Lighting Advice to reproduce a lighting setup, please.

Do you have a camera that can do longer exposures? If you can keep the shutter open for longer, you can get away with using less light. This means you should be able to get closer to what you are after using standard lights.

It looks to me like there is a soft light source coming from just one side. This should be a pretty simple set up. The trick with be diffusing the light so the source of light is soft. Here are a couple ideas on how to get a soft light source.
-I would probably try bouncing the light in. You could use a white foam core panel, aim your lights at that and bounce it onto the character. This would give a nice soft source, but it would require pretty strong light.
-You could also hang a veil of cloth in front of the light to soften the source. Bridle veil is commonly used.
-You could put a gel on the light to soften the source. You would probably need to go to a camera store or stage supply place for proper gels though.

This is not my area of expertise, but I see it all of the time. Just a couple of the methods I have seen. I hope this helps.

 

One trick I see the pros do a lot is to set up the lights and then switch them off and on, or cover and uncover them with a card, to see exactly what each light is doing. With this trick, you can set things up how you think they should be, and then quickly fine tune your sources by seeing exactly what each light does.

 

For that shot you need only one light and a reasonably dark room.

The subject is front lit but photographed from the side.

You need the room to be dark because it is quite contrasty
light. As long as the light illuminating the subject is brighter
than the ambient light there is nothing sophisticated about
the set up.

 

Sort of like this

Sophia - profile by Tom Beach, on Flickr

 

It's composited. There are two separate and distinct
photos. The portrait, that we discussed, and a second
image of the wall, frame and curtain. Then the portrait
is edited into the frame. The editing is as important as
the photography.

Vintage Portrait by Tom Beach, on Flickr

 

When you photograph the wall and frame fill the
frame with a plain white mat board.
That will make it easy to select and drop your portraits
into.

 

I would agree with TomB that it is a composite. You would be able to set it up as a non-composite shot, but so much trouble. You would need a frame, some flat thing that is both strong enough to support the frame and that you could cut a frame-sized hole in. Foamcore probably wouldn't do it, but thin chipboard would. Cut hole in board, cover board in patterned paper, attach frame to board and then set up at the front of your shot. No less than two feet behind it, set up a large board and drape fabric over it. Put doll between the two. You will need to light doll and frame separately. As, TomB says, diffused light directed at the front of the doll's face, behind the board. Small light. Then you need a larger, diffused light to illuminate the frame. That one is coming from the same side as the one illuminating the doll's face, but at less of an angle, about 45 degrees from your camera.

So, a lot of trouble.

You can do fun things with old frames, though, so you can use that as a start. This is a rather dodgy shot I played about with (excuse nudity). It was a first go at this, and there is a lot more you can do with the idea. Experiment! Have fun!

 

I think you'll find a "real" frame too large, look at the 4x6 desk frames.
4x6 is 16x24 in 1/4 size or12x16 in 1/3 size so OK for either. Expanding on
MadamMauMau's very good advice, I'd start with a cardboard box. I'd paint
the interior black. Place the doll within the box and illuminate it with a small
LED lamp which I'd also place within the box. Now you've isolated the doll
and it's lite from the outside environment. Cover the outside of the box
with art paper printed with a delicate pattern. Blick and other art supply
or paper shops carry it. I use it frequently as wallpaper in doll settings.
Cut the hole, hang the frame over it and you're good to go. Best of luck!

While I'm not 100% sure this would be bright enough,
Smart doll makes a doll size studio light that just might
be exactly what you're looking for to illuminate your
doll without spilling light onto the external set.

Smart Studio Light

Another alternative would be a small LED flashlight on
some sort of support.

 

It looks as though that lamp is more a prop than to actually take photos. No info on lumens and it looks tiny.

I used to use a desklamp, with the head bagged with white cotton lawn, to diffuse it. Did fine. Not as focused as something like a softbox (which is what I use now, in various sizes), but could do that perfectly well. You would need a long exposure, due to the weak light. So a tripod would be needed. But I think a tripod is a decent investment anyway. It doesn't have to be a Manfrotto. You can get a pretty stable Slik tripod for not much at all. And don't forget to set your white balance to suit. If you don't have custom white balance on your point and shoot, auto white balance generally does a passable job, providing there aren't any huge areas of one colour to throw it off.

ETA: I just looked on the Hobbylight page. That bulb is 80 lumens (its a measure of how bright it is). As a comparison, I aim for at least 1000 lumens with the bulbs I use in my softbox, and that still needs a tripod. So, yes, a nice-looking prop but not for photography.

 

You should do it. There are so many people battling with the same issues that seeing how someone with some commitment battles through it would be both interesting and informative.

You can take perfectly good photos with a desk lamp, a tripod and a bit of white card. I still take many that way, when I can't be bothered to get the "proper" lights out. You just need to understand the potential and limitations of your camera and work around it. I would focus on one camera and really get to know that. The point and shoot would be the most likely candidate from your selection. Find out if you can switch white balance (one of my pet hates is the yellow photograph. It makes such a difference to get that right and means you don't have to waste money on bulbs that are supposed to be "daylight", yet don't match what your camera reckons is daylight colour).

And "proper" lights aren't that expensive, if you opt for the cheapjack stuff and don't mind its limitations. My 30cm softbox cost about $12 and its light stand about $20. You can use high powered household bulbs, but need to be aware that they will melt and potentially set fire to things if left on in a softbox for more than a minute. There is also a lot you can do with a pizza box and some cooking foil. Going ghetto teaches you a lot about light. When you know what you want and how to achieve it, you can start looking to replace your cardboard kit with something a bit more substantial.

 

I got one of those little lights and it is surprisingly capable.
See my review at

/threads/dramatic-light-for-doll-photos.747079/