Basics of Doll Photography

Ever have problems with taking shots of your BJD dolls?  Perhaps there were issues with the focus or too much grain?  This panel is going to go over the basics of photography, taking pictures with the simplest of cameras, and trying to troubleshoot most problems doll photographers face when taking photographs of their dolls.

 Understanding what your camera does and doesn’t do is probably the singly most important thing.  Get out your manual!  Read it!  We realize that the box said point and shoot, but in some cases, to get better results it’s not quite so easy.  First things to find on your camera:

Macro button (flower mode)

Telephoto Control or Zoom feature

Flash on/off (some have controls on intense the flash fires as well)

Most cameras have these three features.  Some do not have the macro feature.  Many have more features like:

ISO

Special Effects (black and White, Sepia, etc)

White Balance (The Ability to Select the Light Source: Outdoors, Indoor, Shady, Cloudy, Night, etc)

Timer (Controls the shutter so that it will take a picture at timed intervals).

Size of Picture (the actual file sizes of the photo being taken)

More advanced features vary on cameras, like light metering, different modes of handling the shutter (a photographic device inside the camera that administers the exposure by limiting the time over which light is admitted) and aperture (is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted).  In this write up, we’re going to try to keep this simple and just talk about the general cameras.

Let’s talk about the usual problems that people have and fix those first!

THE ISSUES

1.  ZOMG!  MY PICTURES ARE ALWAYS BLURRY!

Lighting is probably one of the most important aspects of photography and probably, the most forgotten.  We constantly deal with light around us on a day-to-day basis and with photography; a digital camera needs light in order to take in the images you are shooting.  Without proper light, the camera struggles with the image and the parts on the camera that allow light into itself, open up to allow more light.  But when that happens, any sort of hand movement from you, causes blur.

How do you avoid such an issue?  Buy a few lights.  They don’t have to be expensive or fancy.  My main set up that I use 90% of the time was bought from desk lamps from Goodwill, each costing on the average $8.99 each.  If you don’t want any sort of shadows, all you need to do is get 3 lamps, angle them at 45 degrees to kill any sort of shadows across the doll’s face and you are fine.  I use usually two with 100w bulbs and one with a 40w.  Some people I’ve seen use clip on lamps, others have drafting lamps, but honestly, there is absolutely no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on lights for your photos.

Another suggestion is to use a tripod with your camera and your camera’s timer.  A tripod will steady most horrible arm shakers and the timer will obliterate any jerking that may come from pressing the shutter to hard or accidentally bumping the camera while you are shooting.

 Also, the “macro” or “flower mode” button on many point-and-shoot cameras needs to be pressed while shooting the dolls.  If you are up close (within a few feet to several inches to the doll) you should make sure that macro button is engaged.  Macro mode is created for close up photography, which doll photography is.

2. WHY DOES MY SHOT HAVE A YELLOW (OR SOMETIMES BLUE) CASTE TO IT? 

It’s called White Balance in a picture and it’s when the light source is not properly selected when the shot was taken.  Or, in some cases, it is done on purpose.  Many digital cameras, when you keep it on automatic, have issues with knowing if they are indoors or outdoors, so they have a tendency to do poor choices in the selection of what lighting is actually being done.  The only solution for this in many cameras is to go manual mode and adjust the lighting in there.

 Some DSLRs automatically shoot “cold” (blue) or “warm” (yellow).  Nikon and Canon are notorious for having these issues, so you just have to adjust either in RAW settings or in Photoshop.

3. MY SHOTS ARE TOO DARK!

This is called underexposed.  Sometimes you can fix some slight underexposed shots by decreasing shutter speeds[1] or increase aperture size to let in more light.  Again, it’s a light thing and you need to get into manual mode with many cameras.

Also, there is a setting called ISO, which is basically setting the light sensitivity of the camera.  If you are shooting outdoors in full sunshine, you want to set your camera anywhere between 80-200 (usually 100 is good, with 200 for overcast).  If it’s mid-day and darker (like shade) 400 is usually fine.  When you step indoors, you want to set the ISO to 800 or if it is REALLY dark inside to 1600.  But remember, that the higher the number, the more grain (or noise they also call this) will happen.  It is highly recommended to use a tripod with indoor shots so that you can use lower speeds, and lower shutter speeds (tripods will keep your camera still when you camera is trying to grab as much light as it can with the slower shutter speeds).

4. YIKES!  WHY IS EVERYTHING ALWAYS SO WASHED OUT? 

Overexposure is common when too much light is getting into the camera.  Increase the shutter speed or decrease the aperture to let in less light.

5.  MY DOLL IS SO PALE AND HE WEARS BLACK!  HOW DO I SEPARATE HIM FROM THE BACKGROUND AND NOT HAVE HIM GET WASHED OUT!

You really need to figure out your light meter and have it set to where you know where it's sampling light. I usually suggest switching it to centered because that way you know that the meter is directly center and not grabbing the light from the entire frame randomly and making a guess at the light, or taking a partial reading and then, making it's best guess. Center you can point to your subject and go for it.

A lot of the doll resins reflect light and throw it back into the camera where it just mixes everything up.  If your camera has spot (light) metering capabilities (again, a manual capability) it is always better to meter on a mid tone (not on the black and NOT on the face, but possibly on the wig or a medium color between the black and white in order to get a balanced light reading).  If you are trying to get details in the blacks and don’t care about the flesh, then meter off the black fabric, so you can get the details.  If you don’t care about the fabric details, you can always meter off the flesh, but the black may go into soft focus.  Up to you.

 Also, setting up a “fill” light pointed at the background you are using and making sure there is clearance between the doll and the background so that the light can really fill it in, will also help.

6.  MY PICTURES ARE REALLY GRAINY.  WHY?

Yet another of those manual and light tricks and you need to have an ISO (stands for International Organization for Standardization) selection on your camera.  ISO is “film speed” (well, that what is used to be before digital and they are continuing to use that term for now) and a measure of the “film’s” (in this case let’s just think the memory card) sensitivity to light.  Higher ISO (like 800, 1000, 1600 or 2000) rating needs longer exposure to light (light being flooded onto the “film”, thus more light is needed) thus this would be considered a “slow film.”  Lower ISO speed ratings (like 80, 100, 125, etc) can shoot with shorter exposure to light (and it is called a “fast film”).  The lower the ISO the clearer the shots will be.

 What is probably happening is that your ISO is set to higher speeds (800 and above).  Adjust down to 200 to 100, especially if you are doing mostly outdoor shots.  The slower the film, the grainer (or “noisier”) it is.  Cloudy and mid-day/shade, I will push the ISO to 400.  Anything higher you risk getting grain.

 If you want to avoid grain, you may want to use a tripod, use the shutter timer, and shoot at much faster ISO speeds.  The shutter will go much slower, but if you are on a tripod, it doesn’t matter.  It’s just a slower process to take pictures, however, your final result will be much cleaner.  Also, if you add more light this will kill a lot of the grain depending on the setting (ISO 1600 typically has a lot of grain, so bring it down).

7.       My flash washes everything out!

 My suggestion really is to try to not use the flash and use desk lamps and whatever lights you can get your hands on, shutting the flash off.  But if you can’t do that, there are a few different ways to diffuse the light from a flash depending on what sort of flash you have.  Some flashes get hot, so you have to be very careful about this!  Some you can put a piece of wax paper across the flash, others a piece of paper will work.  I’ve also seen people rig up plastic milk cartons to diffuse the light as well.

There are also light diffusers you can buy from camera stores that you can hold in front of the flash.  You may get some light bleed over, but it is possible to do that.  Some DSLRs have a pop up flash, and there is a company that just released a “soft box” diffuser that’s about $12 that Velcro’s across and around the flash.  I’ve never used it, but they look like they would work.

Some cameras have flash sensors that you can control the intensity of the flash.  Read your manual to see if this is an option.  Bouncing the flash off walls if you can adjust the flash to not be pointing anywhere near you doll is a great option as well.

There are numerous light tents that are sold that work great and are reasonably inexpensive (under $80). There are numerous options for lighting.

8.       I WANT TO BUY A NEW CAMERA, BUT WHAT SHOULD I BUY?

This is all my own opinion, which you all can take with a grain of salt.  This is a bugaboo of mine, this particular question.  Too many doll friends I’ve met, jumped at buying a new camera and it turned out to be the wrong camera for them, as they didn’t take the upgrade in steps.  There is a huge factor that you can easily jump into a camera that is either not the right features for your shooting style or just WAY too many features, thus you over-paid for something that you never really needed.  This is what I’ve come up with after speaking to numerous professional (and non) photographers.

Why do you want a new camera? If you are shooting on automatic in your current camera, do not upgrade. Most photographers will suggest getting off automatic settings and going manual before you even consider buying a new camera.  If you have a camera that has little to no manual features, then sure, upgrade.  But usually most point-and-shoots (those cameras are known as low-end compacts usually) have great dynamic ranges, more mega pixels than many DSLRS out there, and the quality is really outstanding.  They also are a lot easier to use and it gives you good experience in how to use a camera. 

Any camera you upgrade from a point-and-shoot, like a zoom lens reflex, low-end compact or the single lens reflex, will all work basically best in manual mode anyway.  You will get a better idea of your camera usage (what short of shooting style you do, what you need in a camera, etc) by going manual and mastering the POS, and it will help you when you are ready to upgrade as you will know what you need to buy.  Things you should take note of as you are using your camera: where do you shoot normally (i.e. indoors or outdoors?), do you shoot in a lot of low light or do you care about that, portraits or full body, do you print out your work, and do you shoot a lot of non-doll stuff (and if so, what sorts of shooting and how much do you do?)?  Once you gather up all this info and you are really, truly tired of your camera, then you have all the information in order to upgrade.

If you have a point-and-shoot, then the next step is NOT always a DSLR (unlike many people seem to think).  There are also zoom lens reflex, low-end compacts and high-end compacts (as well as web cameras).  Before you just jump to the DSLR, you should check out the differences and really balance what you use the camera for. Understanding your shooting habits, the types of lens available, how the cameras work and how the work best, will save you hundreds of dollars. 

Example, it is absolutely pointless to buy a $1000 camera, when you don’t want to edit all your pictures through Photoshop (many DSLRs shoot in RAW for the best results, so that is another expense).  Example, if you just enjoy doing headshots in your backyard (which you take maybe 20 shots in a year), and you don’t share the pictures much, you don’t need that 8 mega pixel DSLR with the kit lens. A low-end compact would be fine for that sort of shooting.

DSLRs are light sensitive and really need users that shoot manual.  For best results, you need Photoshop or some sort of photo editing skills.  The quality you get from a DSLR is really minor if you process your images the same exact way you were processing them when you were working your low end compact or point and shoot.  There is a lot more effort and thought that needs to be put into using a DSLR, hence the main difference between “point-and-shoot.”  And yes, I have seen a number of people that own DSLRs, shoot in automatic, and you would never in a million years know it was a DSLR.  The camera does not always know best for many of the light settings.

Best place to research cameras on the web:

http://www.dpreview.com/

9.       I DON’T LIKE MY PICTURES!  I THINK I NEED SOME HELP WITH COMPOSITION!

http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html

http://www.photozone.de/4Technique/compose/goldenmean.htm

http://powerretouche.com/Divine_proportion_tutorial.htm

These three sites go over the basics of photographic composition.  It’s always a good idea to read over these sorts of things and glean what you can from them.

  Want some other tutorials on photography?

 Go to:

 http://www.dollicieux.com/

http://www.popphoto.com/?path=G&gclid=CPeD__zStIwCFQzjYAodyDBMKg

http://www.geofflawrence.com/

http://www.photoxels.com/digital-photography-tutorials.html

Need more support for your photography?  Try going to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Isle_of_Misfit_Toys_Too/

Mercy Neumark is a freelance writer and photographer.  Published in several magazines and online publications.  She’s also had her illustrations published as well.  She mods several doll forums, such as Isle of Misfit Toys, Controversial Doll, and co-mods Crown or Kick on Flickr.  She currently lives in Los Angeles.  

Cameras mostly used: Canon A80 and a Canon D20 with 50mm macro lens.

Techno Babble:

Example of aperture and F-number (also called focal ratio, this diagram is what the apertures look like in a camera, each aperture is one half the light gathering area as that of the previous one.  The actual size of the aperture will vary depending on the focal length of your lens.  The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly it converges (focuses) or diverges light.

Shutter speeds are:

1/8000 s

1/4000 s

1/2000 s

1/1000 s

1/500 s

1/250 s

1/125 s

1/60 s

1/30 s

1/15 s

1/8 s

1/4 s

1/2 s

1 s

B (for bulb) — keep the shutter open as long as the release lever is engaged.

Example, average shutter speed for a daylight shot, depending on the aperture (f/stop) is 1/125

Aperture picture was swiped from Wikipedia.