davidd's A Doll A Day 2018

[dargosmydaddy]

That sofa rocks! Janie looks very comfy-- love her socks!

[Cornflower Blue]

The sofa came out fantastic! I like the animal print and fringe detail.

Do you find her cocoa skin tone hard to photograph? Unity has caught my eye.

[davidd]

Do you find her cocoa skin tone hard to photograph? Unity has caught my eye.

I do find the cocoa skin tone challenging to photograph. The face often comes out too dark. When I try to supplement the lighting on the face, the reflective eyes almost appear to glow, looking overly bright, glassy, vacant, and kind of creepy. The "creepy glass eyes" effect is even more pronounced when using the built-in flash on the camera.

I have not yet come up with a standard technique for providing supplemental lighting on the face. I've had fairly good results using a hand-held flashlight with tissue paper held over the lens as a diffuser.

Unity has slightly narrowed eyes, while Harmony has round "anime eyes." I wonder if the reflective eye effect would be less pronounced with the narrow-eyes face sculpts?

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7 December – Knock-Off Barbie Bakery Set

Yeah, yeah, I know. Today is December 7th. I had hoped to compose a tribute photo for Pearl Harbor Day. Instead, it's yet another Lame Last-Minute Snapshot™.

I find "knock-off" bargain-priced toys to be both amusing and depressing. They are amusing in their often blatant attempts to mimic name brand or popular franchise toys and figures, and of course for their generally poor quality.

But I feel sad when I think about the kids who receive toys like this as gifts. Kids know the difference when parents and grandparents do not. The disappointment can be crushing when opening an eagerly anticipated gift only to find a cheap knock-off instead of the authentic item. And then, the knowledge that your parents or grandparents or other relatives didn't know the difference... or couldn't or wouldn't pay the price for the real deal... compounds the disappointment.

Fake Barbie, seen here, isn't too bad as far as such things go. At least her outfit and accessories would blend relatively seamlessly with genuine Barbie items. Also on the shelves in this particular store were knock-off Little Mermaid and Disney Princess dolls, fake My Little Ponies, and a score of off-brand action figures mimicking popular lines like Power Rangers and Marvel Superheroes.

If The Grinch had really wanted to crush the spirit of Christmas, rather than simply taking all the presents from Whoville, he would have replaced the presents with cheap knock-offs and counterfeits.

[davidd]

8 December – Bratz Selfie-Snaps Yasmin ventures out into "Canyon Country" on a mid-winter hike


Yasmin learns about the importance of dead trees by reading a fascinating and informative interpretive placard


Yasmin impersonates a dead tree by slipping on the ice and falling down.

[Cornflower Blue]

Action shot!

I've noticed while looking at others photos of SM dolls with cocoa skin tone that they have the same problems with lighting the face.

[Alliecat]

Haha, dead tree impersonation.
Great outdoor shots!
I had a few-dollars fake Barbie when I was little. I knew she wasn't a "fancy" Barbie but I still played with her a lot and I don't know that I was ever really disappointed with her. Of course there wasn't the inundation of advertising and online shopping that kids are ex.posed to now.

[neon_jellyfish]

Beautiful light, and those little footprints look so real!

[davidd]

9 December – Smart Doll Symphony

[Lejays17]

Love he little set of action shots! And the footprints in the snow make it look more real.
(What are the importance of dead trees in the Eco-system? I'm guessing sleeping / hiding / nesting places, but wonder f there's others?)

I like Symphinies outfit here

[neon_jellyfish]

I know you don't like this photo, and I agree that she might look a little stiff, but I think the light on her face really works, bringing out the adorable facial features of her sculpt. Even the crossed eyes don't look that bad!

[davidd]

Even the crossed eyes don't look that bad!

From most angles other than straight on, the crossed eyes usually don't look too terribly bad, but they make the face challenging to photograph because the white outside edges reflect a lot of light.

I tweaked the setting of the eyes ever so slightly. Today's pic is a Before & After comparison:

10 December – Smart Doll Symphony's Eyes: Before & After

[neon_jellyfish]

Well isn't she a beauty. I'm glad you were able to fix her eyes!

[Cornflower Blue]

She does look better now that you fixed her eyes. I've been very tempted to get one of those henley shirts like hers.

[davidd]

She does look better now that you fixed her eyes. I've been very tempted to get one of those henley shirts like hers.

Thank you. It's nice to have objective corroboration.
Yes, the henley shirts are nicely made. They cost more than a human-sized equivalent, as you well know, but the quality is there.

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11 December – A Variety of Online Doll-Related Orders Arrived All at Once!

[neon_jellyfish]

New stuff! Can't wait to see what you got!