Underfoot 06: Safe and Warm at Home

Improving Old Shots with Lightroom

I mostly go into Photoshop to play around with my photographs, and just use Lightroom for its automatic adjustments. But, I've recently learned how to get more out of Lightroom, and am using it more often to adjust my shots. Here's a shot I adjusted completely in Lightroom, before my adjustment. Cute image, but totally...

More shooting in the dark

Lighting a shot is always a series of experiments. I have some very rough idea of what I want, and then I start playing around with placement and lighting. Sometimes sometimes everything looks great, and sometimes everything looks awful. I try to do more of whatever made the shot look great, but it's a pretty...

Shooting under the bed with candlelight

Sharing a few shots from last night, when the cast of Underfoot was all cozied up in their beds watching Incredible Journey. I tried out a few angles and light sources: And ended up using this shot, with a mixture of two LED tealights plus one solid beam, and then adjusted to exposure to make...

Waylaid by Waffles, or how I got totally stuck trying to take a simple shot

10 days ago, Rat and Cosette were well on their way to a waffle. Rat had read the recipe, and Cosette was breaking an egg. And then . . . everything just stopped, when the picture in my mind utterly failed to materialize in the real world. First idea - I'll have them cooking a...

That first cup of coffee: Capturing the right shot for a photo story

Sharing my steps to get a good shot of Rat and Cosette getting that first cup of coffee in the morning. I start off with Rat alone, hanging onto a coffee pot. I'm dealing with that fluorescent kitchen light again, but the shot isn't bad. As a side note, this little rat is absolutely fantastic...

Rat takes a bath: Behind the scenes on a single shot from a photographic novel

Sharing a series of shots I took to illustrate the Underfoot episode I'm working on. The idea was that I'd follow two of the characters through their day, starting with a shower. I thought I'd take a picture of the rat character under the faucet (based on a very cube youtube video of a rat...

Underfoot 04: Mathilde and Cosette make a friend

Underfoot: The Doll Graveyard

Underfoot has gone through some changes since our last adventure. The two characters have new names and a new location. Meet Cosette and Mathilde and their adventures in France. Also, the new site is up at http://www.smalllifestories.com. Still in pretty preliminary form, but some pieces are ready. That said, I'm going to post the new...

Underfoot: A night in the shop

After being turned away from the hotel in their last episode, Jinjur and Buu take to the streets to find some place to stay the night. But the big world is not a safe place for little things Looking for a place to stay, they spot a shop. And use the mailslot to scramble in...