Angles? Posing?

Hmmm, It's a combination of things. Now the image is properly exposed but if feels flat to me for a few things.
1. the doll feels like it's too close to the backdrop, and because of that the doll lacks a little bit of isolation in the image. bring the doll a little further away from the background, that way when you're shooting you can have the background a little bit out of focus and have the doll stand out more from the image. this will also allow the shadows to fall at a different angle on the backdrop and could possibly cause them to create less of an impact on the background.

2. it feels like there are too many light sources... how many lights are you using? I'm getting the impression that there are at least 2 lights by looking at the shadow on the bottom image. although Shadowless lighting style can be good. It may be a better idea to drop the light and open the aperture more in order to get a shallower depth of field and more volumetric lighting. I'll get back to this later.

image specific ideas you could play with. :


having the torso coming down from the upper right hand corner makes me feel uneasy about this image. in order to adjust for something like this it may be necessary to angle his neck a little more to make it look like his head is straighter, rather than just continuing the angle down. Try simply rotating the image until the torso is either level, or until it's coming from the bottom corner, and then do some creative cropping. I'm more partial to level on this type of shot. but experiment away!. I would also bring the camera a little higher, and closer. The foreground of the shot feels rather uninteresting, and that feeling lingers into the subject as you scan through the image, try cropping it out or bringing your camera closer to your doll. Another possible adjustment in angle is how squared off you are to the doll. it may help to have the dolls body at a 45 degree angle rather than being completely perpendicular to the camera. These are all just suggestions to play with, and nothing more than my own opinion.



I actually like this angle and pose, but the square cropping removes alot of the dynamic that you created, it almost works against you. try cropping off some of the excess background and aiming for a more rectangular frame. you may have to rotate the image a little to achieve a tighter composition but as long as the excess is removed i think it would look great. I'd probably raise his chin a little more to see a little bit more of the eyes.

Well, hope this helps. keep playing with it and see if anything feels better or worse... the best part of shooting is the experimentation phase.

 

Saava ~ It's hard to address exactly what you're feeling "odd" about when you look at these images. It can be pretty subjective as to what will cause a viewer, even when the viewer IS the photographer, to feel unsatisfied with an image. You got some great tips from DrngdKreatinoz in regards to lighting, but especially about moving the doll and the background further away from one another. The second image...is more problematic, the doll looking down,the wig in his face and the shadows make for an image that doesn't really invite the viewer in. However, the first image is really strong and the only concrit I would offer is for you to move in closer - either with the camera or by cropping post-capture. Your boy is lit well there - the catchlight in his left eye just POPS the whole eye and opens up his face - it's really nice!

And don't forget after you move in closer, you can have all sorts of fun in your software -

 

Aww he's cute! I think the 2nd one is fine as it is. The 2nd one though, your camera is tilted clockwise for about 45 degrees when you too it right? I think it'll look better if you didn't tilt it. ^__^

 

I tend to avoid taking angle shots like this. I think that pictures generally look better without angles like that because the way they are framed tends to go against it. It takes away from the picture, and does not add to it. Though it may look cool at first glance.

I think your doll needs to fill more of the image. There's too much empty space. :3

 

My two penn'orth? The first shot fails because the doll looks like he's falling out of the top of the picture. When one does shadowing on text, there are certain shadows (underneath and to the left) that just make the viewer uncomfortable, because the letters look like they are falling onto the observer. I think it's the same with this image. It's not "wrong", it just doesn't feel comfortable. Next time, try angling so the legs are in the bottom left, rather than top left - thereby creating a positive angle.

The second shot fails (for me) because there's no eye contact. That's it really.

 

i think you need to add in a backlight.. where you put a bright lamp behind the backdrop... i think that might help... it also mught help to separate him from the backdrop...

 

Everything has already been said, but I'll just reinstate one of the most important things, or atleast that's how I feel.

Don't be afraid to be up in the dolls face! Make it nice and tight, close and personal. Don't let too much empty space fill the picture, unless that is the intention. My montra, "Close and Personal."

You always have great poses and good angles.

 

Quick observation - his face doesn't appear to be the focal point of the first picture; but with those big sweet Chiwoo eyes, it feels if it should be!

The viewer's eye is drawn right to the face; but the camera appears to have focused on the hands, which leaves the face ever so slightly blurry, and as such a little unappealing to the eye, because the eye does not like having to work for itself! XD

Hope that makes sense (>w<);;