One of my childhood favorite toys in the late 1940's was my set of .027 gauge Lionel Trains. I dragged these few example's up from the basement, polished them up a bit and figured I'd try my hand at some more indoor photography. Considering that these trains are over 60 years old they really don't look that bad. I spent hours and hours running these electric trains around and around on its 4' X 8' plywood table. It had gates, crossing lights, curves , switch tracks, and little towns and streets. Little miniature people and buildings. I had a conveyor belt for coal transfer, a magnetic crane , a refrigerated milk car which would leave little milk containers on the platform and so many others that I don't remember anymore. I just about made all these miniatures up myself. These were the days before it was normal for every household to have a TV. I kind of miss the old days as life was so much more relaxed and family oriented. Sunday was a day of rest and nobody had to work.
At first I used side lighting from a large sliding glass door but just could not get the right affect. I waited for a hour or so till it was dark and used bounce flash off of the dinning room ceiling. This is all new to me trying my hand at still life photography. I tried around six shots trying to get maximum depth of field but was not able to get the front of the engine to the rear Caboose in acceptable sharp focus. The 20mm length ( 30mm in 35mm format) was not wide enough for me to get that depth of field. I tried smaller aperatures but not enough bounce light from the ceiling. I would expect the Nikkor 14mm f/2.8 would suffice or the Nikkor DX zoom 12-24 mm f/4 zoom. Next on the shopping list.
Exif data is as follows: Image taken with Nikon D-90 on January 19, 2009 at 5:59PM, 18-200 mm VR lens, RAW, Aperature Preferred Mode, Matrix Multi Pattern metering, ISO-200, Flash bounced off ceiling, 1/60 sec. @ f/8.0, zoom at 20mm.
Enjoy
What a great childhood memory! These trains look like new - my husband collects these, I need to show him your picture! Beautiful job!
ReplyDeleteYour train is beautiful, as are the memories it brings back for you. We had a train set when I was younger too and there sure were a lot of great times during construction and play. Beautiful photograph, Edmund!
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! All your work was worth it! You have some super memories.
ReplyDeleteNicely done, and your framing technique looks super on it!
ReplyDeleteChildhood memory. Bah humbug! That's the reason you haven't been out you have been down in the basement playing TRAINS, now own up kid.
ReplyDeleteSure does bring back a lot of memories. I remember dropping a little pill in the smoke stack and viola there was the smoke!! Nice memories in a great photograph.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful and evocative shot, and you got to play with them again!
ReplyDeleteEdmund, this is a beautiful image! A fitting tribute to your childhood memories of hours spent enjoying the trains.
ReplyDeleteThe lighting looks great to me. I like the soft effect as it ties in with the childhood memories. I remember visiting some of my brother's friends who had similar lionel wonderlands, and being very envious ....
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many of us still have our favorites from childhood and it's lovely to see yours, Eddie. My husband had a similar set and it was recently sold to a collector when his mom moved from the family home. Their basement was quite a gathering place for neighborhood kids. Thanks for sharing your image and explaining your shooting situation.
ReplyDeleteNice shot, you take a lot of time and effort to get it right.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful Eddie! It must have been great fun to bring them out and play with them again. The lighting is fine!!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful image - and I remember my Lionel train set, too, in the fifties. wonder what happened to it... probably was passed on to a boy cousin.
ReplyDelete