Meanwhile

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Who ordered snow and rain stuff? April showers/snow squalls bring May flowers.

Mother Nature has her own mind. However the moisture is welcomed.

Yesterday was one of those days of rain then fog, then mist, then rain and then winds. I started to clean up the upstairs rooms and got totally sidetracked.

I came downstairs with an old wooden box. This old wood box used to be some sort of box for apples that were shipped from a company called Yakima Valley.

The box after so many years looks like this:

The original label would look like this:

I inherited this wooden box from my Aunt's house, it was filled with rolls of fabric that I intended to crochet into a rag rug.

I repurposed it for my hand me down toys and figures. Basically it is a Toy Box. What on earth am I doing with toys?

I thought it would be a fun day to try some more photography using my laptop monitor to make a suitable backround. Last year I fretted about getting one of those fancy little tabletop backround sets that click together and provide you with a beautiful backround for still life photography.

Ouch. The prices range from $79 to $99 just for the boards. I got some craft paper last year and taped it to some wooden boards and set it on the old trunk. It works well enough for tiny things but not for larger items. 

I thought I'd look in the toy box and see what I could do. Surely it would only distract me for a few minutes from the pressing chores of cleaning out 'stuff' from the bedroom upstairs.

First I set things up on the old trunk and messed around with different arrangements.

I intended to remove the white backround and replace it with some sort of cosmic scene. That was a failure. tea cups, monsters, Jack Daniels, and space dudes. I found it rather amusing. I love mixing up the characters from different genres. 

I moved to the laptop and set up a Predator on a box. He kept falling down 

It became a game of being able to make him stand on his own and balance. Here is the original shot:

He is standing on the box he came in. The day was overcast so the light coming in from the window highlighted his face.

I edited it to this:

I did a closer shot here in a slightly different pose.

The picture on the laptop is a fractal I created in Mandelbulb 3D. 

I did a couple of more figures. Storm Trooper:

Mandalorian. I just looked this guy up and I guess I should watch the show on Disney+.  I'm not perfectly happy with this shot, but that is the fun of being able to create a scene rather easily.

How it is done.
Get a box an set your character next to the screen then simply shoot a closeup and be aware of your light and shadows.

And finally I got the room picked up and tidied. But on the way, I ended up taking something to the bathroom and remembered to pick up something from the living room and then thought I should vacuum, and ... Charlie's blanket needed washing...

and then....

well, you get it.

Sometimes I can be so scattered. I tell my husband it is the result of a creative mind.