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Taking Pictures Inside

3/12/2015

9 Comments

 
When photographing dolls inside, lighting is very important. There's much less light inside, so my first suggestion would be to invest in a tripod. A tripod allows you to take sharp photos at much lower light than you can with just a hand-held camera.

Next thing, is to pay attention to where the light is coming from. So often I see photos of dolls with a window behind them, and you pretty much can't see anything. Like this.....
Picture
Or the idea was to take a photo with the doll looking out the window....like this....
Picture
Whenever you have a subject (the doll) in front of a bright light (the window), all you are 
going to get is a dark figure silhouetted against a blown out background. One way to 
deal with this situation is to use a flash to highlight the subject.....like this.....
Picture
Personally, I find the flash gives a very unnatural look, so I I try a different approach, and 
if I want my doll looking out a window, then I photograph from the side....like this.....
Picture
This produces a much more natural look. But how do you take a well-lit photo of the doll inside when you want to see her face?  Well, it's just like taking a photo outside - you need the light on your doll's face, which means that when you are taking the photo, the light has to be coming in over your shoulder.   This is my dining room 'photo studio' which works very well for me....
Picture
I have a little 'doll room' set up on the window end of the table, and I sit on my chair in the bay window to take photos.  Sitting on the chair allows me to take photos at the doll's eye level, and creates the illusion that we are right in the room with the dolls.  All the 'interior' shots I've shared the past many months were taken here. Only on the brightest days is the light good enough to shoot hand-held, so I almost always use a tripod. The brighter it is outside, the more evenly lit the scene will be, but it's important that the sun not be shining inside onto the scene on the table. Here's an example of the difference between a bright but indirectly lit shot, and one with sunshine.....same scene, both taken with a tripod.....
Picture
Picture
The sunshine creates very harsh contrasts, and although it does give a certain drama, 
the softer, more even lighting, is usually to be preferred.  The bright indirect light gives 
much softer shadows, and much truer colours.  As it does here.....
Picture
*Just a reminder that I'm now also on Facebook. I'm trying to not make Facebook and this Blog duplicates of each other. The most in-depth doll-related posts will always be here in my Blog, so I'm currently showing a series of my favourite doll photos from recent trips over there...
9 Comments
Donna
3/11/2015 11:46:55 pm

More great tips! Thank you! It's so interesting to see your 'photo studio' set up. It really illustrates the points you've been talking about. Thanks for sharing that too.

Reply
Martha
3/12/2015 04:14:09 am

Well, they say "a picture is worth a thousand words.." and it's so much easier to show a picture than try explain it.

Reply
Jane
3/12/2015 04:07:11 am

Thank you again all really good tips.
And I loved to see your dolly roomset in situ....I am so nosey about people's homes *blush*

And great to hear that you are not shifting to FB entirely *phew* thank you.

Reply
Martha
3/12/2015 04:25:30 am

I've been keeping the doll furniture on the far end of my table for months now. It's mostly hidden by the table centrepiece, which I remove when I'm actually going to take photos there. The chandelier above is great for suspending stuff off of - like balloons, and my mice and frog in the ballet sequences before Christmas.

Oh no, I would never switch to Facebook completely. This Blog is where all the project details, and entire stories get posted. Facebook is where many family members go, so I usually just post one or two photos from each little story, and currently I'm posting favourite trip photos basically to show them what 'this nut who plays with dolls' actually does with them. Many of those trip photos are already posted here in Favourite Photos Albums, although I have been working through old photos which were taken in RAW but never processed. And since I now have PS6 and am way better at processing my RAW photos than I was back in 2012, I've also been reworking some of my favourite old photos and posting them on FB.

Reply
Brigitte
3/12/2015 05:55:24 am

Your tips are very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing.

I found you on Facebook and i love your photos over there too.

Reply
Martha
3/12/2015 10:10:49 am

You are very welcome, and I'm glad you find the photo tips helpful.

Reply
Xanadu link
3/12/2015 09:45:45 am

I finally found your blog and what a fabulous blog it is. Thanks for sharing the photography tips as I take a lot of mine inside with backdrops. I do use a tripod, I am hopeless taking photos without it, even with the anti camera shake on the camera.

Not a big fan of Facebook so am pleased this blog is going to continue . . . I love your photos!!
Hugs,
X

Reply
Martha
3/12/2015 10:06:43 am

I'm not a big fan of Facebook either, and definitely not of sharing every embarrassing personal detail, or of all the drama. I'm just using it as another way to share doll photos with my fans.

Reply
Zabou link
3/15/2015 04:15:42 am

Thank you Martha for these helpful tips !
I found you on facebook.

Reply



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    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
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