Photographs in books: A Meldrew moment

uk 75

uk 75

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I know that I am getting into Victor Meldrew mode again, but I wondered if it was just me.

Books on our subject are such a rare and valuable resource, and I should say how grateful I am to
all who toil to produce them for ingrates like me.

But, I do find myself wondering how the picture sizing gets decided upon. My particular "hate" is
full page photographs of an ordinary subject when a half page or less would do. I realise this is
also because I am always hunting for elusive general arrangement drawings and regard photos as
often a bit dull. But do others like these full page photos and if so, why?
 
Pictures like this...
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...are what caused me to develop a fascination for aircraft. I like general aspect drawings, but my most prized books contain lots of drawings AND nice pictures like the XP-46 image. That, or they go into great detail about the people behind the aircraft, how they went about making them and/or how they were used. If a book has all of the above - hog heaven.
cincinnati-flying-pig.jpg
 
Often publishers want photos because it "animates" the book, especially if they are in colour. For the same reason they also like colour profiles, even if the machine is bare-metal overall (I had such request in one of my recently published book whose subject is bare-metal with just 6 cockades). A contrario technical drawings are just that, "technical" and therefore perceived as boring ...

JCC
 

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