Whether to weather for photos or the layout

[Erik W]

As I’ve worked on developing my weathering over the last few years I realize some weathering jobs that look ideal on the layout, under my layout’s lighting, viewed with no magnification (i.e. just looking at them) look ideal.  When these same models have close-up photos taken and are viewed on the computer, the weathering looks heavy and lacks subtlety.  The reverse of this is also true.  Models that look good in enlarged photos because of the subtle application of weathering look less than ideal on the layout when viewed with the naked eyes.  The subtleties cannot be seen (yes I have 20/20 vision).  Have any of you noticed this as well?  If so, which of these situations do you tailor your weathering too?  I’ve built a few HOn3 cars for display and have “tweaked” the weathering after the first round of photos were viewed on the computer.  Similarly I’ve added weathering to cars after I felt they were complete when I viewed them on the layout.  Here are a couple of examples.


This is an HOn3 Grandt Line D&RGW Drop Bottom Gondola kit that had the weathering, specifically the rust and soot covered wood interior, toned down after it appeared too bright in close-up photos.


This is a recently completed N scale Trainworx D&RGW caboose kit that in photos, to me anyway, has a bit too bright a dirt color on the trucks.  When viewed on the layout, with ample overhead lighting, it looks much better.

Erik

[wm3798]

I have a couple of spots on my layout that I like to use for equipment photos.  I splash a little extra light, but not much, relying on exposure time to do that work.  It seems to help when you're looking at the car in it's natural habitat...



Lee

[3rdrail]

I stated clearly in starting the "How do YOU weather a" series that I weather for how it looks in a train on the layout, and I don't weather every car. 

[tom mann]

I asked this question years ago on this very forum, but it seems like my post and the great responses have been lost. :'(

Since I enjoy setting up scenes with sparse lighting for photography, I tend to make the models look good for photography - a more subtle approach.  The exception would be that if the model is dark, I tend to make it lighter to exaggerate rust and dust that is applied to it.

If you enjoy viewing the trains on the layout more, aim for slightly exaggerated "weathering effects" so they are more noticeable at 3+ feet.

So my enjoyment of the hobby is centered around models+photography.  If yours is layout running+models+photography, your approach will naturally be different.