH magazines. And as well all know, competition is good for the consumer, so I'd say we can expect improvements, great pics and good reading from both publications!
brianel

[lionel2341]

I must agree with Neal on the overall view "Shot". My layout in the Jan 2004 Issue features a layout that looks like a large reversed "S". It would have been imposible to take a total layout shot. I've been doing Photography most of my life and have just about every lens one would need, and still would not be able to provide such a shot. Secondly, my layout is in a Recreation room, which includes other collectables on the wall other then trains, and would be of no interest to train operators. I have my share of trains on the walls, but those photos become common place in my opinion, and would rather see closeups of the creativity people use to create a scene. That's what I tried to show in my article.

Ernie
Lionel2341

[Anonymous]

I'm with Skip on this one. I love CTT and have been there from day one however layout photography in recent years needs help. I would like to get a bigger FEEL of the train room.
Joe S.