This image was intended for a BJD game thread on Den of Angels but I like the way it turned out. The claustrophobic framing makes the viewer feel like an intruder on this tender scene. I feel like I’ve hit my stride photographing the dolls now that I know to add a layer to bring out the whites of their eyes. The Eye White layer was mportant for this image. My Bernard has smaller eyes that get lost in photos as more and more layers are added.

The photo was taken with my Canon Rebel Ti1 with Lensbaby Composer Pro with Sweet 50 optic in RAW format. Getting the sweet spot on the lens is tricky. I took just over a dozen shots of the dolls and got 2 very good mages.
The image was imported into Lightroom. A few tweaks to Noise Reduction and a 2 Lil Owls Balcony preset.
In Photoshop, I ran the PhotographyBB Illustration and made 2 versions: black and white and the 2nd color option, which had an overall warm color cast. The color version was set to Soft Light with the opacity down to just barely tint the scene.
At the top of the stack are two Distressed Textures: Apricot Fantasy (for overall warming) and Antique Cyan Bokeh overlays. I flipped the Bokeh overlay horizontally and vertically to find a good spot for one intense diagonal streak of light. In the end, I blurred that streak to turn it into a light source.
The models are my Soom Mecha Angel Sabik, Lysander and Dollshe Pure Body Bernard, Ethan.
Random song running in my head while I write this post: “Kiss” a remake of the Prince song by Tom Jones and the Art of Noise.
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