Behind the Scenes

Taking a look behind the scenes of some of the photo shoots, in the order they were taken....
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With or Without a Wall

I use my dining room table as my interior photo studio.  But I don't always use background walls. If I want a realistic modern interior with some background depth, I often won't use any of my foam core walls.  Just my doll scale fireplace.

​My dining room has French doors, which are always open. The room opens into the main hall, with the front door area visible on the right, and the stairwell into the basement on the left...

I find this set up without any prop walls gives a more realistic feel to the doll's room...

...and looks so much better than if I'd used some of my foam core walls. That suddenly screams "doll room"

A House Elf Christmas

Setting up an indoor scene for my smallest dolls is always a challenge, since I don't have much in the way of small furniture their size, so I always have to make do.  Although Jan did make me some tables their size last Christmas, and then eight nice little chairs...

I don't worry about the scale of the fireplace since it can be any size. Same with the Christmas tree.
​The kitchen is always my favourite....

The final set, with all the characters posed in it....

Then it just becomes a matter of taking close up photos at the individual doll's eye levels...

..and getting in really close from different angles...

Behind the Scenes with Lawrence and Monica

I had wanted to photograph the two of them as a modern couple, and Monica could borrow some of Naomi's clothes.  But even though Lawrence could borrow some of Baron's clothes, I wanted him to have something more than just a sweater and scarf. I wanted him to have a nice long coat. One that would fit over a sweater. So I started work on the pattern, and tested it in cotton...

After some adjustments to the pattern (like, bigger armholes), I made his coat. I also knit him a sweater, sewed him a shirt, and some jeans, so he'd have a complete outfit...

I knit him a scarf, and then it was time for the two of them to go out into the world. I wanted some place interesting without too many people, so we went to the Courtyard Shops in Pickering Village. There was nothing to stand them on, so all the photos had to be taken with the dolls hand held.

I always keep the dolls on their stands, so Jan can hold the dolls by their stand and one leg. It's a lot sturdier than just trying to hold the dolls by their legs.

Then I wanted to do a scene with them relaxing at home.  I took some nice photos of the two of them looking at Winston's album....

And I was ready to post them, until I realized the book was upside-down. So I had to reshoot. While I was at it, I decided I wasn't happy with the background, so I changed it.

Then I wanted to take them to the Ruins Garden, so I made them both some mittens.  I did bring along a tarp to put the doll's boxes down on and for me to get down on if I really needed to, but most of the photos were taken with the dolls hand held.

A photo taken close up...

I did put them down in the snow in the Greek Theatre for some full length shots. But unless the dolls are photographed down low, level with their eyes, and reasonably close, they will still look like 'dolls', or like tiny people in a giant's world....

So, I had to get right down in the snow to photograph them at a lower angle...

Closer up was even better.

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