davidd’s A DOLL A DAY 2022

[davidd]

4 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

4 December - TBLeague Photo-Story Character

Body: TBLeague S26A
Head: from TBLeague S34
Clothing: assorted Barbie, Bratz, and miscellaneous

I am having so much trouble achieving proper ex-posure in my "high contrast" (i.e. poorly illuminated) photo story settings that I may need to resort to trying the DSLR camera. This is one of my first dozen test snaps. Now, the pic didn't look like this straight out of the camera. I ran it through a couple of iPad filters and tweaked the contrast and saturation a bit to get the final image. However, the DSLR camera has some fairly easy to operate ex-posure lock and focus controls, so the overall image from which this pic was cropped worked out much better, with considerably lower "digital noise," than the previous pix I was getting from my usually trusty point-n-shoot. Learning to use a different camera will slow down the process initially, but it should ultimately save considerable time in post-shoot editing.

The higher resolution of the DSLR lens means I will need to pay much closer attention to stray hairs on the dolls and figures.

[Alliecat]

Ohhhh, I wish I had that blonde hair!!
I'm a lil confused.... high contrast usually goes with bright light? Low light would give you not-much contrast... But yeah, a DSLR would be less grainy and probably ex-pose better than a P&S. My little pocket Optio is OK in bright light but kinda blah in dimmer settings.
And this one looks OK.

[davidd]

I'm a lil confused.... high contrast usually goes with bright light?  Low light would give you not-much contrast...  

Overall low light but with too-hot bright spots... because I struggle to get even diffuse lighting in my set-ups. The little camera seems to struggle with overall dim scenes that have overly bright areas, even if the difference does not appear significant to the eye.

---

5 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

Bianca Makes a Dramatic Exit

Bianca Beaumont-Banks (alias "Little B") is a character "retired" by AMMO action figure forum member BlondeActionMan who was passed along with permission to me to carry on her adventures (albeit with an updated headsculpt, body, and costume). Along the way, Ms Beaumont-Banks has picked up yet another alternate identity, the "professional name" Velveeta Dankbush, which she uses in her motion picture and modeling career. This second aspect of Bianca's background was developed in conjunction with AMMO forum member Kimono Troop Command during a joint photo-story project.

Body: TBLeague S09C
Head: GACToys GC-029A
Outfit: made in China, found on eBay

[Alliecat]

Great use of perspective!
Hmm, guess I've never had that particular contrast problem. My lil Optio just doesn't like dim light.
...something else I loved about shooting all-manual film... you could compensate for those bright spots easily.

[davidd]

My lil Optio just doesn't like dim light.

It occurred to me just a couple of hours ago, after I have already shot about a third of the photos I need for the photo-story I'm working on, that if I set the ISO on the DSLR camera to "auto" rather than to a specific setting, I will have less of an issue with long shutter speed handheld blur.

Duhhhh!

---

6 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

6 December - Another Behind the Scenes Scene

Because this photo-story project is consuming all my available hobby time, things like this will be my pic o' th' day for a while yet.

An upside of this is that I'm learning to use my DSLR camera. I figured out a trick just a couple of hours ago, after shooting about a third of the pics I'll need for the story, that should save me a lot of blurry pix from here on out: set the ISO to automatic!

I have yet to upload any of the Auto-ISO pix, so I do not know if they will be overly grainy or exhibit too much digital noise.

[Alliecat]

It occurred to me just a couple of hours ago, after I have already shot about a third of the photos I need for the photo-story I'm working on, that if I set the ISO on the DSLR camera to "auto" rather than to a specific setting, I will have less of an issue with long shutter speed handheld blur.

Hahaha
This is true...
I always shot 200 ISO film so it's kind of my standard for guessing ex-posure and calculating stops for something different, but my K-x lets me choose a range for ISO. So I can set it to go as high as, say, 800, thus avoiding more grain at higher speeds.
Of course a tripod is always handy for the longer ex-posures, assuming your setup will allow you to get one in. I've had the camera upside down on the center post more than once to get at dolly setups on the floor.
Fun to see behind the scenes!

[davidd]

  
I always shot 200 ISO film so it's kind of my standard for guessing ex-posure and calculating stops for something different....

Yeah, that's what I had the DSLR set at. I re-set it to "Auto" and now the half-second ex-posures I was trying to hand-hold are around the 1/40 range - still relatively long, but much less long, photographically speaking, than half a second.

---

7 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

7 December - Different Day, Same Stuff

[Alliecat]

I can sure identify with the "SSDD" situation... I use a slightly different word...

"In theory", you are supposed to be able to hand-hold at ex-posures faster than 1/focal length. Maybe you knew that already? Of course, it assumes one has a steady hand.

[davidd]

"In theory", you are supposed to be able to hand-hold at ex-posures faster than 1/focal length.  Maybe you knew that already?  Of course, it assumes one has a steady hand.

I used to hear the rule of thumb was 1/30 if you had a really steady hand.

---

A Doll A Day 2022:

8 December - Cannons! Little Cannons and Big Cannons!

9 December - Seashells! Big Seashells and Little Seashells!

Here's another rocket launch for Alliecat:

Falcon 9 Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral as viewed from Ormond Beach

This was the most interesting launch I have seen thus far. It was an early evening launch, so the flame appeared much brighter in the sky, and the setting sun illuminated the vapor trail. This was the first time I have witnessed the first stage separation, which appeared as a circular "puff" of vapor. Shortly after the stage separation, a second flame appeared in the sky as the first stage re-ignited briefly to decelerate for a landing at sea.

[Alliecat]

Yay! What do we blow up first??
I love the beach and seashells!

That’s a cool picture of the rocket, and it would have been fun to see the details.

I used to hear the rule of thumb was 1/30 if you had a really steady hand.

Well, it depends on your focal length. 1/30 is different with a 19 mm wide angle lens than with a 200 mm zoom.  Can with the first; not so much with the latter.

[davidd]

Well, it depends on your focal length. 1/30 is different with a 19 mm wide angle lens than with a 200 mm zoom.  Can with the first; not so much with the latter.

Yeah, good point! The 1/30 that I heard, ages ago, was probably based on a 50mm (or equivalent) focal length, which was the standard "starter lens" for amateur photographers.

---

10 December – A Doll A Day 2022:

7 December – Sally LaSalle, the "Maid for Adventure" Girl Reporter

Sally LaSalle, Girl Reporter – seen exclusively where Metrotone Newsreels are exhibited.

[dargosmydaddy]

The Pinkies always make me smile, and I love the ambience in Sally's picture.

[davidd]

The Pinkies always make me smile....

That's a very nice thing to say, thank you! I'm having fun getting back in to Pinky Street photography again.

---

11 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

11 December - "Mad? You DARE Call Me MAD?!?"

Kindly disregard the occasional lunatic outbursts; Tærra Symmes, Eccentric Adventuress, is actually pretty nice... most of the time.

Body: TBLeague S27B
Head: Kumik 16-84
Costume: Mattel Wild Hearts Crew and various Bratz, Barbie, and GI Joe pieces.

[davidd]

12 December - A Doll A Day 2022:

12 December - Post-Birthday Parcel

Dolly-related parcel arrived today, one day after my birthday!
It's an item I "pre-ordered" about six months ago for which the release date was of course delayed. I've seen a few "user pics" online recently from purchasers who already received this doll-figure. As is becoming increasingly typical, the in-hand product does not look nearly as nice as the pre-release promotional images, hence my muted enthusiasm about opening the box. I'll get around to it one of these days.

[Alliecat]

Happy belated birthday!! Hope you got to do something fun. Bummer that your arriving packages so often fail to generate enthusiasm. Curious to see what it is though.
Nice vintage effect. And we all have those “mad” days.