Lighting Mouseland

We are very proud to have Adaptalux Studio lighting in the hands of many experts around the world. In this article, Maggie Rudy shares her experiences using our lighting to create her beautiful and whimsical Mouseland images.

Welcome to Mouseland!

With Maggie Rudy

I don’t really think of myself as a photographer. My real love is building the characters and environments that make up Mouseland, which calls for problem-solving with a wide variety of materials and fabrication methods.

My day can include painting, soldering, book design, sculpting, drawing, photo-editing, sewing, photography, pattern drafting, dyeing, or wood working.

I struggle mightily with the technical aspects of photography and there’s a lot of cursing and swearing involved in achieving the lighting I want.

Lighting Mouseland

It is always a challenge to light small scenes without blowing everything out, and the lights from Adaptalux have been a game changer in this regard.

The brightness and aperture controls of the Adaptalux lights make it much easier to pick out small details, and their bendable stalks are excellent for placing in tight spots.

Because I sometimes want even smaller lights I’ve made a few specialized snoots with various filters and aperture sizes.

The metal snoots are made from umbrella ferrules – I inherited a box of parts from a former repairman – and the black plastic snoots are otoscope specula that I picked up somewhere, with metal washers glued to the inside so they attach to the magnetic lights.

I use an adjustable table with an L-shaped piece of enamelled steel that I found at a junk store.

I attach the lights to the table using magnetic bases, and also use gooseneck soldering clips with magnetic bases to hold mirrors, filters or anything else that needs support.

I shoot with either a Canon 7D with EF60mm &100mm lenses, or I use the camera on my iPhone 16 Pro, depending on what effects I’m looking for.

I fiddle endlessly with the lighting and subjects, making numerous micro adjustments until
the scene comes alive to me.

I do some refining of the images in PS on a Wacom tablet, but my best images are always the ones that need the least photo editing!

You can see more of Maggie’s work on Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

If you are an Adaptalux Studio user and would like to share your own story and images, please get in touch!