Behind the Scenes - Fav Photos 2020

Behind the Scenes 2020

Taking a look at the set-ups for some of my photo shoots this year - when I remembered to take them
In the order they were taken...

New Year's Eve Party

Just the standard set up on the end of my dining room table, but the first time with my Fashion size dolls.
With just some furniture, and no background walls....

...and photographed in close....

First Knight

I wanted a setting to represent a Throne room, and the only background that seemed suitable enough was the bottom of my dining-room china cabinet. So we pulled back the table and carpet, and laid out some old wooden book shelves to make 'steps'. ...

I used my fireplace as a background wall, and hung a banner (from the Barbie castle in the basement) on it. The only chair even remotely resembling a 'throne' was the Victorian armchair, which I draped with some fur. I taped down some carpeting on the stairs, and placed the candles. I positioned a white card off to the side to bounce some light into Baron's face...

Then I had to get down on the floor to take the photos at the doll's eye level, or from slightly above....

Here's a view taken from behind Baron, with nothing behind the fireplace, and just open to the hallway....and cropped in....

the Castle

I made some 'stone' walls for the castle interior. They are made of three sheets of foam core, with one cut in half lengthwise and the pieces hinged onto two full sheets. They were underpinned a dark gray, then had the 'stone' stamped on using different sized pieces of sponge. I borrowed the more colourful banners from the doll castle in the basement, since the setting was going to be used for a contemporary Medieval Times story.

I had made some Medieval foods from polymer clay....and painted a black resin wolf figure....

I made some baked goods from salt dough, some turkey drumsticks from polymer clay, and made a 'pheasant feather tail' from card stock, to insert in an older small turkey to turn it into a 'pheasant'.

The 'room' all set for the story....

...and with candles lit during the story....

Valentine Bakery

I set up Leona's Bake Shop on the dining room table, with the window towards the kitchen, because I was going to shoot the scenes on the outside first, and if the window wall was at the window end of the room, the light would create way too much reflection on the glass. The photography light helped balance the light coming from outside....

Taking a closer look....

...and the photo taken from this side...

Then the window wall was removed, and the entire table turned so the inside scene was being lit with natural light from outside....

the Curiosity Shoppe

I set up the shop on the end of the dining room table, with the window wall at the window end of the room. The table had to be pushed up closer to the window, so I'd get the real outside showing through the fake window, and so the light would come streaming into the 'shop'. All the shots of the inside of the shop were shot from the side to take advantage of the natural light. The chandelier above gave some golden interior lighting to the shop....

The photo...

To take photos inside with my Victorian couple looking in through the window, the window end of the table had to be pushed closer to the dining room window so my backyard would show behind the two dolls. The snow outside would make the background blow out way too white, so I had to use layers in Photoshop to bring back some of the details. Like here.....

To take some shots from outside the shop window, the table had to be turned so the fake window wall was away from the real window, in order to avoid all the reflections coming from outside. I didn't take any 'inside' shots when the table was in this position, since there was no natural light coming in, but the photography light did help light up the interior enough to show inside the shop when shooting the photos from 'outside' the window.....

The view from the 'outside' behind the Victorian couple....

...and the photos....

These shots would not have been possible if I'd not turned the table with the shop window away from the real window. The acrylic 'glass' in the window was only reflecting all the bright snowy light from outside, and it wasn't possible to see anything through it into the shop. Thankfully the dining room table is on a large area rug, so it wasn't difficult to just turn the table when needed.

Lawrence & Monica

I wanted to try some shots with dolls at the window, and the sun shining in on them. I shoot everything in RAW so that I can process it myself, as opposed to letting the camera make all the choices itself. This was the original photo, shot in RAW, with no processing...

Then after a bit of processing in Photoshop, bringing back the over-exposed lighter areas, and making the dark areas lighter...

But I had to watch that my camera lens wasn't in the sun or it would highlight the dust on my lens, and create lens flares...

Cats in the Tavern

I had put together various walls and furniture to create a 'Medieval Tavern' setting on my dining room table....

Before taking it all apart I shot some photos with my cat figures....

Baron and Grace in the Scillas

I had been extremely disappointed, that with Jan not being allowed to drive, there weren't going to be any photos in the scillas along the townline this year. I had been trying to build the courage to ask our son if he would be interested in going, so last week I finally asked, and he was game.

Mikey has always been supportive of my doll photos, and is a photographer himself. He works in the film industry developing software for special effects.

Problem was it was a bright sunny day with really strong winds - two of the worst things when taking doll photos out on location. The flowers were past prime as well, but I set up anyways, with Jan watching.....and Mikey took photos with his phone...

Taking the dolls out and putting them on their horses....

Grace and Baron on horseback....

The wind kept messing up Grace's hair. I tried fixing it, but the wind was just too strong....

Then I took Grace off her horse...

....and tried a different pose with Grace walking beside her horse. But by this time her hair was a mess and totally out of control....

Mikey, who was holding the box lids to bounce light into her face, did step in to try fix it...

But in the end it proved just too windy....and I just gave up.

Yvette in the Scillas

After giving up with Grace's crazy hair, I wanted to try some photos with Yvette. I'd brought her along as well thinking her blue gown would look beautiful in all the blue flowers. I was looking around for something interesting, and Mikey suggested by some 'trees', so I chose a spot with her back to the sun....

I was going to change my position and put my camera down. Mikey picked up my camera and took some closer up photos of her....

I tried a new position, and was caught setting up....

This time Yvette was facing into the sun, and I had to be careful to have her face either all in shade or all in sun - definitely not with branches shaded partly over her face.

Problem was, with her pale 'normal' resin, she just seemed so blown out in the sun. So, after picking her up out of the 'woods' I took a few more with her back to the sun....

Sisters on Horses

This year I was only able to take dolls out to the scillas on the townline once, so I had to make do with the flowers in my own backyard. I do have a decent size patch on the back lawn, but my yard isn't big, and it's surrounded by big ugly fences, and until the leaves come out on the bushes to hide them, it's like a big sore thumb in the background.

But when taking doll photos it's important to try focus on the 'small picture', and there was one small angle I could use to make a believable scene. I also took some houseplants outside to help fill in the background to hide the fence some, and break up the surface of the one huge rock.

I laid out a tarp to sit or lay down on, since it had just rained and the ground was very wet....

I had to watch what was in the background so the playhouse in behind wouldn't show...

Which meant cropping in closer, and using a really short depth-of-field, to cut it out completely, and just focus on the two ladies...

Then a view from across the yard to show how tiny a spot it really was....

But even with the houseplants and the narrow view, the background was often still too 'sharp', like here....

So I used 'Layers' in Photoshop to blur the background, and some of the foreground.....

Then brushed a light 'frame' around the edges....

Victorian Family Portrait

When taking a set of Victorian era photos, I noticed that the family portrait above the fireplace did not include baby Sent, who arrived last year, so decided I really needed to do that. So I posed the family...

...and took a photo....

Then I realized there was a major tension point, with Steve in the background photo sticking up out the top of his hat.
So I used Layers in Photoshop to blur the background, and minimize it some.

High Stakes Poker

I wanted to do another scene for my 'Toilet Paper Chronicles', and set up a 'contemporary' scene with four guys playing poker. I chose not to use any background walls, and just use the fireplace, one dark wooden cupboard, and a grandfather clock, and just let the open hallway behind fill in the background. I printed out a 'Dogs playing Poker' picture to hang above the fireplace, and hung a 'Tiffany' lampshade from the chandelier. But it didn't have any light inside, so I asked Jan to hold a flashlight and aim it onto the lampshade from above....

One of the final photos...