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Behind the Scene

8/22/2020

11 Comments

 
Now that David's birthday has come to an end, I have a few more 'behind the scene' shots to share.

I had the castle interior set up on my dining room table for over a month as I shot all the different scenes. This is what it looked like from the back, as we walked past in the hall...
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The view from the kitchen doorway....
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The castle with three separate scenes set up simultaneously....
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The girls with some of my stuff in the way; the box of matches to light the candles before shooting each scene, and a bowl to throw the spent matches into; a little container of eye putty to help dolls hold onto things; an extra camera battery, lens cap, and a knife to tighten the screw for the tripod connector on the bottom of the camera each time it got loose; and Ringo's sword....
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And one final photo tip from the series, about getting around a doll's permanent facial expression. 
I had shot a close up of Ringo unwrapping his sword, but with his permanent pout, he looked 'distracted' or 'disappointed', so I had to reshoot from a higher angle in order to get across the feeling I was after....hence the sword wrapping is different since I reshot the next day and the sword had already been unwrapped, so I had to put the wrap back on, and of course it's not possible to do that in exactly the same way as before.  Not that anyone would notice.
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So now, with the party over, the entire family has moved into my display case....
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I had wanted to move them all in there for some time, but there was no space.  So I made the decision to take all my old cloth dolls, which had been on the bottom shelf in the other case for years, and give them away to my daughter-in-law and granddaughters.  So this is how the two cases looked before the shuffle....
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Removing all the cloth dolls opened up a whole shelf, but I didn't want to put my FIDs down on the bottom where they'd be hidden by the antique buggy, so I moved my Kaye Wiggs girls down a shelf to the bottom, and moved the entire shelf of dolls from the middle of the left case over to the right case. So then the FIDs would be in the prime spot in the middle of the left display case...
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However, the right case is not as wide as the left one, so the Marshmallow Roast with the Gryphon did not fit, and needs to stay on the end of the FID shelf. My son is borrowing my Gryphon piece, as a subject for some special effects promotional videos, so when I get him back, one or two dolls will have to leave. Likely Miho, and Yvette.  Which means she could use a guy to keep her company....?

And of course now that I decided to give away my collection of old cloth dolls, I'm inspired to take lots of photos of them before they leave, since I've never taken photos of them before, and that's all I'll have left of them after they are gone. So stay tuned for lots of cloth doll photos....
11 Comments
Dorothy
8/22/2020 12:33:56 pm

Yeaaaaa, behind the scenes photos!

I did not notice Ringo's sword wrapping looking different.

I love seeing how things were set up and I love seeing your doll cases.

I was looking for Winston. Did I miss him? Is he stored elsewhere?

I look forward to seeing photos of your cloth dolls.

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Martha
8/22/2020 12:59:31 pm

Winston lives in the end of that antique buggy. He is there in the photo if you look closely.

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Dorothy
8/22/2020 02:22:47 pm

Yes, I see him now. He is close enough to Willie that if she needs him, he can get there quickly (smile).

Carol
8/22/2020 06:46:02 pm

Love to see how the magic happens behind the scenes! Looking forward to the cloth doll photos. Many thanks!

Reply
Martha
8/23/2020 04:03:41 pm

I have a few photos taken of the cloth dolls, but need to go out to the woods for some more, so it will still take some time.

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Heather D Hansen
8/22/2020 08:08:53 pm

It is so interesting to see behind the scenes. I was wondering what EYE PUTTY (?) is.I hadn’t heard of it before. As usual you have created entrancing scenes. THANKS

Reply
Martha
8/23/2020 04:10:10 am

Eye Putty is the stuff which holds the doll's eyes place inside their heads. I have a bit in a small container, which I use to 'stick' things into a doll's hands so it looks like they are holding it.

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Jay
8/23/2020 10:14:41 am

I always really enjoy your behind the scene photos. Also, you have a lovely home. :-) I use Mac's silicone eye putty for dolls to hold onto things and, of course, for holding in their eyes. Is that what you use as well? I love how your dining table faces the window. Mine is perpendicular to my nice, south facing windows so light isn't as good. I'm going to get some "studio lights" as inspired by you! We have really short and dark days during the winter here but that's a great time for photography. I'm hoping the lights will help. Thanks for sharing your setup! I always find it fascinating.

Reply
Martha
8/23/2020 04:10:09 pm

I just use whatever eye putty the dolls come with.

The dining room table is usually the other way, but for the castle scene I needed a wider space, so Jan turned the table - which isn't that hard since it's in the middle of an area rug.

Lights are good for supplementing light, but not if they are too bright. So I always have the filter, it comes with, over the light so it's diffused and keep it at a distance. The best for good photos is actually a tripod with your camera set on a timer. That way it doesn't matter how low your light level is. The camera will adjust to compensate for the low light , and the tripod keeps the camera steady even at longer shutter speeds. Wow, I actually sounded like a real photographer there!

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Donna
8/23/2020 10:23:12 am

The dining room makes a great photo studio :o). Your behind-the-scene shots are always so interesting! The photos with some of your stuff in front of the girls really shows how beautifully in scale your photos always are, and just how small the dolls actually are.

Love your display cases and am looking forward to seeing your cloth dolls.

Reply
Martha
8/23/2020 04:15:23 pm

The dining room is super handy, since it has good light most of the time (not when the sun is shining directly in) and I can sit to pose the dolls. It's so much better than having the dolls down at ground level.

I'm actually surprised that people still find the behind the scene shots interesting, because they are always in the same few places - dining room, kitchen, patio - at least this year, since we are stuck at home. But I try to remember to keep taking them.

I thought the same about that photo with the girls and all that stuff laying in front of them. I just had to remember to move things if the stuff was going to be in the photo.

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    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
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