Photography tips for us amateurs...add yours!

Post by **Ruby13** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:22 pm

Since photos of the different Dolls are so prevalent here on TDF, I thought it might be interesting for us to compare notes on some of the little tricks we've all learned in regards to improving basic "snapshots" and attempting a step upward toward "photography"! I'm not talking the REALLY good stuff by Stacy, Incrediwagon, Renate or Rojo...but merely a simple list of vital Do's and Dont's that could possibly improve us amateurs a notch or two. I'm working with a 5 year old $300.00 Panasonic Lumix 5 mega pixel camera, and $20.00 bucks invested in a lighting system...mostly from Home-Depot! Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Be patient, she's not charging by the hour.
2. Avoid showing up under her chin where her head and neck join.
3. Direct her eyes other than staring straight forward or downward... [this gives her a frightened or shocked look.] By showing a bit of white beneath the iris, she will appear a bit shy.
4. Learn to tilt and/or turn her head, thus creating a personality and the impression of movement/life.
5. Is she leaning, laying, sitting or standing in a natural position or stance?
6. Check for details...are her fingers bent in the wrong directions...is her hairline too far back or forward...[hair should frame her face, not look like it's just stuck on].
7. You can make or break an otherwise good photo with the wrong lighting...straight on "flash" is cool for children's birthday pics, but the use of lights at either side will emphasize the roundness of her curves. I purchased a $10.00 in-line rheostat [dimmer] unit from Home Depot and plugged a $6.00 clamp light with a $2.00 "photo-bulb" into that...[regular light bulbs will kinda turn her orange/yellow!
8. Study the pose you've created before squeezing off the shot...there are a lot of TDF members scrutinizing your Doll and she'll be really pissed if you screw up!

Cheers...Don@Ruby13

royabelle · Post by **royabelle** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:50 pm

Hi Don,

this is an great idea!

I think many doll owners want to know, how they can make better pics from his dolls.
That´s why all of your photography tips are right and important for a good made doll pic.
But in my experience it is one side, how I make a good pic, the other side is, how I prepair these pic on PC with Photoshop.
I think the most working for make an good pic is there after the working with camera. When I see my original pics from Laura and then later the prepaired pic with Photoshop, there exist an BIG DIFFERENT.

That`s why: When the users are interest about them, we can discuss a little bit about the different ways, how it is possible to prepair a good pic on PC.

What do you think?

royabelle

QuintusSextus · Post by **QuintusSextus** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:23 pm

Great tips!

I like to work with natural lighting, but it is not always ideal.

I too have found that using the flash washes out the picture.

Cropping your pictures and giving them a visual pleasing look is important. I found the Rule of Thirds is useful, or the Golden Spiral concept. But composition is sometimes a hard thing to get just right. There are lots of books about it.

I use Adobe Photo Elements and sometimes JASC Paint Shop Pro. I'm playing with Gimp2, freeware, right now,...just as powerful and easier.

My pictures of my minilovedoll were shot with a Dimage 5. I must have dumped over a third of the pictures for bad unfocused shots, bad colors and poor composition, that I couldn't fix with software.

I bought my Dimage for one main reason, the size of the lens. The larger the lense, the more light you can get into it. Makes it easier to work in low light.

I'm not an expert. But, I'm learning.

mexdl · Post by **mexdl** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 1:21 am

Thanks for the tips Don, I add to the list:

Follow your instinct, put some music for the doll

and enjoy the photoshoot,

beetle · Post by **beetle** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 2:26 am

Don, this time I've got you beat; I use a 10 year old Kodak with 1 megapixel.

One of these days I'll get a good camera but the one I want is going to set me back so I plan on using this one until it explodes.

Royabelle mentioned Gimp2 freeware and it's worth downloading. Go to Download.com and search for it, it'll come right up. There's gobs of tutorials on Youtube which will explain anything you want to learn to do.

Post by **RaDiv** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:10 am

9. Turn OFF the flash! Buy some 28W daylight lightbulbs instead.
10. Don't be afraid to try out new angles. Place your girl on a table and shoot from the floor. Try shooting from above as well. A word of advise: swivel chairs can be dangerous when you stand on them.

Everhard · Post by **Everhard** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:14 am

Great advice!

See also the sticky at the top of Eye Candy: Basic Techniques To Get Great Shots Every Time

devilferret · Post by **devilferret** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:16 am

I can add a few suggestions

1) Your lens
If your camera has the capability of changing lenses, always look for lenses with the lowest f-stop rating. They are a bit more expensive, but the end results they allow you to get are more than worth the added expense.
The lower the f-stop, the more light the lens lets into your camera. This allows you a wider range of natural light that you can use. I have taken pics inside a dimly lit bar without having to use real long exposure times or super high speed film, simply because the lens I had on my camera allowed more light into my camera.
Another advantage of lenses with lower f-stop ratings is a narrower depth of focus field. This allows you to do those lovely type of pics where your subjects face is crystal clear but the things just a foot or two in back of (or in front of) the subject blur out softly, without having to photoshop the pic and risk making the pic look tacky or "toony".

2) Your light-metering system. Learn It !!!
Learn what type of light metering system your camera has! It make s a HUGE difference in how you can use your camera. Is it a "spot" meter .. an "averaging" .. or a "center-weighted".
Knowing how your camera measures the light coming in through the lens will help you avoid mistakes in lighting that would ruin an otherwise lovely picture.

3) Film Speed
If you still have a camera that uses old fashioned film .. try to avoid using the higher speed films. The higher the speed rating is on the film .. the more "grainy" the film is. The more grainy the film is, the less you can enlarge the pic before it starts to look like you took a close up pic of a bunch of colored golf balls.

4) Pixel Rating
If you are getting ready to buy a camera .. get one with the highest pixel rating you can afford. The higher the pixel rating, the better the quality of the pics you take will be when the pic is looked at on a viewer with a screen size larger than 2 or 3 inches.
That is why pics taken with the older cellphones look sooooooo bad .. low pixel rating. So that if you look at the pic on anything except the cellphone you took the pic with .. it looks crappy.

5) Learn to READ !!!
Not just the manual that came with your camera. Pick up a book or two on photograhpic techniques used by the pro's. You might not be able to use many of them with your camera .. the cameras the pro's use can cost a small fortune .. but if you know what they do to get those incredible pics they take .. you might just be able to use a few of the same techniques to take pics you will be even happier with.

Post by **Ruby13** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:45 am

Beetle:
Ahhh!...Yet another graduate of the "Mathew B. Brady" school of photography!

Don/R-13

p.s. Google "civil war photographer"

Post by **Ruby13** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:47 am

Gents:
If only I had your experience with photo shop! As it is, if I screw up and accidentally overlook something in the picture I hadn't planned on sharing,[my work boots, a strange cigarette in my ash tray, etc.] I post it anyhow,

...truly, the sign of an amateur! My primary interest is in creating personality, attitude and a sense of presence. I have no doubt you guys are much more capable of bringing a more professional touch to the table than I, [Stacy is probably giggling all through this] but sometimes it's the little things...the details that draw us in to study certain photos more than others. When we're captured by a certain photographers work on TDF, we study every nook and cranny of that shot...the expression, pose, choice of attire, as well as the surroundings...it should be a complete package! Without name dropping, I've seen pics of Dolls on this forum that make me feel as though she [or he] is looking right back at me...or merely lost in the moment, and much of that connection is caused by "lighting!" This post is intended to bring together those of you who sincerely want to trade your thoughts with others of a like mind...the ball is in your court!

Respects.....Don@Ruby13 & Co.

p.s. I'll be checking in on the thread in hopes of learning something.

Farmerdancow · Post by **Farmerdancow** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:41 pm

Ruby13 wrote:Gents:
If only I had your experience with photo shop! As it is, if I screw up and accidentally overlook something in the picture I hadn't planned on sharing,[my work boots, a strange cigarette in my ash tray, etc.] I post it anyhow, ...truly, the sign of an amateur!

Don,
My all time favorite is the Quaker Oats

I have also found out you have to turn the flash off...and I do need to find some lighting of sorts.
FDC

p.s. I'm glad I moved the topic over here, lots of responses really fast! Thanks guys!

Post by **RaDiv** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:58 pm

Farmerdancow wrote:
Ruby13 wrote:Gents:
If only I had your experience with photo shop! As it is, if I screw up and accidentally overlook something in the picture I hadn't planned on sharing,[my work boots, a strange cigarette in my ash tray, etc.] I post it anyhow, ...truly, the sign of an amateur!
Don,
My all time favorite is the Quaker Oats
I have also found out you have to turn the flash off...and I do need to find some lighting of sorts.
FDC

p.s. I'm glad I moved the topic over here, lots of responses really fast! Thanks guys!

Dan!

You should get yourself a couple of those:

: bulb.jpg (20.71 KiB) Viewed 4893 times

28W daylight bulb bought from a shop specialized in equipment for photography. If you are really advanced a reflector may come in handy.

royabelle · Post by **royabelle** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:52 pm

Ruby13 wrote:Gents:
If only I had your experience with photo shop! As it is, if I screw up and accidentally overlook something in the picture I hadn't planned on sharing,[my work boots, a strange cigarette in my ash tray, etc.] I post it anyhow, ...truly, the sign of an amateur! My primary interest is in creating personality, attitude and a sense of presence. I have no doubt you guys are much more capable of bringing a more professional touch to the table than I, [Stacy is probably giggling all through this] but sometimes it's the little things...the details that draw us in to study certain photos more than others. When we're captured by a certain photographers work on TDF, we study every nook and cranny of that shot...the expression, pose, choice of attire, as well as the surroundings...it should be a complete package! Without name dropping, I've seen pics of Dolls on this forum that make me feel as though she [or he] is looking right back at me...or merely lost in the moment, and much of that connection is caused by "lighting!" This post is intended to bring together those of you who sincerely want to trade your thoughts with others of a like mind...the ball is in your court!

Respects.....Don@Ruby13 & Co.

p.s. I'll be checking in on the thread in hopes of learning something.

for me the interesting is:
When you write: "I have seen pics of dolls on this forum that make me feel as though she......"
Could you give us an example?
Perhaps I think this is the best way to answered some questions.
When we have an example then it is simplyer to study these pic and give answers how it was made.

royabelle

Post by **Ruby13** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:48 am

Gent's:
Some of you have brought some pretty impressive info to the table, and are trading information on a much higher level than I could have imagined. Although I don't understand much of the technical jargon, I have managed to picked up some basic tricks along the way. I'm thinkin' since most of us don't have deep pockets or the bucks to lay out for highly professional equipment, it might get even more interesting if some of you actually brought in some your favorite photos and described how you've achieved the effects of each one. Royabelle asked me to give an example of what I meant when I mentioned how in certain photos I felt as though the "girl/Doll" is looking back at me...that's difficult to explain! I don't believe the quality of the picture is entirely due to the price of the camera...it has more to do with taking full advantage of the Dolls built in ability to be posed. If you can get her eyes to look directly at you with her head turned slightly away, it's as though she's showing interest in your direction. The same goes for that "coy but curious" expression...like she's waiting for you to make your move! To me, a variety of expressions is vital to conveying a message to the viewer...it creates a communication between the two. Regardless of how beautiful a "woman/Doll" is, the magic is in her eyes, her smile and that subtle body language!
Cheers...Don-R/13

p.s. I'm going to try out the 28w. daylight bulb RaDiv mentioned.

royabelle · Post by **royabelle** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:50 pm

ok,
then I want to give you an example for a better explaining, what I mean.....

......and why I think the working with Photoshop is so important to get an high quality pic from a doll.

At the left side (or at first) you see the original pic, which I made with my camera. These pic is not prepaired with any filterprogramms or other picture optimizer.

At the right side (or as second) you see the same pic after prepairing with Photoshop and some filterprogramms.

You see the difference?

To get an "magic" pic from my doll, where she looks sexy in her position, I can not planed at the shooting. I think it is more a game, which I have to play with her. Only after the shooting on PC, I see the results and find some really good pictures....or not....

So, my photo-tip for you is only the knowledge, how I can optimated a picture with some instruments.
I am not a fan for manipulation a pic with Photoshop, but I think the optimation with them is important, and when I not use these possibilities, my pics never would be ok.

royabelle