Adding More Background

In July I added a large photo print as a scenic background to my small layout. The printed photo wasn't large enough to cover the entire length of my L-shaped layout. I wasn't worried and in no hurry and would evaluate if the background photo fitted my taste. One thing I quickly found out: having a background that's not long enough for the full layout didn't appeal to me. As one of my current small tasks I have now fitted the missing pieces of background to the complete layout. 

The photographic backdrop now also provides an illusion of a railway in a landscape at the loading ramp.

To lengthen the background I ordered an identical photo poster in the same size (90x270 cm) only with the image mirrored horizontally. This is easily done in even the most basic image editing programmes or online services like www.resizepixel.com. With the mirrored print I was able to cut two segments of the new print to add in both ends of the layout, where I still had naked white walls disturbing the illusion of a small gravel industry in rural Denmark.

The layout as it looked before I added the photo print behind the loading ramp.

Loco no 3 going down the ramp with empty skips in the left side of the layout. Basic ground cover is spreading in this area, too.

In the right end of the layout the background now also adds a basic sense of a little railway in a landscape rather than the naked white walls of the room.

While I still have to work a little more with the lining up of the prints, careful placed lighting and a few minutes in a photo editing programme takes care of most of the visible seam between the different background prints in photograps. In daily use when running trains the seams doesn't seem to attract too much attention (mine at least). I'm still considering to replace the background with one looking a bit more like the agricultural landscape around the real Nystrup Gravel facility. But for some time I will enjoy the moist meadow surrounding my small 16 mm scale layout.