Behind the Scenes 2015
A series of behind-the-scenes shots, taken throughout the year, when I remembered to take them.
In chronological order...
In chronological order...
Making a Cake for Byuri
I decided to start a series celebrating all my small doll's birthdays (anniversary of their arrival). For the first one, I had three of my BIDs working on decorating the cake. I don't have a miniature kitchen, so to make the dolls look like they fit into my real kitchen, I set the scene up on a box on my counter, so the dolls' are roughly up at my eye level.....and take the photos with a tripod....
Getting in nice and close....
Cutting Out a Dress
I was doing a story about making a birthday dress, and needed an indoor setting other than my kitchen, so set up on stacked nestling tables in the middle of another room with a bookcase in the background, with the dolls raised up to what their eye level would be if they were real kids....
The photo taken close...
Snow Shovelling Venture
I had been working on a snow shovelling story, and some of the interior shots were taken on the end of my dining room table....
...like this photo - which wasn't set up yet in the photo above...but it is in that 'room'....
At the end of their snow-shovelling venture, the boys were relaxing, with cups of hot chocolate, as Ringo divided up their earnings. I didn't have a doll size sofa in those days, so made do with the corner of my own sofa. I had to use a photography light, and a white card to bounce the light up into the faces of the darker skinned dolls..
The photo....
Doll Display Cases
Jan was painting my 'office', so all the furniture was out of the room. he was also reworking my display cases so the really big dolls would fit on the bottom on one side. He also added lighting. I took some photos while we were working on it all...
A closer look at each case. My BJDs are mingling with my old art figures....
...and the other side...
Castle Ruins
Having just completed the first Fantasy size BID and KID outfits, I wanted a suitable setting for some pictures. We went down to the lake where there's a piece of an old concrete foundation sitting in the edge of the water...
...a closer photo...taken down low, with the walls hiding the nuclear plant on the other side of the bay....
Lake Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park
To make my dolls look like they are actually in scale in the environment, I use the trick of 'Forced Perspective', which involves setting the camera to a much greater depth of field, and then shooting the picture straight at the doll's eye level. Which means getting down to the doll's eye level, or raising the dolls up so they are at mine....like here on the bridge railing....
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The only way for Jan to hold the dolls so his arms wouldn't be in the way, while they were at the railing looking downstream...
And finally a scene along the edge of the lake. It had been raining quite heavily and everything was soaked. But there was a big sheet of plywood along the shore, which I thought I would be able to lie down on to get low enough to take the photo. I did the initial set up, got down on the wet wood, took several photos and directed Jan to move some dolls around...
One of my most favourite photos ever....
Lake Superior
On our way home from the Pacific, we stopped in at a beach along Lake Superior. Again, I set up the dolls on that cold, windy morning, got down to take some photos, and asked Jan to make some minor adjustments....
Another picture taken further down the road... ....and my assistant cleaning up....
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Autumn Leaves
It was late fall, and most of the trees were already bare, but we went looking for a suitable location for some fall colour shots. We live on the edge of a town, on the edge of farmland just to the north of us. We came across a short dead-end road in farmland...
The colours were glorious in the late day sun. I found some really tiny maple leaves, set up the dolls in the shade, and lay down on some carpeting we'd brought along, and directed Jan to adjust any poses....
The leaves in the foreground were a bit big out of scale, but one can't control everything. The photo....
the Ruins Garden
There's not a lot of suitable 'real world' settings for fantasy photos. But there is a park in Scarborough with a collection of architectural 'ruins' salvaged from buildings slated to be demolished. It's about the only place suitable for dolls in historical or fantasy costumes. So we took a bunch of them there for some photos. Many of the 'ruins' are actually a 'collage' of many architectural pieces put together, like this one....
But for dolls, it's not necessary to use the entire structure. So I set up a procession of dolls in fantasy outfits, and got down to take some photos. But then we had an unexpected visitor....
He wasn't really interested in what we were doing, and continued on his way. And I took a photo...
The most important tips one can gather from these behind-the-scenes shots, is that it's important to try take photos at the doll's eye level, whether you have to get down to their's, or raise them up to yours. The other thing is to ignore the 'big' picture when looking for a setting, since often just some small space will do. Then get in close. or crop the photo afterwards.
Copyright © 2018 Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2018 Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved
