Making a "blurry lines" background for doll photography. An experiment.
Hey! How is your summer going so far?
While working on one of my previous posts, I chatted with Fashion Doll's stylist on Twitter and he shared some great pop photography ideas with me. While we were chatting, I came up with some ideas for patterns and motifs that could be used for the background, but since my previous post was too long, I decided to save some of them for future notes.
This idea for blurry backgrounds/blurred lines came to me when I started taking pictures of my dolls with my phone. A few months ago, I bought a new phone with portrait mode, which pushes the background much easier than my camera. In fact, some of the photos in my last post were taken with my phone. So the ideas came to me and it's a lot of fun to see them come to light. I wanted to make something that would be easy for everyone to make, with props that everyone could easily find. So I gathered my craft supplies and decided to give it a try. I don't have a plan, I have no idea how it will end, it was just a pure impulse to do something. destroyer warning. Things didn't go the way I expected, but unfortunately I learned a few things along the way. Let's start with my little experience.
At first I thought to draw a large piece of cardboard, but for the first time it may be too large for the project. The A4 sheet can also be too small and no bigger than a cereal box, thankfully I found out a few weeks ago that my regular stationery now contains the automotive sheets I use, the A3 sheets I use are easier to work with. . I bought two, one white, one white. I'm going to use white for today's craft. I also decided to use two acrylic paints. Popular art at Pervincl , American acrylic on sea breeze.
I decided to put my page vertical because I placed most of my background in a way I thought it would look better. I then measured and marked the center of my newspaper.
Since I wanted to make 3 lines, I decided to make each line 2.75 inches (7 cm) wide. I started to mark the middle and make sure the middle of the strip is in the middle of the paper. That is, from the place where I marked the center, I measure 3.5 cm up and 3.5 cm down. From there I notice the top layer 7 cm up and the bottom layer 7 cm down. I didn't draw a full line, I just marked the points to give me a guideline. Since it's a blurry background, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I just want it to be reasonably symmetrical.
Now it's time to start drawing the lines. I start painting the styrofoam from the top line. You don't have to paint with perfect strokes, just make sure your brush is a little dry when you get to the edges.
I finished something similar. Again, this doesn't have to be perfect, because the key word here is "vague".
Then I painted the bottom line with the color of my straw. You don't have to do it right again. You can paint the inside first and then dry brush the edges if that's easier for you.
My original idea was to mix both colors, paint over the middle layer with the color that came out with a kind of "gradient". However, you never know how some factory colors will behave when mixed. They may have a pigment in the formula that isn't very noticeable but reacts oddly with other colors. Let's see what's going on.
The color didn't come out as I expected, so I finally added some acrylic paint from the Amsterdam brand and it came close to what I wanted.
With the same color I painted the middle layer, again using the drybrush technique. If you feel like the middle color overlaps the other two, you can always take it a little more and flip the edges.
And that's the point. I know it's not a masterpiece, it's a little reassuring, but I hope it looks good on camera.
When everything was dry, I invited Lorna McKenzie for a quick photo shoot.
I think this color scheme will suit Lara from Generation Girls. I saved it from my parents' house a few years ago, I didn't show it much here. It's your time to shine.
I thought it would be nice to put the sheet in a horizontal position to see what it looks like. I seem to like it this way.
In general, I am very pleased with the result, although I made several mistakes: it did not turn out the way I expected. I expected the colors to look more pastel, but they dried darker than I expected. I also originally wanted to create a watercolor effect, but I was afraid that I would run out of cardboard if I diluted the colors too much. It was bent a little, but after the paint dried, it fell into place. What do I think the camera looks nice? I might do this in the future, but with warm colors, I'll try my colors first next time.
I also found an open box in a small stationery store in my town. There is a small diamond print on one side, which looks very stylish on camera.
On the other hand, it has a pattern from the 70s that makes me think of bathroom tiles.
It's a pretty big sheet. For information, here's a behind-the-scenes look.
It's from a brand called Maildor that I just saw on Amazon. Here are the details if you want to see.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It took me centuries to write this. I took all the photos and then I was too busy writing the post. When I finally had time, I wasn't so inspired to write. I would like to write a few more posts by the end of the summer, but I'm a little busy, I don't know if I will find the time or energy. It's not that I don't have ideas for future posts, but since I'm so busy, I think I won't have enough time, which makes me a little overwhelmed and less excited to write. when it happened to you
I want to end this post on a positive note by talking to my pop friend Dom: she was one of the first pop music collectors I "introduced" when I started collecting, she was so sweet. He is an OG collector and you can see his amazing dioramas on his website . You can also show her some love on her Facebook page My Doll Space .
I hope you have a wonderful summer. See you in my next post. Look at yourself.
MS:
PS I just got my diplomas, they were pretty good. Let's see how the next semester goes.
Similar posts.
Quick and Easy Pop Photography Background Ideas
Make more drawings for dolls.
While working on one of my previous posts, I chatted with Fashion Doll's stylist on Twitter and he shared some great pop photography ideas with me. While we were chatting, I came up with some ideas for patterns and motifs that could be used for the background, but since my previous post was too long, I decided to save some of them for future notes.
This idea for blurry backgrounds/blurred lines came to me when I started taking pictures of my dolls with my phone. A few months ago, I bought a new phone with portrait mode, which pushes the background much easier than my camera. In fact, some of the photos in my last post were taken with my phone. So the ideas came to me and it's a lot of fun to see them come to light. I wanted to make something that would be easy for everyone to make, with props that everyone could easily find. So I gathered my craft supplies and decided to give it a try. I don't have a plan, I have no idea how it will end, it was just a pure impulse to do something. destroyer warning. Things didn't go the way I expected, but unfortunately I learned a few things along the way. Let's start with my little experience.
At first I thought to draw a large piece of cardboard, but for the first time it may be too large for the project. The A4 sheet can also be too small and no bigger than a cereal box, thankfully I found out a few weeks ago that my regular stationery now contains the automotive sheets I use, the A3 sheets I use are easier to work with. . I bought two, one white, one white. I'm going to use white for today's craft. I also decided to use two acrylic paints. Popular art at Pervincl , American acrylic on sea breeze.
I decided to put my page vertical because I placed most of my background in a way I thought it would look better. I then measured and marked the center of my newspaper.
Since I wanted to make 3 lines, I decided to make each line 2.75 inches (7 cm) wide. I started to mark the middle and make sure the middle of the strip is in the middle of the paper. That is, from the place where I marked the center, I measure 3.5 cm up and 3.5 cm down. From there I notice the top layer 7 cm up and the bottom layer 7 cm down. I didn't draw a full line, I just marked the points to give me a guideline. Since it's a blurry background, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I just want it to be reasonably symmetrical.
Now it's time to start drawing the lines. I start painting the styrofoam from the top line. You don't have to paint with perfect strokes, just make sure your brush is a little dry when you get to the edges.
I finished something similar. Again, this doesn't have to be perfect, because the key word here is "vague".
Then I painted the bottom line with the color of my straw. You don't have to do it right again. You can paint the inside first and then dry brush the edges if that's easier for you.
My original idea was to mix both colors, paint over the middle layer with the color that came out with a kind of "gradient". However, you never know how some factory colors will behave when mixed. They may have a pigment in the formula that isn't very noticeable but reacts oddly with other colors. Let's see what's going on.
The color didn't come out as I expected, so I finally added some acrylic paint from the Amsterdam brand and it came close to what I wanted.
With the same color I painted the middle layer, again using the drybrush technique. If you feel like the middle color overlaps the other two, you can always take it a little more and flip the edges.
And that's the point. I know it's not a masterpiece, it's a little reassuring, but I hope it looks good on camera.
When everything was dry, I invited Lorna McKenzie for a quick photo shoot.
I think this color scheme will suit Lara from Generation Girls. I saved it from my parents' house a few years ago, I didn't show it much here. It's your time to shine.
I thought it would be nice to put the sheet in a horizontal position to see what it looks like. I seem to like it this way.
In general, I am very pleased with the result, although I made several mistakes: it did not turn out the way I expected. I expected the colors to look more pastel, but they dried darker than I expected. I also originally wanted to create a watercolor effect, but I was afraid that I would run out of cardboard if I diluted the colors too much. It was bent a little, but after the paint dried, it fell into place. What do I think the camera looks nice? I might do this in the future, but with warm colors, I'll try my colors first next time.
I also found an open box in a small stationery store in my town. There is a small diamond print on one side, which looks very stylish on camera.
On the other hand, it has a pattern from the 70s that makes me think of bathroom tiles.
It's a pretty big sheet. For information, here's a behind-the-scenes look.
It's from a brand called Maildor that I just saw on Amazon. Here are the details if you want to see.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It took me centuries to write this. I took all the photos and then I was too busy writing the post. When I finally had time, I wasn't so inspired to write. I would like to write a few more posts by the end of the summer, but I'm a little busy, I don't know if I will find the time or energy. It's not that I don't have ideas for future posts, but since I'm so busy, I think I won't have enough time, which makes me a little overwhelmed and less excited to write. when it happened to you
I want to end this post on a positive note by talking to my pop friend Dom: she was one of the first pop music collectors I "introduced" when I started collecting, she was so sweet. He is an OG collector and you can see his amazing dioramas on his website . You can also show her some love on her Facebook page My Doll Space .
I hope you have a wonderful summer. See you in my next post. Look at yourself.
MS:
PS I just got my diplomas, they were pretty good. Let's see how the next semester goes.
Similar posts.
Quick and Easy Pop Photography Background Ideas
Make more drawings for dolls.
