May 21st was 'National Pizza Party Day', and some of the kids got together to enjoy some pizza in the garden. They had a cooler full of drinks ready, and some donuts and watermelon for desert, when Milo arrived with the pizza... "Fresh and hot!" Chloe and Bonnie couldn't wait...
I have a great backyard, but unfortunately I'm very limited to when I can actually place dolls in it for photos. Most of the plants are shade perennials which grow far too tall for anything but fairies. Same with things like tulips. So I can only take advantage of the smaller flowers and plants first thing in spring before they get tall. Like the goutweed. It's a great little plant when it first comes up. So that's where I set up the scene with Bianca and Yvette last month.... It was in a corner of the upper garden with no tulips, and the goutweed were still just tiny. I did put a big root and an ivy plant in behind in order to hide the fence. But the plants grow very fast and are now way too tall for any more doll photos, as they'd totally disappear in them... So, photographing dolls in my back garden all depends on taking advantage of when the plants are the right size. After that, for the rest of the summer, I can only have the garden in the background with set-ups on the patio table.
Some portraits of Hope in the pink blossoms in the evening sun. I started out taking some with Hope in the shady section of a tree..... Then some with sunlight from the side... ...and augmented with diffused flash.... ...and without flash... Then backlit by the sun.... ...and with flash....
With all the magnolia petals starting to fall, I thought I'd take a few more photos with Little Lenny, my Magnolia Fairy. I even found a small, perfect flower for her to hold...
A few weeks ago my sister was inquiring if it was possible to take a birthday party photo with her collection of little gnome figures. I figured since I have all the furniture and props here at my house, I could just offer to take the photos for her. So I made little pom poms to pin into the tops of everyone's hats, and set up a little party scene.... It was supposed to be Papa's birthday, and I chose the biggest cake in my collection.... Mama held the twins, while Opa was excited to be holding the pinwheel.... Oma held the third baby and her gift for Papa.... While Pieter the Pig couldn't wait to see what was inside all the gifts... I tried switching the characters around.... But Opa's pinwheel wasn't showing up as well on this side. I couldn't switch it to his other hand since he has a walking stick permanently attached in it. And Papa's party blower wasn't showing up at all.... So, after some more fussing, and several more attempts at fine tuning, and replacing the burnt down candles three times, I finally had the photo my sister needed.... Except that the little green present in front had fallen over and I'd not noticed, so she had to fix that in Photoshop...
At the nearby high school there's three pink crabapple trees growing between the driveway and the sidewalk. They are very low and wide, so the blossoms are easily accessible for hand-held photos of dolls every spring. I'd already been there once for photos of Peach, as well as Holly and Elin. So for something a little different we went in the evening when the sun was low, to take some 'fashion shoots' of Miho with her fairy wings.... And one with magical looking lens flares....
I had wanted to take a photo of 'Owen biking to work' in a city setting, as opposed to always out in the country. So I made him a safety vest so he'd stand out in busy traffic. We went out on several occasions, driving around town looking for a good place to take the photos. There was no way I wanted to get down on the ground in a public space, so I was looking for something raised. There were utility boxes at the mall, but they were just a bit too high. It was also way too windy, and I was afraid Owen would blow over. So we finally ended up at the town hall, where there's raised flower boxes with wide enough edges to serve as 'sidewalks'.... If I shot the photos from the other side of the wall, I could get the park and the street in the background.... Being in a public space there were bound to be some people passing by. One old man stopped to look, and asked if I'd bought the 'figure at Canadian Tire'. I guess he noticed the Canadian Tire 'tool box' (gift card container). Now that would have been something! But I politely explained that he was a special doll from Korea. Anyways, he said he really liked it.
May 21st is National Bike to Work Day, and I spotted Owen doing just that. He had his tool box and lunch, and was wearing his safety vest. Unfortunately biking in the city meant a lot of stopping and waiting for traffic lights....
I made a KID size 'Outlander' inspired outfit last summer - exactly the same as the bigger, FID versions, but in KID size - but was never happy with the bonnet. The outfit has been laying around ever since just waiting for me to make a new one. So I finally did.... So of course, I needed to take some nice photos of Peach in the new bonnet....
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
April 2024
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