backdrop question

[cwclark]

hi guys,
I have some pictures of city skylines that i want to use as backdrops. Does anyone know how to blow them up bigger using a PC scanner and the printer?...Chuck[:D]

[Anonymous]

Your best bet is to take them to a printing company (like Kinkos), and have them do it. That way they can print it out on one big sheet for you instead of you printing out a whole lot of 8.5"X11 or 11:X17 paper and splicing them together.

[cwclark]

that's what i as afraid of...well kinko's it is if i can't get it done on the pc...

[Anonymous]

why don't you look at www.prefectposters.com. I don't know about the quality, especially if you are scanning a picture. Talk to them about what they would want to make the kind of background they you want. It isn't a cheap activity.

*** Foster

[Anonymous]

Have you compared the cost between making your own and buying the pre-made ones? My LHS has some that run about $10 a piece for a 18" x 3' scene. They can be spliced together to create longer views. I would think by the time you are done with the work and the printing costs, you may be at the same price or higher. Of course, if this is a particular background you want, you may have to go the Kinko's route.

[cwclark]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dgoodlander

Have you compared the cost between making your own and buying the pre-made ones?

I have three of the backdrops made by Walthers which i will put on the layout when i get around to it..my concern is that there are no backdrops for big city skylines like Houston, New Orleans, ect...I have a few good pictures of a couple of the cities that would work on the layout and that's where I'm at...I need them blown up a bit so that they are large enough, yet still in scale to go on the layout so that they will look good in the background...I tried it with the computer last night..it almost worked but the buildings came out too distorted to use on the layout so it looks like it's off to kinko's...chuck[:D]

[jrbarney]

Chuck,
If you haven't alreaady gone to Kinko's, you might want to look at BackDrop Warehouse's products:
http://www.backdropwarehouse.com/indexbdwh.htm
HTH.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

hi guys,
I have some pictures of city skylines that i want to use as backdrops. Does anyone know how to blow them up bigger using a PC scanner and the printer?...Chuck[:D]

Chuck,

To answer your original question, you can enlarge the photo in any image program including Microsoft Paint., which most people have already installed on their computer. As an experiment, I've taken a series of photos of some distant mountains with a really cheap digital damera, opened each in Paint, enlarging them as required and spliced them together into a panoramic photo. You could do the same with scanned photos.

This is something you can definitely do at home. Photo-quality paper in individual sheets is readily available at Staples and the like. Doing it yourself lets you experiment in cropping and enlarging the photo, test printing it on plain paper, altering the photo if necessary. Even with a cheap program like Paint, you can remove small details that you don't wish seen by cutting & pasting.

My camera is the cheapest possible and, as photos, are pure crap. But as a distant image of tree-covered mountains, could be as passable as a painted background. (This by way of explaining why I'm too embarrassed to show you the results.) When I get hold of a decent camera I'll try creating the final background photos.

I haven't tried printing it yet. I'm looking for a source of photo-quality paper in roll-form rather than individual sheets. Most printers, even my inexpensive Lexmark, has a setting for banner paper, 8 1/2"x 117" I think 8 1/2" could be tall enough if raised enough with hills and trees in the foreground.

I like the idea of taking photos from the abandoned roadbeds of the Adirondack branches where my layout is allegedly set. If nothing else on the layout is prototypical, the background scenery is authentic.

Wayne.

[cwclark]

I'll give paint a try..thanks..chuck