Dalicious - Challenge 1

Dear Readers,

The theme for the first challenge of the Dalicious Photo Contest was MAGIC!  It took me a few days to figure out what I wanted to do and then I had to wait until I got the time to set up a photoshoot.

As you know from my last blog entries, I was stressed out because of my mom's death anniversary and my son's birthday so I didn't work on the photoshoot until Sunday which was the last day to submit the picture!

The most difficult task was to occupy baby so I could work in peace.  It was not easy.   My daughter is very attached to me because I work all day long so when I come home (or during weekends), she sticks to me like a magnet on a fridge!

So whether I try to cook or do the laundry, or read with my boy, she will want to be with me.  My husband tricks her away by taking her out on her tricycle or letting her watch Peppa Pig.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and she would sit there and cry until I pick her up. 

Well last Sunday was one of those days when it would not work.  She kept running back to me while I was setting up the background for my photo and it was really difficult to focus amidst her screams and tears but I had to do it or I would be eliminated from the contest.

My home situation surely matched my scene because Scout (DAL Tweety) was dressed as Cinderella crying on her Fairy Godmother's knees.  The Fairy holds a magic wand and is about to transform one of the little mice who are hiding behind a pumpkin.  Do you recognize the mice?  They are the Sylvanian Families Norwood Mice children :)

The pumpkins are real by the way.   I bought them at the grocery store so we can use them as home decorations and for carving Halloween pumpkins later.  The broom is a Madeline toy from Eden.

The wand was made with a Q-Tip covered with glitter.  I had glued the glitter a day in advance so it would have time to dry but tons of glitter kept coming off during the photo shoot anyway.  It landed everywhere: hair, dress, grass.  I constantly had to blow them away or pick them out of the picture scene.

The two dresses actually belong to a Snow White Disney doll.  I had the Cinderella dresses as well but they looked way too big on my DAL doll.  The Snow White's poor dress was however smaller and simple enough to look like a common rag dress.  The Fairy Godmother is wearing a Snow White Winter Gown.

I took about 20 pictures with my camera and they turned out all blurry >.<  I then took 10 pictures with my Samsung Cell Phone and I ended up using one of those photos.  I don't have Photoshop so I could not edit or change anything to my picture.  I wished I could have photoshopped some tears on her cheeks.  But to be honest, I was already so relieved at least ONE photo came out clear enough!!! 

I then had a mild panic moment when I realized my photo was not the proper size requested for the contest.  Good thing that Chloe from Moonrabbit_Ly's Miniature World had told me about iPiccy a few days ago.  I used that program to resize my photo to the correct dimensions!  Thanks Chloe!!!

The next day the contestant's photos are posted on the Dolly Market Forum.  You can view them on the discussion thread of the forum.

I must say I was floored to see the quality and creativity shown in those photos!  I knew I was nowhere near as good.  I really have to work harder on my setup and my photography skills!  But it was a fantastic experience and I am really looking forward to the next challenge.  I certainly "played" with my dolls more than I did on a regular basis and I had to think about using objects I have at home as props in my scene.  I didn't want to go buy extra material (there was no time for that either) so it was great to look into my existing stack of toys!     

I heard some websites can help photoshop but I really don't have much free time to explore!  I will try my best with unedited photos at first and then look into photoshopping if I have time left!  Wish me luck!