Join Us For Some Snow Day Fun!

Madelon and I would love to see your dolly Snow day photos! Madelon has had a blast getting her dolls all dressed and ready to play in the snow this year and has sent in some really wonderful photos. I would love to have a few of your photos to share here on our Snow Day Fun which will be Leap Year February 29th! So please if you have a photo you would like us to include in our post please email me at karenmowen@gmail.com  by February 15th!
If you don't have snow where you live you can use material or photo editing to make it look like you do! We can not wait to see what you come up with!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Madelon's Wonderful Photo Shoot Tips!

Today Madelon shares a wonderful way to set up a studio like photo session with your dolls.
"I put Maryellen in a red Christmas baby dress. I used a green foam board to contrast with the red. Then, I pulled out a wooden sleigh and festive box."

"Moving your doll around and the props to create different angles is fun!"

The foam board in the back drop is the perfect shade of green for photo shop and for paint programs!

Thank you Madelon for sharing this post and photo ideas with all of us! the baby dress is darling and the props are perfect! As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Visit Doll Diaries Today For My Tutorial On Holiday Photos and Editing For Dolls!

Today on Doll Diaries I have a tutorial on how to create and edit fun holiday photos for your dolls. I hope you will stop by! Click here for the tutorial.

Another Fundeco Background And Photo Ideas From Madelon!

With the weather feeling like it is 100, I was thinking beach photos. This Fundeco background has a subtle island.

Madelon's tips: Use light brown clothing as your dolly sand

Look year round for items like this one that will fit with doll play and that is doll size. This is a Christmas Ornament Madelon got, perfect for doll play and photos!

See how perfectly it works with her dolls!

Get up close and personal when taking your dolly photos! Try to keep your back grounds to scale and have fun!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Mini Monday Photography With Madelon's Fun Find AND CONTEST!

Today on Mini Monday Madelon shares a mini art work of Paris she found that is the perfect scale to write a Mini Doll Photo Story with.

Using Pick-monkey a free softwear I have turned the photos from color to black and white so that you can create a photo story. So here are the photos, your job is to send in your story you made up using only the photos below. Then email your story to me at karenmowen@gmail.com with MINISTORY in the subject line to be entered to win a random prize envelop from me.
Here are your photos and good luck!

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

Photo 3


Odds of wining depend on number of entries received. Void where not allowed and ask your parents first please! The winning story will be featured on an up coming Mini Monday Post!
Thank you all and thank you Madelon for these amazing photos and fun finds!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Photo Tips From Karen and Madelon

Today Madelon and I wanted to share a fun Photo tip and some info on a photo editing site I use. To get a soft vintage look Madelon use natural light, a chair and drape a cloth over the chair to create a natural background for your doll photos.

 

This Our Generation dress is perfect on Addy Don't you think?

 The neckline, fabric and sleeves are very flattering even though it is a modern dress is works as a historical look as well.

I use a free photo editing site called www.picmonkey.com to edit all my photos it is easy and fun and can take your photos to a whole new level! The above is Madelon's unedited photo. Below I have edited it with picmonkey, I used the Sepia setting and the frame tab to soften and change the look of her photo!

You can easily add words to your photos as well with picmonkey!

Doll photography is so much fun and editing your photos can add a whole new dimension to your creative photo shoots and memories.

We hope you enjoyed today's post and we look forward to sharing more photo tips with you again soon.

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Tips on photographing your dolls!

 

In yesterdays post I announced the new photo contest. Today I thought I would let you in on some great doll photography tips. A few months ago my friend Susie sent me the Doll fun have fun with photos article from the American Girl magazine from the January/ February 2010 issue and inside were great tips on how to take a great photo with any camera. Now I have been taking photos for years but some how photographing dolls was not as easy in the beginning ( you can tell by earlier photos from my blog) as taking photos of real people.  Some of the tips in that article really helped my photography and some of what I learned came from trial and error. 

If you missed the article in American Girl magazine here are some of the finer points

Chose the right spot!  find a location that will work and remove as much people sized items as possible, "if you take the photo from father away things will appear smaller and more doll sized."

Setting the scene and posing your doll. Either have the dolls look at each other  or directly at you or the camera. If the dolls look at each other it looks like they are talking to each other. 

To help making the photo look like the dolls are doing real things use doll sized props like tea sets, pets and place things in their hands like phone's or flags. You can get your doll to hold just about anything with skin toned or clear elastics which you can find at the dollar store.

Taking your dolls photo outside also usually has great results. Get up close to your dolls remember their entire body doesn't have to be in the photo. Also do not shoot the photo directly in the sun, try to take photos on cloudy days for the best effects.

Another great trick and one I use daily is use an editing software. I use http://www.picnik.com

it is a free software that really helps crop or enhance your photos, you can add "stickers" or change the photo to black and white or sepia. The best part is the more photos you take the better your photos will get and the more fun you will have. Remember to enter my photo contest, enter today! 

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com and send your photo entries their as well.