HOW TO GET THE BEST PICS OF YOUR DOLL

Submitted by philinotstine on February 3, 2012 - 8:29pm
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HI EVERYONE I'M NEW TO THIS AND HAVE HAD MY DOLL FOR ABOUT 8 MONTHS NOW AND LOVE HER TO BITS!    ! I HAVE QUITE A SMALL APARTMENT, LIMITED INCOME SO AM FAIRLY LIMITED IN WHAT I CAN DO PHOTOGRAPHICLY WITH MY DOLL. I REGULARLY TAKE SHOTS OF HER IN VARIOUS COSTUMES BUT WOULD WELCOME ANY IDEAS ON VARYING BACKGROUNDS. OUTSIDE WHERE I LIVE IS UNFORTUNATELY NOT AN OPTION SO IDEAS ON PHOTOGRAPHER-STYLE BACKDROPS WOULD BE APRECIATED . MY DOLL PRIS BY THE WAY YES AFTER DARYL HANNA,S CHARACTER IN BLADE RUNNER, IS A REALDOLL BODY 2 ,I HAVE A TPIPOD STAND FOR HER AND MY CAMERA IS A CANON G 11. I HOPE TO SEND SOME OF MY PICS OF HER TO COVERDOLL SOON.   WELL THATS ABOUT IT FOR NOW . I LOOK FORWARD TO ANY ADVICE. BYE FOR NOW.

Comments

kharn - February 4, 2012 - 5:53pm

Hi my friend,

Natural lighting is always the best option, so if possible try using the light from a window. As regards to backdrops, well you can use many different things, from professional photo backdrops to plain old bed sheets.

You can just simply hang a sheet from two upright poles and then place the doll in front of that. If you want to get more adventures you can use thin hardboard and paint on a background.

However composition and lighting as well as good optics are the three main ingredients in a good photo. You already have a nice camera and your lighting seems good.

Try placing her in a chair and putting the chair in a nice corner of your home, say by a fireplace or something. Then try taking photos of her in varying positions. The one good thing about digital photography is that you can try and try again without it costing you anything for development.

I would also look through all the galleries here and at TDF for ideas, especially Stacy Leigh’s.

I hope this helps, and I’m sure others will also help with advice

Kharn

CoverDoll Publisher To err is human to forgive divine.

Mechwizard - February 5, 2012 - 8:57am

All technical things aside, the best thing you can do is take your time to know yours and your doll's limitations in moving, posing and set-up.  Many agree that a doll's biggest danger is a new owner and photography is the most strenous exercise that a doll gets.  If you you are going to break her it will be in the middle of a photo session.  Guaranteed.  With practice you will get to know your camera and what works.  As for your doll, take things slow and don't try to get too ambitious too quickly.  If you try to do too much too soon, you will break her.  I know because its happened to me.

And don't type everything in upper case.  In message/e-mail etiquette its taken as SHOUTING at everyone. Peace.

Mechwizard Consort to the Queen of Curves

philinotstine - February 5, 2012 - 10:05am

Thanks for the sound advice I didnt even know about the upper-case etiquiate thing so apologies. Oh you,re so right on posing n stuff. i was all impatient to set up my doll on the first day i got her that i set up the tripod stand wrong and a few minutes after priss was on the stand the whole package - stand n doll fell crashing to the uncarpeted floor! that resulted in 2 velcro face-patches coming loose a gaping tear in 1 hand, and finger protrusion in the other!  Thanks again for the kind advice. love n luck Philinotstine.

philinotstine - February 5, 2012 - 10:08am

Thank you very much, Kharn for your kind words and sound advice.

1jayjay - February 7, 2012 - 7:58pm

How to get the best pics of your doll? Is a very good question.  :) Essentially we don't have long enough for the answers!:D

 

Some excellent advice already thiough. But Kharn (that's an excellent post :)) has hit the nail on the head as far as I can see. The most essential part of any image is light, if you get the light right, usually, the rest will follow. If the light is wrong then I'm afraid even images of Miss World are going to look very ordinary.

 

I agree with Kharn, if you can get natural light you're going to get good results, with a bit of experience. And as he says practice doesn't cost a fortune if, as like you have now, got the camera and the model. Certainly to begin with I'd stay in your comfort zone, think "KISS" keep it stupidly simple. You can always try the adventurous stuff a little later once you become confident and more proficiant.

 

The composition is another essential. But can be very frustrating. Unfortunately it usually looks a lot easier than it actually is, not least because of the weight of the doll and the fact that when you get one arm in the correst position, for your photo,  you find the her body has slipped, or something similar to that effect!

 

Once the shot is composed and you're happy with the lighting and the camera settings, take look from as many different angles as you can, from left to right, side, the back, the front, from above and from below, on the floor if neccessary. :)  

 

If you have a steady tripod then you should just about get a good quality image, though you won't be able to use it all the time if you use different angles. But the camera you have should have stabilisation, so you shouldn't be too badly off on that score.:)

 

A final word is if you do get stuck with a background, you could always use a photo editor, rather than lose a great shot because of a poor background. That takes a lot of hard work though, and is very laborious so it's much better if you get the background right at the beginning.:)

 

I hope that's abit more info to help and a bit more info than the tip of the ice berg, but if you ever have any specific question, don't hesitate to ask.:)

 

 

Good luck if you follow the advice on here you should do really well, and I look forward to your pics of the stunning Pris.:)

philinotstine - February 8, 2012 - 10:24pm

Thanks a lot for the exelent advice j j.