Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
a paper craft Totoro for you
Sitting at my desk keeping me company atop my scanner is a tiny paper version of one of my most favorite characters...totoro!...from the cartoon movie My Neighbor Totoro. He's a sort of part cat, part mythical troll-like creature.
Anyways, I'm not sure how I came across this paper craft version of Totoro, but if you haven't seen some of the amazing things people can make out of paper then I strongly urge you to google "paper craft". For those of you aquinted with the cartoon movie Howl's Moving Castle, DEFINATELY google that with paper craft. You'll be shocked and amazed to say the least.
Would you like your very own paper Totoro? You know you do. Totoro
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Polka dots it is
As if anyone wants to see one more post about my Plini backgrounds. Fortunately for those wondering, this will be the last as I've made my final decision. Polka dots it is! I'm about 75% done re-shooting the photos and color-correcting them. I don't know why I didn't think the polka dots were a good idea at first. They're exactly the feel I wanted the Plini figurines to have. Whaddyathink?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
a tarnished weekend
I had big plans for the weekend. big. HUGE. Okay, not that huge. But some other important family drama went down and I lost a whole day. That may not sound like much, but when you put off your work all week with the plan to get things in order come the weekend, it can really throw things off. I should probably stop putting things off, and just do them when I have the chance, because you just never know what is right around the corner.
I'm still trying to come up with a new background for my Plinis. I have more to list, but I've been putting it off until I can find a background to settle on. I'm still a fan of the recipe page. But overall I'm just really undecided. I have to play around with the angles.
My mom suggested a ball jar for a vintage retro feel. I really like the idea. I'm just not sure now if it's too distracting. Maybe minus the lacy doily. Or if I could find/think of another vintage-y item that would be nice.
This last photo I was kind of just joking. I used a ceramic bird candle holder I have. It looks like he's spying on my Plini. But I think it would make for a confusing photo to use. Is it just the Plini for sale? Is that weird bird included? I don't want to cause any confusion in what is actually for sale...if that makes sense.
Or maybe I'll just stick with an all polka dot background. No props. Hmm..that's a thought.
Also, while searching the apartment for props I found this vintage metal server my mom gave me. It was so tarnished it was almost entirely black. I cleaned it up using some tarnish remover cloths thinking I could use it in my Plini photos. But it looked weird. My hands got really dirty though!
I'm still trying to come up with a new background for my Plinis. I have more to list, but I've been putting it off until I can find a background to settle on. I'm still a fan of the recipe page. But overall I'm just really undecided. I have to play around with the angles.
My mom suggested a ball jar for a vintage retro feel. I really like the idea. I'm just not sure now if it's too distracting. Maybe minus the lacy doily. Or if I could find/think of another vintage-y item that would be nice.
This last photo I was kind of just joking. I used a ceramic bird candle holder I have. It looks like he's spying on my Plini. But I think it would make for a confusing photo to use. Is it just the Plini for sale? Is that weird bird included? I don't want to cause any confusion in what is actually for sale...if that makes sense.
Or maybe I'll just stick with an all polka dot background. No props. Hmm..that's a thought.
Also, while searching the apartment for props I found this vintage metal server my mom gave me. It was so tarnished it was almost entirely black. I cleaned it up using some tarnish remover cloths thinking I could use it in my Plini photos. But it looked weird. My hands got really dirty though!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
a bit 'o flair
Paper Menagerie was nice enough to send out a free piece of "flair" in the form of a button asking whoever got one to take a picture of how they used the button. I must admit I took FOREVER, only having just finally mailed her my photo today and I received the button over a week and a half ago. I was trying to think of something more than just pinning it to my shirt or purse. What do you think?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
a new background, me thinks maybe
Oh my gracious dear me...it's been way too long since my last post. I can't say I haven't been busy though. More Plinis, finishing up my custom order for a wedding set, making a birthday card for my Nana, feeding the "outside cat" (see my previous post), and other various things.
But today, what's weighing heavily on my mind is my wanting to change up the way I photograph my Plinis. I've always had them on a bright white background. But it's really very time consuming and sometimes I don't think I capture the natural color of certain Plinis as good as it could be.
I don't know if that's a good idea though. I do like a white background because there's no distractions and nothing to influence your opinion of the Plini besides the Plini itself. Plus, I think it gives a teeny artsy gallery type of feel. I don't want my Plini figurines to be translated as disposable toys, but rather teeny works of "non-hoity-toity" art. If that makes any sense.
So I've been playing around with some backgrounds and weighing the pros and cons in terms of how long it takes me to prepare the lighting as well as edit the photo.
For the first one I photographed a Plini on a recipe page of a book. I was thinking it might be interesting if the page related to the plini. So say I had a Plini with cookies on her head, she could be sitting on a cookie recipe page. The lighting was pretty easy to deal with and I think it looks interesting with some of the text in focus and some not. But I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Mind you, I took these pictures really quickly so they're not perfect. Just for comparison.
This second one is photographed on artist canvas. It still sticks closely to my orignal white backgrounds, but has a little texture. Is texture a good thing? I don't know. The lighting was a little harder to work with and I had to play with the color balance because it mostly picked up blues. But overall it didn't effect the color of the Plini in a bad way.
My third try I went with what appeared to be a black background. But when I photographed it I realized it had a teensy bit of sheen on the paper which equals instant dull gray on camera. I played with the contrast and the photo got very grainy. Then I had to tweak the coloring of everything for a while. I don't think I like the black at all though. I was thinking it might make the bright colors pop and it just might if I manage to find a better piece of black for the background and photograph it better. But for now, I don't feel like dealing with it. I have enough to deal with with the white backgrounds.
The fourth photo I went with this "pretend lace" cardstock paper I have. I loooooove lacey things and back when I was taking pictures of my food-themed jewelry I'd usually photograph them on a doily. But this looks kind of fake and strange I think. The color was a bit of a pain to deal with too. It picked up a lot of blue and when I tried to fix it the photo got a little grainy. Also, I'm not sure if I like that pink shows through the eyelets of the lace. Will pink match with every one of my Plinis? Hmm...
And lastly, I thought maybe a solid color would look nice. I've been using solid colors for other various things in my shop, why not my Plinis too? Question is...do I stick with just one solid color for all of them (for uniformity) or whatever color compliments the Plini at the time? The problem I have with colors is that they react strangely with the Plini colors sometimes and I end up having to color correct them a lot.
Well that's what I have so far. Overall I like the book pages the most. But I've seen that technique a good amount of times. Is it too unoriginal? I've been pacing around my apartment looking for other surfaces and things to try out. I guess I'll keep brainstorming and let some ideas percolate.
But today, what's weighing heavily on my mind is my wanting to change up the way I photograph my Plinis. I've always had them on a bright white background. But it's really very time consuming and sometimes I don't think I capture the natural color of certain Plinis as good as it could be.
I don't know if that's a good idea though. I do like a white background because there's no distractions and nothing to influence your opinion of the Plini besides the Plini itself. Plus, I think it gives a teeny artsy gallery type of feel. I don't want my Plini figurines to be translated as disposable toys, but rather teeny works of "non-hoity-toity" art. If that makes any sense.
So I've been playing around with some backgrounds and weighing the pros and cons in terms of how long it takes me to prepare the lighting as well as edit the photo.
For the first one I photographed a Plini on a recipe page of a book. I was thinking it might be interesting if the page related to the plini. So say I had a Plini with cookies on her head, she could be sitting on a cookie recipe page. The lighting was pretty easy to deal with and I think it looks interesting with some of the text in focus and some not. But I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Mind you, I took these pictures really quickly so they're not perfect. Just for comparison.
This second one is photographed on artist canvas. It still sticks closely to my orignal white backgrounds, but has a little texture. Is texture a good thing? I don't know. The lighting was a little harder to work with and I had to play with the color balance because it mostly picked up blues. But overall it didn't effect the color of the Plini in a bad way.
My third try I went with what appeared to be a black background. But when I photographed it I realized it had a teensy bit of sheen on the paper which equals instant dull gray on camera. I played with the contrast and the photo got very grainy. Then I had to tweak the coloring of everything for a while. I don't think I like the black at all though. I was thinking it might make the bright colors pop and it just might if I manage to find a better piece of black for the background and photograph it better. But for now, I don't feel like dealing with it. I have enough to deal with with the white backgrounds.
The fourth photo I went with this "pretend lace" cardstock paper I have. I loooooove lacey things and back when I was taking pictures of my food-themed jewelry I'd usually photograph them on a doily. But this looks kind of fake and strange I think. The color was a bit of a pain to deal with too. It picked up a lot of blue and when I tried to fix it the photo got a little grainy. Also, I'm not sure if I like that pink shows through the eyelets of the lace. Will pink match with every one of my Plinis? Hmm...
And lastly, I thought maybe a solid color would look nice. I've been using solid colors for other various things in my shop, why not my Plinis too? Question is...do I stick with just one solid color for all of them (for uniformity) or whatever color compliments the Plini at the time? The problem I have with colors is that they react strangely with the Plini colors sometimes and I end up having to color correct them a lot.
Well that's what I have so far. Overall I like the book pages the most. But I've seen that technique a good amount of times. Is it too unoriginal? I've been pacing around my apartment looking for other surfaces and things to try out. I guess I'll keep brainstorming and let some ideas percolate.
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