Doll Photography Tips: Leading Lines.

Using leading lines in your photography can help create a more interesting image for your viewer. But what is a leading line? 

A leading line is, more or less, a line that lead's the viewer's eyes to your subject. It doesn't have to be a perfectly straight line like a stick or an arrow, but can be more abstract things, like I'm about to show you. 

 Take this picture of Emily from an upcoming photoshoot. This one's a little hazy, but the fence leads your eyes to the subject, Emily.

 This one is a little easier to spot. The shadows from her legs lead you to the subject, Mia.

 The drop that the girl in black is holding leads to the girl and white, and vice verus.

 The scarf draped around her shoulders is coming out in front of her and is a loose line that leads back to the subject, making the the image much more interesting than her just standing there.

 This one is a little more direct... The strings from the hammock lead to Kanani.

 The log that Mia's stepping over is a leading line, it leads you to the subject.

As well as this one. Kanani is clinging to the branch, the leading line, that leads you to the subject, Kanani. 

I don't really hear leading lines discusssed all the often, but they're really useful in the composition of your image, which we'll be talking about next time. 

So go out and shoot, with your camera of course, and try using leading lines to make your photography more interesting... because yes, Headshots with bokeh in the background are beatiful: 

But can get a little tiresome after years of seeing them. 

I'd love to see your work! Feel free to comment a link to some of your photography below. 

Jeneca

Doll Photography Tips #2: Reflecting light.

So, over a year ago, I tried to start a photography tips series. Didn't work out to well, because I haven't done one since.
But, I feel as if I've given you enough photoshoots recently, so here are some photography tips!

My last tip was bad lighting vs. good lighting.

My next tip?

Reflectors.












 Look at these images. What do you notice about it? The background is nice, her hair, fine, nice dress. "What's wrong with them, just put them on Instagram already!" You may be saying.
 But wait, she's got some funky shadows on her face, especially  in the photo to the right.

Now, what can you do to fix that? Sure, if you had mad photoshop skills, you may be able to doctor it up a bit.
 Shooting at a different times of day may eliminate some of those shadows, but it may create more. Moving yourself to a different spot, or into the sunshine may change those shadows, but for this tutorial purpose, lets say that  the background is perfect, composition is perfect, (I'll talk about those things hopefully in a later tip) and you're surrounded by an army of snakes in ugly sweaters. This is the only place you can take the picture. You can't move!

What do you do?

 

Run into the kitchen and grab some tin foil!

 See? Much better. The tin foil acts like a trampoline, or a mirror to the incoming background light. It reflects that light  onto her face.  Tin foil is a great way to blast away those nasty shadows, and bring out the details in the dolls face, and can help your camera focus better on the doll's features. (or humans, for that matter.)

Now, not all shots need a reflector. Sometimes, shadows are your friend, like in this shot. I think it looks much cooler with the shadows on her face. It adds to the seriousness of the shot.

But then there's photos like these, where everything is jussttt righttt.... but the dolls face is shadowed, gray, and unfocused due to the amount of light in the back. Had I used a reflector, this shot might have looked much better.

There's my tip for the day!
Hope this helps. Comment below if you use tin foil as a reflector, or if you're less cheap than me and actually own a real one. ;o)
-Jeneca

5 Tips for Taking Photos in the Snow (with dolls)

(sorry if this post was ghost for awhile, I published before completed!)

Admit it, its a daunting and dangerous thought, especially if you've never done it before. Well, truth me told, it is. Snow is fluffy water, the exact thing you're supposed to keep your doll miles away from, right? Well, yes, but it can be done!
Before I even start this list, I'm going to say this: ASK YOUR PARENT OR GUARDIAN BEFORE DOING ANY OF THE LISTED BELOW!
Your parents will know you much better than I, and will be able to give you the better answer if you, as a unique person, should take your doll outside in that frigid wet snow.
(I'm not responsible if your doll is ruined, either. I'm not telling you to go out there, only giving you some suggestions)
Alright, that said, let's start!

1. Prepare for the worst! That's right, your doll could fall face first into the snow. It's happened to me before, when I wasn't prepare, and I freaked out. Thankfully, nothing came of the matter, but better safe than sorry. Bring along a small hand towel if you plan to stay out long.

2. Make sure your doll is ready. Put some clothes on her! Give her some sturdy shoes, so she stand better. As long as your careful, she can wear anything, but just like a human coat keeps the snow off of our bodies, the right doll coat can do just the same for your doll. If you're feeling a little OCD about it, you could stuff some plastic wrap under her shirt, to help keep of the water, but no biggie.

3. Get yourself ready... That's right. If you're taking pictures, don't wear something to constraining, but you'll want to dress warm. Taking a good picture doesn't take 30 seconds (usually)

4. Keep your Camera safe! Bring out its case, or a small bag to set it in, in case you need to set it aside for posing purposes. Don't forget your touch screen gloves if you've got a mobile deceive, or if you have one, a sturdy tripod.

5. Set that camera before you go outside. It'll be a lot easier than fumbling around with it in the cold when you'd like to just return to the comfort of indoors. If you have a point and shoot, look for a snow setting on your camera. If you've got a DSLR, do a little reading on taking pictures in snowy scenes. Auto might not give you the look you want, so be prepare to change up your white balence so things don't looking funky colored, f stops and whatever else.

Alright then! I hope that gave you a few ideas, and now, if you have permission, get out there a shoot!

-Jeneca

Doll Photography Tips! #1: Lighting.

 Hi! today I've got some tips for you, something that I've struggled with recently, but very easy to correct... lighting.
Lighting is ab-so-lute-ly KEY to taking good pictures. Low light = bad. Room lights = bad (mostly) to MUCH light = bad. I prefer to take pictures outside, because there is usually pretty good, beautiful lighting.
Here is an example of a really bad photo:

What do you notice that's wrong with this picture? The lighting! To much light, to be exact. The eyelash shadows are very weird, and extremely unnatural. No good.  Afterward, I moved her under the shade of a tree.The leaves kind of act like flash de-fusers for the sun.

Better, right? Another way you can avoid the shadows (and glare) from the sun is to make sure the sun is behind the doll, and the doll in front of the sun.
Example:

That's all I've got for now! :)

-Jeneca