Behind Scenes - Fav Photos 2025

Behind the Scenes

Taking a look at the 'magic' behind my doll photo scenes...

Forest Dweller Christmas

When we were working on turning the Forest Dweller Christmas story into a book, it became clear that it needed a few more scenes towards the end of the book. So I had to set up the entire set from three years ago again. Thankfully I always take photos of my sets just in case I ever need to duplicate them again. This was the original set....

Back then I'd used two different room settings - the one above plus a separate dining room - but I just needed the one with the kitchen and the music corner on the far right. So I set the entire thing back up, making sure every detail was exactly the same - and took the photos of the menfolk cleaning up the kitchen...

...and washing the dishes...

Another additional scene for the book was with everyone relaxing in the 'music room' at the far right corner of the set...

I took a lot of photos...

By that time the kitchen part of the set was a major disaster area with props and furniture from the previous two scenes just piled in there out of the way....

Gingerbread Houses

One of our daughters-in-law has a birthday at the very end of November, and she enjoys doing something together, so we all got together at our house to bake and decorate little gingerbread houses. These were the two I made....along with a little gingerbread tree....

Jan made a little church and lighthouse but didn't feel like decorating them. They all spent the Christmas season on display at the end of our kitchen table - although by the time of the photo below Jan had already eaten his church....

Anyways, every time we make the tiny gingerbread houses together, I'm always inspired to use them in doll photos. And since the dining room table was already occupied with a Medieval castle interior, I set up a little scene for my Forest Dwellers on the end of the kitchen table. I used both trees from the castle in the other room, plus two pieces of furniture to fill in the spaces and hide my kitchen in the background.

Then it becomes a matter of getting down low enough to take the photos straight at the little critters' eye level....

...and take lots of close ups....

More Gingerbread Houses

I decided to set up another different scene when it was time to break up the houses. This time I wanted to use my BIDs, and set up a little 'room' on the end of the dining room table.

Then the fun began...

Tiny Mouse Portraits

Ever since I shot the additional scenes for my Forest Dweller Christmas book, I've been inspired to photograph my little mice in tiny scenes of their own. Now, I'm used to taking doll photos in huge scenes covering my entire dining room table, but my mice are just 10 cm tall, so they need a totally different approach. I need a close crop scene with a blurry background, and that requires a totally different kind of set up.

The first scene I remembered to take 'behind the scene shots' for was Muffy reading in bed with Christmas tree lights in the background. It's easier for me to take the photos if my subject is raised, so I set up the scene on two of my prop boxes....

I used the base of a clock for her 'headboard', and the edge of my Storyteller's coat as her quilt...

Then I added the props and took the photos very close up....

For Mannie reading at the window I was inspired by an empty box of matches. I use a lot of matches constantly lighting up the candles in my Medieval scenes, and then blowing them out again, and I'd finished an entire box of matches. Before throwing it into recycle I thought to use it as a mouse bed. So I set up a scene by the window, raised on a box and some books so the bed would be the right height.

Then I took the close up photos...

For the Bubble Bath Day photos I did something similar, but because I was planning on using real soap bubbles I needed something more water resistant than one of my cardboard prop boxes. I didn't want to risk using the big Medieval table either, so I found a different table where it wouldn't matter as much. It wasn't quite wide enough for the entire scene, but fortunately I had another small table the same height.

Now, the mouse can't actually be submerged in real foam, so her 'bath bubbles' are made using tiny bubble wrap and clear beads. Then I whisked up some water with dish washing liquid and dropped it strategically over the outside of the cup and saucer, and took my photos....

A Dragon Family Portrait

We had been working on the new dragon Family Album for months, and it needed an 'ending'. I thought it could end after the little dragon's first year, and that they'd commission a family portrait to mark the occasion. I decided the painting would take place in the great hall of the castle, where there was more room, and where Narin was in the middle of working on a portrait of the King. So I went about setting up the scene. But I decided against using the same blue tapestries in the background since they were the same colours as the dragons, so went with red wallhangings instead so the dragons would stand out...

I slipped black Bristol board behind the glass to hide everything inside, and taped the wallhangings to the china cabinet doors. The dining room table was pushed up against the China cabinet so it could add architectural detail to the background.

I thought it would be interesting if the baby dragons would get bored and make a giant mess with all the paint. But I couldn't put any paint on the dragons because they are cloth, and I didn't want to ruin the under construction paintings either. And I couldn't spill any paint on the floor since I wouldn't be able to wash the HUGE table cloth, plus there was a fancy wooden table top underneath, so it couldn't get wet either.

So what to do? I knew my sister would peel the dried acrylic paint off of her palette from time to time, so thought maybe I could make some dry paint splotches the same way. I covered the two under construction paintings and another board with plastic wrap, and proceeded to squirt and pour acrylic paint all over them. The next day all the paint was dry, and I could peel it off of the plastic wrap. But how to stick the paint on everything? I used a tiny bit of UHU glue to stick the paint everywhere. It wasn't as flat on the surfaces as real wet paint would be, but I didn't have a choice...

After taking all the photos, I removed all the bits of dried paint off of everything....

That was back in mid November, and my sister added four pages about the portrait painting story to the dragon book.

In January we finished adding all the captions, and the book was finally done, and waiting in line for a sale at Mixbook so we could get the first test copy printed.

But then on February 1st I started posting the story on my website Blog. I'd done two posts and was looking ahead at the rest of the photos when it dawned on me that the story wasn't really complete as it was. It really could have used a more satisfying ending. But if I wanted to take additional photos I'd have to set the entire scene up again, and I'd want the new photos in the book as well. But it was already done and waiting to get printed. So would I take the photos and let it bother me that they weren't in the book, or did I try resist the idea? But it kept eating at me all day, so I called up my sister. First she laughed, and then said it was actually a good idea. Apparently she'd thought the story didn't end properly either. So I could go ahead, and the book could wait.

Well, then the race was on! I was already two posts into the portrait story, and would need some of the new photos the very next day. So I started gathering everything for the scene and started setting it all up. I was going to need new paint splatters since I'd thrown out the first ones after I though I was done. And they needed to be dry by the next day. So I covered the under construction paintings with plastic wrap again, and started squirting paint on them.

I wasn't particularly concerned about making them all identical to the ones in November, except for the crown and moustache on Lawrence's painting. They had to look reasonably similar...

The next morning I printed out two photos from the November session so I could duplicate the scene as closely as possible...

I placed all the paint tubes and jars in the same places. but it didn't have to be perfect since the first new scene was going to be after Saphira had managed to grab all the kids...so some things would have moved...

I spent the entire day taking the new photos. I was in a mad rush, so didn't take any behind the scenes shots until just before the final scene the next day....

Jan had brought my two photography lights up from the basement studio. The big one was aimed at the white ceiling to bounce ambient lighting onto the entire scene. And the smaller spotlight was to counter the light coming in from the window, and create a more even lighting.

The last photo taken in the great hall set.....

....and it all had to come down, so I could set up the dragon's lair for the bath scenes...

It was a lot of work to create the additional photos, but I think it was worth it. I just hope I'm never in the same situation again where I come up with a new photo idea for a story I've already started posting, and on the day before I need them.

Chef Manny

Being so small, the scene could be set up in the middle of an existing scene. I wanted the twinkle of lights in the background, so set it up with the Christmas tree in the background...

I carefully filled the table with all manner of pastries and baked goods. I made a tiny chef hat out of white paper and Kleenex, and positioned Manny on a stack of furniture so he'd be the right height..

Then I got in really close to take the photos....

..changed his pose and took more photos...

Shelter in the Storm

Many of my mouse photos are inspired by AI pictures I come across online, and this next one is no exception. I'd been knitting tiny shawls for my mice, and made the tiny shopping bags. Then it was a matter of waiting for the perfect snowfall - not too much snow, more of a light dusting that stays on all the bushes. Then I set up the scene in the raised back garden...

I sprinkled some snow on the mushrooms, and took the photos.....

getting in very close at the mousies' eye level...

Family Portraits

All the Fantasy Medieval groups were photographed shortly after Christmas in Baron & Naomi's castle interior. I started with the Royal family...

Taking photos of the extended family

and each individual one...

Then I'd move onto the next family...

Of all the many group photos I took, this portrait of Miho and Dominic's family was my favourite

Mouse Valentine

I had just finished taking photos in the dragon's lair so set up the scene right in the middle of it. The only thing I needed in the background was the glow of the fire in the fireplace.

Again, the photos were taken in very close, straight on at their eye level....

In the Graveyard

Back in January I wanted to take a photo to commemorate Inauguration Day in the US. I don't normally do 'political' but I felt I needed to take a photo representing what all my friends in the US were feeling. So I dressed Owen and Leona like they were going to a funeral, and we went to the local graveyard. The only way to make forced perspective work in such a location was to have the dolls elevated, and not too close to any of the gravestone, so I set them up on our projector stand in a wide open spot between some short headstones...

It was snowing lightly, and Owen was holding a black umbrella, so Jan held a paint board covered with aluminum foil to bounce some light onto the doll's faces. Then I took the photos...

..and I added some snow...

I was really happy with the photos, but unfortunately what was intended as more of a 'tongue in cheek' personal comment on what was going to happen to the south of us, it turned out to be a more appropriate prediction than anyone could ever have imagined.

Mice BBQ in the Snow

This set of photos was taken after the first of three snow storms when there wasn't a lot of snow yet. I like setting up my scenes in the raised garden as it's so much easier to set up and take photos. I positioned the door against the tree trunk, and sprinkled snow over the little trees I'd borrowed from Jan's Christmas village. Then I added the mice and their BBQ....

Shovelling Snow

These photos were taken a few days later after another two storms had dumped a record amount of snow. I positioned the dolls on top of the snowbank beside our driveway in order to use forced perspective to make the dolls look like they were out in our neighbourhood....

Then I took the photos closer up, and straight at the doll's eye level....

Faded Roses

These photos were taken several weeks later after most of the huge piles of snow had melted. I set up the dolls in the upper garden.

Then I sat down on the bench to take the close up photos...

..change the doll's poses, and take more photos...

Sun or Shade?

I had wanted to take a photo for Polar Bear Day, and had the dolls dressed in their winter wear, and standing in the display case waiting for a nice snowfall. But it was clear that we weren't going to get any fresh snow, and with the temperatures set to skyrocket, I had no choice but to take the photos on a sunny day.

Now, I prefer not to take doll photos in the sun, but it was early March and the sun was still low in the sky - which is preferable to high overhead like in summer. Plus I figured I could always ask Jan to hold the white umbrella to shade the dolls. So I went out to the backyard and tossed some snow around to help make it look a little fresher where I wanted to take the photos, and then I took the dolls outside and set them up. Then asked Jan to shade them with the umbrella...

I took several photos of the dolls in the shade...

But I also took some with them in the sun...

They were both nice, but I actually preferred the ones taken in the sun. They seemed more interesting and there was more definition, especially with the polar bears. So it was a good thing I did both. And it was also a good thing I took the photos when I did because the next day most of the snow in the upper garden had melted already.