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Shooting in Sunshine

3/25/2015

4 Comments

 
Back to my Photo Tips:  I've put together a tutorial with tips on taking photos in Sunshine, but it's way too long to post here in my Blog in it's entirety, so I'm going to post it in sections, by topic. The actual thumbnail in my Tutorials section won't go live until I've posted everything here.

First up......Limiting Exposure to the Sun

Taking doll photos in sunshine can be tricky, especially considering sunshine is not good for resin. 
No one wants their dolls to turn yellow or green. In order to protect the dolls from the sun, it's important to keep them covered as much as possible. This is especially important when setting up scenes with multiple dolls. Keep the ones you haven't posed yet in their box, covered by a cloth, or shaded by an umbrella. You can also shade the dolls with your own body as you lean over to pose them...
Picture
A large golf umbrella also works well to shade a group of dolls. I pose the dolls shaded by the umbrella, then go position myself to take the photo. They stay covered by the umbrella as I check their poses through my camera, and Jan makes any final adjustments. Once everything is to my satisfaction, Jan lifts the umbrella away, steps back so his shadow doesn't fall across the scene, I snap a couple of photos, and he immediately covers the dolls with the umbrella again, to pack them all away....
Picture
In White Sands, New Mexico, we used the RV to shade the scene. It was early morning with the sun low in the sky, so I found a spot along an undisturbed, plowed, north-west edge of a parking lot. Jan parked right beside the 'sand bank' (like a plowed snowbank, but in White Sands they are sand).  The RV cast a big shadow, and I set up the dolls. When I was ready, Jan backed up the RV, I quickly took some photos, and then he moved forward again to put the dolls back in the shade. Here's one of the photos....
Picture
The only problem with this kind of photography, is that photos must be taken quickly in order to limit the doll's exposure to the sun, so I can't take my time and readjust or change poses much, as I want to get the dolls out of the sun as quickly as possible.
4 Comments
Donna
3/25/2015 04:51:52 am

I love the photos where you show Jan arranging the dolls for your photos. They show the scale of the dolls in the "real world" and how much goes into taking the beautiful, life-like pictures you do.

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Martha
3/25/2015 05:00:09 am

I like them too, and will sometimes take a photo with him in the picture, while I'm laying there waiting for him to get out of the way. It really shows how small the dolls actually are.

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Jane
3/25/2015 08:36:33 am

I love the shots with Jan in too. And I agree with Donna in that they show all the care and planning that goes into making the dolls seem alive in your photos.

Your assistant certainly earns his keep! LOL! ((^_^))

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Xanadu
3/25/2015 01:56:32 pm

I agree with Jane, Jan definitely earns his keep, what a sweetie he is. Thanks again for the tips Martha, you are doing a great job helping us.
Hugs,
X

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    Author

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