Photographs in books: A Meldrew moment

[uk 75]

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?

 

[Arjen]

Pictures like this...

...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.

 

[JC Carbonel]

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