Doll Photography #11

                             Previous parts: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10. 

                                                                         Hello everyone. 

I'm back with another installment of Doll Photography. This series includes photos that did not make it into previous photo shoots for various reasons. 

                                                  Anyway, let's begin: 

I really like the way Rowena's hair looks in this shot contrasted with her eyes. 

I like this partial close up of Z's face. 

This photo did not end up getting included in this photo shoot I posted a couple years ago, but I really like the way the brick background looks. 

I really like this photo of Captain Marvel. 

And I really like the way this photo of Seven of Nine looks. 

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Which photo is your favorite? 

-Quinley 

How Z & Sarah Became Friends | A Photo Story

Hi everyone, 

So you may want to know the backstory behind the photo I had you caption in What's Happening in This Picture? back in January. The short story behind it is very different than the winning caption. While I took the photos awhile ago, I figured it was time now to post the short story. This story has no correlation really to Red Coats on the Horizon, except for the fact that it features Sarah and Z, and it shows you how they met and became friends. 

But as for Red Coats on the Horizon, I do have plans to post the finale sometime in the near future. 

Let's begin: 

Sarah decided she needed a break from her sisters, who tended to come up with wild ideas, that she usually had to stop in some fashion, right now all she wanted was some time alone. 

 

She thought over what had been happening recently, with the plays her sisters had been putting on. 

New friends and relations...She felt her mind was overwhelmed, and she just wanted to listen to the sound of nature, so she did. 

She listened to the birds in the trees. She was certain she could hear crows cawing in the distance and wild-animals scampering around, however, the only thing she did not notice was...

Z!

Z was trying to film something for her YouTube Channel: 

"Hello. Z here. I have come to talk to all of you today about AG's newest doll releases, and what this means for the--" Z began, pressing record on her camera. 

Thump! 

Sarah and Z both collapsed onto the ground,  

Z stood up quickly, picking up her camera. She stopped it from recording and looked at Sarah. 

"Oops" muttered Sarah, looking over at the new girl. "Sorry that I photobombed your..." she paused, she had done more than photobombing Z's recording: she had disrupted it. 

"...Recording" Sarah finished.

The new girl laughed, "It's fine-- I mean, it was a bit surprising and it hurt a bit. But I'll have something to include in the bloopers of my video." 

"Oh" said Sarah. 

"If you want, of course." the girl added quickly, "I'm Z by the way..." 

"I'm Sarah--" 

"It's nice to meet you!" They shook hands. 

"So anyway, now that you're here-- I was wondering if you...like American Girl dolls and would be interested in discussing their newest releases with me. It was not my original plan to discuss it with someone, but...why not?" 

"All right. That sounds fun!" said Sarah... 

The Discussion- 

Z: Okay-- so now everyone meet Sarah. She is going to talk with me today about AG's newest releases-- 

Sarah: Yes, I'm very excited for this. 

Z: Alright, so...the first up is Claudie. She's the new historical character from the 1920s...

(Image from American Girl, https://www.americangirl.com/products/claudie-doll-and-book-hgy74)

Sarah: Her meet outfit is so cute, and I love her hair. 

Z: Agreed, I really want to own her dress now. And also her backstory sounds so interesting. 

Next up...Molly: 

(Image from American Girl, https://www.americangirl.com/products/molly-mcintire-doll-book-and-accessories-02bun117)

Sarah: I remember that they released a mini doll of her whose glasses were different. I'm glad they kept her old design, because it looks a lot better. 

Z: Yeah, her new Beforever Mini Doll glasses did look a lot more modern. Though honestly were glasses I wanted to wear.  

And lastly the new Wellie Wisher boy doll Bryant... 

(Image from American Girl, https://www.americangirl.com/products/bryant-doll-hhp70)

Sarah: He's...Okay. I don't know why, but I wish there was a Wellie Wisher with a dragon theme that was a girl. You know girls can like dragons too. 

Z: Yeah, the only ones they have that are interested in magical creatures are interested in "girly" ones, even though girls and boys can like whatever they want and really no creatures are "boyish" or "girly." 

Sarah: Agreed. It would be cool if there was a girl Wellie Wisher that liked dragons-- and a boy one liked unicorns that would be way more interesting.

Z: So, of all the new dolls which one is your favorite? My viewers want to know. 

Sarah: Uh, For me it's a tie between Molly and Claudie. But probably Molly-- if I were to pick only one, she's a classic. 

Z: Oh my favorite is Claudie, I love her hair and her outfits-- the whole 1920s theme is awesome-- way more awesome than Courtney who I feel should not be labeled 'historical.' 

Sarah: Anyway, I hope AG keeps bringing back dolls that were retired and also makes more historical dolls. 

Z: I do too. Thank you for coming on, Sarah! This was a fun video to make!

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Have you ever met a new friend in an unexpected way? What do you think of AG's newest dolls? 

-Quinley 

What's Happening in This Picture? #6 ( + Winning Caption)

Hello everyone, 

I am happy to announce the winner for this round's What's Happening In This Picture: 

 Congratulations, Elephant's Child at Elephant's Child you won this round! Here is the caption: 

Resuscitation is harder than it looks. The instructions on my phone made heart massage look simple...

                                      Now for a new photo to caption: 

What are Hermione (left) and Belle (right) doing? Why are they wearing the same clothes? Post your captions down in the comments below. 

-Quinley 

What's Happening in This Picture? #5 ( My Favorite Captions + Voting)

Hello everyone, 

I had a lot of fun reading everyone's captions for this picture. 😃

And here are my favorite captions: 

Here are some of my favorite captions from this round of What is Happening in This Picture? Once again, if your caption didn't get chosen, please don't feel bad. I can only choose a small number of captions for each contest. Even if you don't get chosen this time, you will have a chance to leave another caption on the next one. 

Caption from Christine at Christine's Blog: 

Z: So much for action shots Sarah, let's call it a day.

Caption from Elephant's Child at Elephant's Child: 

Resuscitation is harder than it looks. The instructions on my phone made heart massage look simple...

Caption from AGBookWormz at The Bookworm Blog: 

Z: When you're done attacking me I'd like to finish this stopmotion.

You can vote for your favorite caption by either commenting down below or voting on this form (which leaves your vote anonymous): 

-Quinley 

Meet My Dolls #1 (Sarah, Z, and Alfred)

 I have posted two of these stop motions before on my blog (one of them I made recently), but since they were at the end of blog posts rather than having a whole post dedicated to them, I decided to make a post dedicated to them.

 I am going to make more of these stop motions,  so this will be a series of short animations relating to getting to know my dolls better.  Also, as a quick reminder, you can still leave a caption on this round's What's Happening in This Picture? 

Let's begin: 

You can also watch it here

Here is Sarah's introduction. Sarah was my first American Girl doll, so I decided she was the perfect doll for the first stop motion. 

You can also watch it here 

The second is Suzanne "Z,"'s introduction. Given that Z is one of my favorite AG dolls, I thought she should be the next doll to make a stop motion of. 

You can also watch it here 

And finally (for this part), I did a stop motion of Alfred. Unlike Z and Sarah he is a Carpatina doll (in case anyone is wondering that is why he looks so different). 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which stop motion was your favorite? 

-Quinley 

What's Happening in This Picture #5 (+ Winning Caption)

Hello everyone, 

I am happy to announce the winner of this round's What's Happening In This Picture?: 

Congratulations Hailey at Hailey's Joyful Dolls! You won this round! 

Here's the caption: 

Kit: Omg it's Sherlock Holmes, I Love your books Sherlock

Sherlock: What books?

Now for a new photo to caption: 

It seems something went horribly wrong...Why are Sarah (right) and Z (left) on the ground? 

          Was Z making a stop motion before this happened? And what is on Z's phone? Comment your                captions down below. 

-Quinley 

What's Happening in This Picture #3 (My Favorite Captions + Voting)

Hello everyone, 

I loved reading everyone's captions. 😊

And now I've chosen my favorite ones, if yours didn't get chosen it is nothing personal about you. I'm choosing a small number of entries, and you can always leave a caption again on the next What's Happening in That Picture? That will happen after we have a winning caption for this one. 

Caption from Sadie at Cinnamon Bears and Salsa AG: 

Z: Tenney! What are you doing? Get down from there right this instant.
Tenney: oh, you know me. Always coloring outside of the lines and finding new ways to capture my creativity in a brand new way…….

Caption from Anonymous: 

Tenney what are you doing?

Z there's a wanted poster with our names on it! Let me just draw some mustaches and add some extra letters to our names...

Tenney what did you do???

What do you mean, what did I do? What did YOU do?

There's a reward, so I'm making that zero dollars.

We'd better get out of here Tenney and figure out what's going on!

Caption from Christine at Christine's blog: 

Z make sure you get this one! 'Wake up. be amazing. be kind. be grateful repeat.'

Caption from Treesa at Fashion Doll Memoirs: 

Z: Remind me again why we're taking a photo of me taking a photo.
Tenney: Trust me, it's artistic. We'll get our own exhibit at the modern art gallery for sure!

And here is the way you can vote for your favorite one. You can either vote on this Google form here (which is anonymous, it won't record any information about you), or you can comment down below and choose your favorite caption from this post: 

-Quinley 

What's Happening in This Picture #2 (+ Winning Caption)

Hello everyone!

 I haven't done this series in a long time; the last time I did it was in 2018. So, I decided I wanted to revive this series. I can't remember who won the voting on the last caption, given that I did the poll a really long time ago. So, I have just chosen one caption at random: 

             Winning caption by Theincompetenthuman:  

Aphrodite: "Girls don't take that much time with full-length gowns nowadays. It's a shame they SKIRT around the issue. I'm not trying to sugarCOAT this, but this really is quite a HEEL"

                      The new photo to caption: 

What are Z and Tenney doing? Why is Tenney holding her pencil towards the camera like that? Why is Z taking a photo of her? Submit your captions down below in the comments, and I will select my favorite ones. Then we will vote on which caption should be the winning one after that. 😉

-Quinley 

Tips and Tricks For Doll Photography

 Taking photos of your dolls (or of anything really) is not about talent, it's about how you do it. My first photos that I ever took of my dolls looked like this: 

The lighting was off, and it was incredibly flaky. However, over time and through experimenting I figured out how to make my photos look good (though I am always still learning).  

Here are some tips and tricks that I use for taking photos of my dolls: 

                                                      1. Good Lighting 

You need a partially cloudy day, a day that's not too dark (otherwise the pictures will be grainy if you enlarge them) and a day that's not too light (otherwise there will be unwanted shadows in your pictures). 

Also don't use a flash. Your photos will look better without the unnatural light.

                                               2. Find a place to put your camera/phone. 

 I admit my hand is a bit shaky when taking my own photos. Sometimes they don't turn out because of that. To solve this problem, hold your shaky hand with your other hand, or rest your hand on your knee. This will be useful in making sure your photos turn out well. Or if neither of those help, get a tripod for your camera or phone. 

                                                               3. Hiding your hand 

This is something that has shown up in my own photos, but it's something you can easily hide. If you need to, adjust the frame of the shot to exclude your hand. If your hand does show up in a photo, it is something you can easily crop. You can do this on a Mac by going to Photos (or another place where you upload your photos) with the crop tool. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What kinds of photo shoots do you like to do with your dolls? :D 

-Quinley 

Fun Things to Do During the Winter Holidays (post by Tenney and Z)

Hello everyone, this is Z and Tenney sending holiday cheer!

We hope you're having a happy third day of Hanukah!  Or a good Christmas Eve, if you celebrate Christmas, or are looking forward to Kwanzaa which begins in two days, or had a good Winter Solstice, or are enjoying whichever holiday you celebrate since there are so many around the globe.
We thought to make everyone feel welcome, we would make a post that everyone would enjoy, and not feel left out of.

Here are some fun things to do over the winter holidays...

1. Do a winter themed stop motion animation. 

I (Z) always love doing stop motion animations with my AG dolls (and my other dolls as well). It can be fun to do stop motions that have themes related to winter.

2. Take photos outside of your doll in the snow* 

*If it snows where you are. You may want to be careful about what types of dolls you bring out for this. If it is an American girl doll, Carpantia, or a Girl For All Time, there is a possibility that their eyes may rust or they may get damaged.

I (Z) love doing this, since the photos I take tend to turn out beautiful when it is snowing, and it gives it really festive feel.

3. Write a winter themed song 

This is an activity that I (Tenney) enjoy doing during the holidays. The song could be about the snow flakes falling down and how beautiful it is this time of the year.

4. Film a music video or video outside side in the snow* 

*if it snows where you are. 

This has a cool (quite literately) effect to it, that both of us can agree on. And it makes it even better if your song or movie has a winter theme to it.

5. Read winter/holiday related books to get into the spirit of the holidays 

There are so many fun winter related books to read during the holidays, whether they be about your holiday or merely winter itself.
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What are some of your favorite things to do during the winter holidays? Feel free to share some of your own ideas in the comment section below! 

Happy holidays! 
-Tenney
-Z

Autumn is in the Air (a photoshoot)

Happy autumn everyone! To begin the autumn season (which is going to be filled with posts about Halloween), I thought I would post a fall-themed photoshoot of Carol:

I like how Carol's hair is hiding her face a little in this one. 

I really like Carol's pose in this photo. 

I like the layout of this photo. 

I like the layout of this photo, and the way her face is hidden 

slightly behind her hair. 

                                        I also really like the view in this photo.

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Which photo is your favorite? And who is your favorite female Marvel super hero? 
-Quinley

P.S.  I recently posted a stop motion animation which is a part of the series of introduction videos for my dolls:

                             Meet Suzanne "Z"| AGSM 

You can also watch it here