Picture of the Week Award ~ Al Gudka

I came upon this stunning photograph of the new Mini Avantguard doll Androgyny on the W Club board.

 Property of Al Gudka

Al's photography is  a favorite of mine. He's a master of composition. You will come across his posts not only on the W board but also on Doll Divas and BC.Com.

Here are the answers Al sent to my questionnaire:

-This gorgeous doll is the Mini-Clone Androgyny AvantGuards with her original wig

-No changes were made to the doll itself, but I did release the wig's ponytail

-She is wearing the Barbie by Jonathan Adler dress; corset and stockings from Aerodynamic Vanessa; shoes from last year's W Club Eugenia; jewelry from Flight Pattern Kyori

-The Hows:

• The camera I used was a 15 megapixel Canon Powershot G10
• For the backdrop I used a white foam-filled poster board; doll is leaning against it
• The only prop was a little desk fan that doubled as a large industrial fan in 1/6th scale
• For lighting I used a cluster of three 35 watt daylight florescent bulbs placed directly in front of, and slightly above the doll, at approx 6 ft away.  I hung a large sheet of tracing paper 2 feet in front of the lamps.  This diffused the light and made it look like natural light.

-My inspiration for this shot was some behind the scenes footage of model Gisele Bundchen during a photo shoot.

-The biggest suggestion I would give to budding photographers is to get acquainted with Photoshop.  It can transform a dull, lifeless photo into a brilliant, high contrast eye-catcher. It is also indispensible when it comes to white balancing your photos if your camera can't do it properly.  I see so many beautiful photos that have been unintentionally marred by green or yellow color casts. 

__________

Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Al. 

Picture of the Week ~ Rob Redden aka Uriah

This is Integrity's "The Red Queen" as photographed by Rob Redden. The lace reminded me of thin strands of white chocolate. She looks like a cupcake decoration - delicious and delicate. I love the intense color and the creamy softness of the focus.
Rob's been doing an exciting series of images of this doll. I normally post only one picture of the week but I wanted to add this one as well to show you a little of the variety he's working with.

Each photo has been highly manipulated in the computer and that is, IMO, Uriah's forte.

Today, two of the doll boards had as their featured image the first one above! You know when you're doing something right!

Picture of the Week ~ Veronica Hage

This week's featured photo was taken by Veronica Hage who posts on Doll Divas and the W Club. The doll was originally an Aerodynamic Vanessa Fashion Royalty. She is dressed in the fashion from Bewitching Luchia.

Click on the picture to see it full-sized.

The re-root and styling is by Marina. Veronica enhanced the eyes and eyebrows and repainted the lips.

I asked Veronica how she set up the photo and about the camera she uses. This is her reply:

"I used a black velvet background made from an old skirt. I have to keep props to a minimum for quick cleanup as I don't have a lot of time with three young kids. I use two lights for my setup. One at each side. My camera is a Canon Rebel XSi. This is my first SLR and I took a short evening class on the basics at my local community college. I've been using it for about six months now and love it."

Her suggestions for other collectors regarding doll photography:

Look at the doll carefully before shooting. Look for stray hairs, little bits of fuzz, hand position, hair position. Look from the level at which you're going to take the photo. If you see something distracting remove it or fix it. Look again to double-check. Most of one's time taking pictures is setting up.

You can see more of Veronica's collection and photography on Flickr  and on her website.

Picture of the Week ~ Wayne Nilson

Today our photo is of the beautiful Zita Charles by Wayne Nilson aka Wayne in FL. She is the Zita from the Stardust Convention collection known as "Hostess With The Mostest." The original dolls looked like this:

Wayne restyled her hair by removing her white streak and moving the position of one of the curls. She is wearing an Ashton Drake fashion called "Pin-Up" with shoes by Integrity.

Wayne said:

This was a very simple set up using 2 pieces of white foam-core board, one overhead spot light and a beautiful satin boudoir seat made by a fellow collector, Jay Aastrup.

I use a Canon Powershot A570 camera. I think digital photography is a godsend.  You can literally take hundreds of shots before you get that 'perfect' one, all at no expense.  I always use 3 or 4 spotlights to light my subject.  I never use the camera flash.  Because it's so hot here (most all of the time), I never take pictures outside in natural light.  I always manipulate my pictures in Photoshop to correct lighting or color problems, to remove any stray hairs, sharpen the eyes, mouth and any other elements I want to stand out.  I use very few, if any, props.  I feel they distract from the main subject matter.

The Picture of the Week Feature is on Vacation

It was becoming more work and less fun so I'm changing things around a bit. When I find an image I'd like to feature, I will call it a "noteworthy photo" and go from there. If you have a suggestion for a different name, I'd like to hear it.

To review the POWs of the past year or so, check this link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yomama12498/sets/72157622608941471/