I have this book,
FDQ: In Focus, which is a book specifically for doll photography. It has lots of great tips, highly recommended!
Here are some things I have learned, all the hard way by taking lots of crummy photos. I have included examples in links (both good and bad!) to help illustrate some of the ideas here.
Camera equipment:A lot of doll people will tell you that you don't need a good camera, don't worry! I am sorry to say it, but this is just not true. At minimum, I think you must have a camera that can support a macro lens if you want to take good doll photos. A macro setting on a cheaper camera without lenses is not good enough. A cell phone is not good enough. These devices can take good photos, but not artistic photos with good depth of field and macro focus. There is just no substitute for a macro lens.
But do not despair! Cameras move through the market very quickly and often you can get a 2 or 3 year old camera that is still perfectly good for 1/3 the original price or even less. I suggest if you are on a budget, buy a cheaper camera body and invest as much as you can in the macro lens. Make sure to check the compatibility of the lens you want before you buy the camera body! Eventually you might want to upgrade your camera body, but by then you will know more about cameras and can look for the features you actually like.
Of course, if you can't afford a camera, you can still practice all the other tips I am writing up here and take some good photos! You can learn a lot and have fun while you are saving up for a camera.
Lighting: This is both not as hard as people think and very difficult. Window light is the best solution for most people. That means ambient light coming through a window, not direct sunshine, which usually causes harsh shadows (unless that's the look you are going for!). Similarly, a cloudy day or shots in the shade are good for outdoor shots. Remember, if you are shooting outside, you will probably want to be quite low to the ground with your camera! Our beauties are short. <3
For indoor lighting, I recommend getting two or three lights l
ike this one (the exact one I have). There are c
heaper ones that look like desk lights that work really well too. But I like the longer snake arm better. Please note this is a hardware light, not a fancy photo light. Especially starting out, you don't need those, and most of them are designed for portraits of people and need lots of practice to use effectively with dolls. Put that money into your macro lens instead. If you are like me, you will want to find a place in your house to set them up permanently or you will never want to bother. Get matching, cheap "natural daylight" colored bulbs and experiment with the number and position of the lights in each shot. You can use a lightbox for your photos but I think you don't really need one.
In general,
flash looks terrible unless you reflect it off something. I use flash so rarely I took my flash off my camera to save weight.
Tripod: Ok, I admit it, I NEVER use a tripod. I like to move my camera in tiny increments over and over, and adjusting a tripod with that much precision just pisses me off. If I do use a tripod, I end up not getting exactly the angle I want and the photo looks bad. But I do stabilize my camera somehow. I take most of my photos crunched up in a very uncomfortable ball in my desk chair with my camera on my knees, or my arms propped on my knees. Honestly, tripods suck.
If you are having trouble with a shaky camera, I recommend you try these things before you try a tripod:
-Prop your arms or camera on something else. Keeping your arms tight against your body improves your steadiness.
-Use the delay timer on your camera. Many people shake the camera when they press the shutter button. The delay means you press the button, get steady, then the shot is taken. The lowest delay my camera has is 10 seconds and I am impatient, so I rarely use it.
-Focus yourself. I know it sounds corny, but after some months of practice you will learn to "breathe" with your camera. You will learn to steady your body very briefly at the time of the shot. Center yourself. Get in the zone. Think Peace. I have shaky hands but after lots of practice I do this instinctively.
I have heard of lots of general/portrait/scenery photographers swearing by tripods, so maybe you will like it too. But most doll photographers I know of don't seem to use them. Put your money somewhere else, at least in the beginning.
Camera settings: Often, when people are having trouble with "lighting"
their real problem is their camera settings. It is important to have the correct exposure and focus points for your photos. I have no advice for this except to read your camera manual. It is SO boring, I know, so you must make it interesting for yourself by trying out different versions of each setting as you learn about it. This will also help you remember. Try taking the same shot over and over with different settings, note the changes as you go, and then examine the differences on your computer. If it feels difficult, take the manual very slowly, just a few pages each day. Take time to really get used to each new setting/feature before you add a new one to your repertoire. Expect it to take months to understand your camera. That is normal, especially if you are not used to a camera.
Background:There are several ways to go with background. One approach is to use
in-scale props and
backdrops. It would be very rude of me not to give my partner,
Butterfly House, a tiny plug here, but there are lots of other places to get these kinds of things. It can be expensive, and is very time consuming to set up, but
the results can be
really neat.
You can also use purchased backdrop sheets, which you can find cheap on ebay. Of course they don't have the depth of a diorama, but
they can still look
pretty cool.
A third approach is to use a solid color backdrop. Some people use fabric, but usually you
see wrinkles. It can
ruin a photo even if the wrinkles are out of focus in the background. So unless you
are working with
the wrinkles, iron your fabric. You can also use painted cardboard and sheets of paper to make backdrops, but you may see
awkward seams. It looks cheap unless you
crop them out. With proper cropping you can also use
tabletops and other found surfaces.
The most versatile background is a piece of black velvet. It
soaks up the light, never
shows wrinkles, and looks
very professional. It's essential, cheap, and a great beginner tool. You can also buy professional seamless background paper on rolls and stuff, I haven't used that yet, but that's what is used in
the pro doll photos. It takes a special setup, rollers, etc which I don't have. Maybe someday.
You can also use nature for a background. If you want your doll to look real you must make creative use of
angles and
small objects in the scene. Small branches become tree trunks with the right perspective.
But if you want your doll to look like a doll, you can use
out of scale props and
backgrounds freely!
Posing: Realistic posing is very important. Sometimes you can have a pose in mind beforehand and achieve it, but often it is better to work with they way
the doll "wants" to move. Not all dolls can do all poses in a natural looking way, and
it can be better not to attempt them. Think about how gravity should be affecting each limb. Should the
hands point down, relaxed? Should the leg be touching the other leg, or the floor? Often I find that I must remember
to tuck the doll's arms in close to the body (
elbows in) or else
a pose feel stiff and forced. It feels very goofy, but it really does help to put yourself in the pose and imitate the emotional feeling you want to convey. When I do this I often notice
a more natural position for an arm, angle of a foot, etc.
Expression: I know, the doll's expression does not change! But our perception of it does, depending on
the angle,
position of the head, and
body language. I believe it was Nanyalin on this forum who commented recently that taking photos of painted eyes is more difficult than glass eyes, because the highlight in the doll's eyes is painted on and does not change with angle. For this reason, a porcelain doll may have just a few really good angles or sweet spots.
A direct gaze is very engaging. I tend to move my head around like a drunk chicken until I feel my doll is "looking" at me. Then I maintain eye contact and move the camera between us for the shot.
A doll that is looking away can look dreamy or thoughtful, but only if they are looking away "intentionally" instead of
just barely losing eye contact with the viewer.
Primping:Try to pose your doll without a stand for the nicest photos, or crop the stand out. Take the time to put each hair in it's proper place. You can use a tiny amount of water spread on your fingers to
smooth down a poofy wig. Fold the doll's skirt and clothes so they
drape naturally. You will be grateful for it later. This is one reason not to rush your photos, it takes a lot of time and concentration to see the details.
Photo editing:"If your photo is good enough, you don't need to do photoshop."
"Photoshop is like airbrushing models in magazines, it makes them fake. It's deceptive."
These are MYTHS!!
Photoshop is not only your friend, it is used on pretty much every good photo you have ever seen. To master photography you will need to master editing. The most common edits I made are
-crop
-brighten
-correct color cast
-erase flyaway hair and dust
-add a
small vignette by burning the edges of the photo (but not
too much!)
I do these for almost every photo. Depending on the look I want or how fussy I am I might also
-
adjust saturation/
color balance-brighten eye color (rare)
-remove seams or weird backgrounds
-selectively blur parts of the photo
-adjust shadows/highlights
The applications I use for photo editing are Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Photoshop CC/C6/etc (full versions) are a pain, don't bother unless you are trying to create digital art.
Go Practice!I started taking photos five years ago, and trust me I was REALLY BAD
at first. But I still had lots of fun. Every photoshoot I learn new things and get better, and now I am really proud of some of
my photos. I know when I look at these photos in a year, I will probably see ways I could have done it better; I am still learning too. I think it important not to shame ourselves for having a learning curve. Everyone learns this way. It is normal to mess up or feel uncertain. Be kind to yourself. All of this stuff takes lots of practice, so just try to enjoy the ride! <3