The Doll Forum

Share your photography and video ideas and techniques with others.

If you need to use a flash be no closer than about 8 feet or you get too much glare. Use your zoom to get closer.

If you cannot turn off the flash, then stand along way away and zoom in, then the flash will not make to much difference to the photo.

And a even better tip is to take the lens cap off

Regards
Kimi & Eagle1

you could put a sellotape on the flash but because the processor's camera, your photo would be under exposed

The best solution would be to buy another camera, my very old canon A10 (1.3 megapixels) authorizes this "no flash" option and costs €20 as used camera.

A wellknown tip : always use a tripod or a something stable. Use a timer for shooting or a Remote command.


Jihan & Elle

Stick a cover over the flash?

She's quite right. Flash is too harsh. Artificial lighting is much better.

I've seen how they get good lighting on film sets and TV studios.

They have strong lights but they bounce the light of a special screen.(maybe using different types of screen for different effects?) They even do that sometimes in daylight , on a dull, cloudy day.

Another tip is to use a good stand or tripod. Then you can start to play around with the exposure time and keep the subject sharp.

I am definetely NO expert. Just a few thinks I've picked up along the way.
I'm sure Stacy could write reams of good advice...nudge, nudge,

One good thing about photographing a doll is...you don't have to keep nagging her to keep still.

First off you need lots of time.

You will need to get a better camera only because you cannot control what goes in the lens otherwise .
As Elle said there are bargains in two or three year old cameras to be had.

As every one said get a tripod and most if not all digital cameras have a timed shutter release built in..

Theres plenty of photo sites giving lots of advice, use a search engine, a good line would be "studio lighting".

Ebay has a very large section of studio lighting stuff, theres all sorts of lights , remote flashes, softboxes, backgrounds, the list is endless.
So as well as time you will also have to spend a bit of money. Or use sunny days.



Set it all up and experiment with different lights , positions and so on until you find a combination that suits you ...... thats where the "lots of time" comes in

Or do what I do and take lots of pics and hope to hell theres at least one good one in there.
Sunny days are best , I am no good at using lights, never get the time to experiment .... back to the first sentence again !

So really the only real suggestion I can make is "get in close" .... fill the frame.

Good luck with it all

What he ^^^^^ said!!!

oh, and if there are things in the backround of the photo- make sure they are pertinent to the story. So no dirty laundry, or ashtrays on the bedside table...it really takes away from the shot.

Sorry Elle,

I must have been writing my post while you were doing the same. Your post beat mine. I didn't mean to repeat what you said.

Toutes mes excuses mon ami.

zaza

Stacy, would you like to tell us about ISO (ASA) settings ? (when the camera offers this choice) What's the best for shooting in a house with basic lighting : 100, 200... 800 ISO ?
Thanks

Elle wrote:
Stacy, would you like to tell us about ISO (ASA) settings ? (when the camera offers this choice) What's the best for shooting in a house with basic lighting : 100, 200... 800 ISO ?
Thanks

ISO determines the "films" sensitivity to light. Since we are talking about digital, I'll just refer to it as light sensitivity. A low ISO such as 100 will be the least sensitive to light. A higher ISO such as 800 will be more sensitive to light. The more sensitive to light the lighter the photo becomes. If you are shooting by candle light, you might want to shoot at the highest possible ISO. This will also create something known as "noise" (visible pixels in the darkest areas and shadows of the photo). Noise is considered very undesirable- so most photographers prefer to shoot at a lower ISO. The Canon tends to be the most superior in this category, allowing you to shoot at the highest ISO with minimal amount of "noise".


When shooting in bright sun a lower ISO like 100 is best.

When shooting in low light situations, shooting at a higher ISO like 800 is best.

I hope that explains ISO in a way that is easy to understand. If you have any other questions, just ask away.



Stacy

why is the moon blue?

But back to the subject.

So ISO is the same as the old film ASA ..... Gotcha.

Me, I always have trouble with the white balance, still cannot get my head round that one .... as you may of noticed.

Film was much simpler ..... aaaahhh the days of Ilford high contrast film is long gone.

And now the $50,000 dollar ?

Do tell me how you lit this one please please please he asked , grovelling .....




It looks like only one, maybe two lights , possibly an infill but the main question is , how do you soften the light. Filters over the lamps ? Bounced flash, umbrellas, softboxes, do tell so I do not have to spend a fortune on lights without knowing which I should get.

Cuts down on the precious "time" element if your with me and this is one of my favourite pics of yours as you may of guessed.

If I could control the light like this I would be a very happy chappy.

My version is much harsher but then this was natural light.

.

Allegedly me old hero Helmut said he only ever used one or two lights but then he also was using film.

One light with a medium softbox.

If you want to do this with sunlight, just buy a white sheer panel (curtain) for your window.

Voila! Instant softbox.

Well, I just got a digital camera and I am still learning how to use it. It's pretty much like a film camera, but there are things that I can control with it that I could never do while using film.

It's very convenient if one can use the flash in the camera for a photograph. Although I am not "into" doll photography, the biggest problem I've noticed when the in camera flash is used is that silicone dolls tend to reflect the flash and this makes the doll have bright spots on its skin that give it a slick, plastic-like appearance.

I think if the photographer dust the exposed skin of the doll with a powder such as corn starch, then this problem can be largely remedied if not eliminated.

Other than that, a previous poster had the best suggestion. Since you can take dozens of digital photos, just try photographing the doll from different angles and then, later, pick the photos in which the doll looks the best.


technoguy

technoguy wrote: Although I am not "into" doll photography, the biggest problem I've noticed when the in camera flash is used is that silicone dolls tend to reflect the flash and this makes the doll have bright spots on its skin that give it a slick, plastic-like appearance.

How could you be "into"doll photography? You don't own a doll.

technoguy wrote:I think if the photographer dust the exposed skin of the doll with a powder such as corn starch, then this problem can be largely remedied if not eliminated.

Powder reflects light with flash photography. But how could you possibly have known that?

technoguy wrote:Other than that, a previous poster had the best suggestion. Since you can take dozens of digital photos, just try photographing the doll from different angles and then, later, pick the photos in which the doll looks the best.

As much as I adore the poster who stated this, I disagree. I take 20 or 30 photos and get 10 great ones.

Your idea of "best", is my idea of amateur.