What tips can you give for photographing your dolls?

[Lilcurly]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread, hopefully it's in the right place.

I want to improve my photography skills, but I've never had much luck. I'm looking for some tips to try and help me get started with some practice. Someone very kindly suggested looking at photos of real people to help with posing my dolls, so I'm going to start there. But I'm also curious about the following:

Backgrounds - how do you set up a nice neutral background? Do you stand your dolls up or lie them down?
Lighting - it's not so bad when the weather is nice, but during the winter, and when the weather is generally dull, I can never get decent lighting going. Even with using daylight bulbs, or using more than one light, I either get glare, or photos that are still too dark.. any tips?

And any other tips you can think of that might help

[davidd]

1. Backgrounds - I have difficulty getting a "neutral" background as well. I have not yet been able to achieve the rich dark velvety black backgrounds like neon_jellyfish creates. I know that she uses a light tent, which is a box made of semi-transparent cloth that allows for an even, diffused light. I stand my figures and dolls up several inches away from the background to avoid shadows. I use various cardboard or cloth for the backdrops. I have seen nicely done photos with the dolls lying down, but I haven't had much success with that method.

2. Lighting - Diffusion material of some sort over the light source is required to reduce glare. Translucent cloth made for photography is best. I don't have any, so I usually drape tissue paper or even Kleenex facial tissue over my light sources. I use inex-pensive desk lamps I got at Walmart, and I use a hand-held flashlight with a facial tissue held over the lens for fill lighting in the shadows. The lights usually have to be pretty close to the figure to get enough light to make the camera happy.

[Lilcurly]

Thanks davidd, those are some sound tips! Particularly the light diffusion. I always like ineensive for this sort of thing.

[Aijo]

What kind of camera do you have? It does make a difference when you're aiming for certain effects.

Backgrounds: David mentioned velvety blacks. I have been able to achieve this on a couple occasions, once by using RAW mode on a DSLR. I typically stand my dolls up, and when I'm shooting, I use the rule of thirds. You know on Instagram, when you upload a picture, there's a 3x3 grid. The goal is to place your subject in the intersection of those boxes. It makes your photos more interesting. My dolls are often centered toward the right side (preference) or in the middle. The shot I recently did with Tarryn, however, she is positioned in the top row to give a more interesting visual effect. I recommend checking out this technique. Depending on your csmera, it may be equipped with the 3x3 grid setting, so you can use it as a guide.

When I first began doll photography, I began using poster boards. I started creating more realistic backgrounds when my photography teacher told me to work more on my backgrounds. I just started adding little knick knacks and creating furniture items. A lot of my furniture comes from the dollar store, and it's not Barbie scale, but it works and adds interest. I started making dioramas 8 years ago from poster board, so all I do is buy stationary paper and mount it with paper glue. Easy backgrounds in minutes! I'm now using trifold project boards for easier portability and storage.

Lighting: When I started out, I also used the diffusion method! But I took a lot of my shots outdoors, so I didn't worry. Recently, I found that those little wire lights also provide good lighting while being a aesthetically pleasing; I will post pictures later, but my photos came out surprisingly nice on a rainy day indoors with very grim lighting.

Does your camera choose settings for you? If possible, try adjusting the ISO, which increase the camera's sensitivity to light. Don't set the ISO too high, or you will have grainy photos. High would be like 500+, but try taking pictures at different ISO levels to see when the grain starts becoming noticeable. Also playing with the white balance settings may help. You don't have to use daylight settings for daylight; maybe the shade setting looks better.

[Alliecat]

I prefer to stand them up (unless they're actually supposed to be lying down)... dolls lying on a background look more like, well, dolls lying on a background, rather than doing things in a setting.  A knitting needle strategically placed behind a leg will prop them up (get the angle right means you won't have to photoshop it out!).
Backgrounds are distracting when they're in focus.  If you have clutter or scenery behind that is mostly in focus, it can take attention away from your subject.  Choose a smaller depth of field to throw it out of focus, or change your angle.  Since I mostly shoot outdoors I only occasionally use a fabric backdrop -- quilters' 'fat quarters' for the minis, or maybe a shirt, or random piece of fabric in a colour/pattern that won't draw attention.
Outdoor lighting... cloudy-bright is best to reduce contrast and light the doll evenly, especially the face where you probably don't want very contrasty shadows.  I use a piece of white paper to bounce some light back on the doll if it's a bit shaded.  
Poor light in the winter is a pain.  Try setting up as near a window as you can.  I have used little desk-lights also.  Can you change the shutter speed?  If your scene isn't well lit, a longer ex.posure can allow more light into the camera, but you do need a tripod for that.


Sticking this here from the other thread in case of future readers looking for photo tips all in one place:

Lighting can make or break a shot, but with dolls, posing is right up there with making the difference between toy-snapshot and making them look like real little people. Yes, how do real people sit -- little details like how the doll's hands & feet are placed; are they a few mm above what they're supposed to be resting on? Are they turned in a natural position like a real person would hold their hand? Center of gravity can be important too -- if they're leaning in a way a real person wouldn't, it makes them look more like objects & less "alive". Also if they're supposed to be looking at the camera, they should be looking right at the camera; I often reshoot or move because someone's gaze is just a little 'off' where it should be. If they're doing something, are they looking at what they're doing like a real person would be, (hard with poor Pullip articulation sometimes) or gazing off disconnectedly?

[Loona]

Everyone has given great advice so far! Here are some additional tips from me

Lights: shooting using indoor lights or on days that aren't sunny is difficult and needs extra thought - but too much sunlight will also result in washed-out colours, overex-posed faces and ugly shadows. Seconding Alliecat's recommendation: cloudy-bright is the best weather for outdoor shots. When indoors, using an external light source (like a flash) will have a similar effect to super sunny weather: ex-posed, convex surfaces (like a forehead) may appear as an overly shiny reflection, while anything concave (like eyes or the area around the nose) will get extra shadows. Shadowy eye areas can make your dolls look tired or sick. Luckily though, when you are using an external light source you chose, you can adjust where the light is coming from. For starters, and without a need for further monetary investment, you can try using your phone's flash (if you take photos with another camera) or a handheld flashlight (if you shoot with your mobile), holding the camera in one hand and the light source in another - this way you can easily readjust the angle of the light source to see how it changes the shadows and thus the dolls' appearance. Try taking several photos with the lights held at different angles and study how it changes the appearance of the doll.

It's also fun to ex-periment with placing a coloured transparent layer (like a coloured glass bottle) in front of the light source. It will colour the light and will technically apply a coloured filter to the photo

Shooting using light tents or boxes will also create great photos, but for this you need to invest into an extra tool, and it's understandable that you don't want to start off spending a lot of money. Luckily there are some great life hacks out there for making your own lightbox cheap - like the one shown here, made out of a cheap IKEA laundry storage thingie - which you can even fold up when you don't use it, to save space:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/miwo76/255...otostream/
I do have one of these myself, but I have to admit that I haven't yet managed to actually try it out, so I'm not sure it fhis would be big enough for Pullips.


Posing and positioning: always shoot with the dolls standing up if that's the effect you're going for. Gravity will work against you, and the clothes and hair will give you away if you try to take the photo with the doll lying down.

As Aijo and Alliecat mentioned, adjusting settings like ISO and the depth of field can make a big difference. If you can, I'd also recommend keeping the ISO low (between 100 and 4-500) to avoid graininess - and for a doll portrait, where you want the doll to clearly separate from the background, the depth of field (a smaller number, usually with one decimal - like 1.8 or 5.6) should also be small. Phone cameras usually have this high by default, to ensure everything is in focus all at once - otherwise if you took a photo with your friends and some of them would be standing behind you, they'd become blurred out If you want to take a portrait photo though, and if you have your doll prepped up against the background, this will also keep the background in focus, resulting in a "too busy" photo in which your subject won't "pop off the background" but will rather blend in with it. It is still possible to achieve a smooth, blurred background if you cannot adjust the depth of field, but the background has to be further away. If you can't pose the doll in another way and you have to prep them up against the background, I'd suggest a less busy, already blurry, or plain-coloured background, otherwise the subject of the photo will get lost in the busy background details. If you cannot change the depth of field but you can bring your doll further away from your background, you could try the following exercise which helps you get to know your camera better, demonstrates depth of field in action, and helps you determine what level of it you prefer: stand your doll up against the background, and take a photo - then bring the doll a little closer to you and away from the background, and retake the photo. Repeat several times, bringing the doll closer to you and away from the background with each shot. With the doll always being in focus, you'll see the background starting to get blurrier with each shot. Choose whichever you like best, and take the photo you'd like using those measurements&positioning 

For backgrounds I also use paper - most of my background papers are either bigger-sized scrapbook papers or A3 printouts glued on poster boards.

[Lilcurly]

Wow, thanks everyone, there are some really great tips here! I definitely like the idea of having posterboard backgrounds, Hobbycraft sell some lovely papers that I could mount up.

I did buy a collapsible light box off ebay once, but I just couldn't get the hang of the lighting at all.. I was using 2 desk lamps, but I could not position them in a way that worked. I have very little patience though, and gave up quite quickly. Nowadays I have lovely big windows and a decent amount of light coming in as I live on the second floor.. so that does help with getting natural light on the days it's available. I wonder if I could get hold of some mini box lights or something? Or some cheap little diffusers to use with lamps? For when the weather is dull (I don't have the option of outdoor photo sessions as I don't have a garden.. there is an outdoor space behind my flat, but it's communal, and overlooked by 3 buildings.. I just don't feel the need to share my doll hobby with that many people).

The only reason I wouldn't want to spend too much is that I'm no photographer, It would just literally be to take some nice photos, mainly to post on this forum... I realise the best way to get perfect results is to have the right equipment.

I use my phone to take photos, I don't have a proper camera, although my OH does.. I'm not sure I'd be allowed to use it unsupervised My phone does have a great portrait mode on it though, that blurs the background really well, so I could have a play with that.

I unfortunately sold all my miniatures and furniture/props, I just don't have the storage space. I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to my hobbies and something just had to give. But, hopefully, with decent lighting & backgrounds I can at least get some cute poses