Any tips for photographing white skin dolls?

Drensik ~ Wow! That is a really, really washed out photo and your doll is completely overexposed! I love it! That photo was taken with a flash, correct? Flash and white skintone are problematic with the dolls. There ARE some things you can do, though, to work around your exposure issues. I only own whiteskin toned dolls and speak from experience here.

First, what camera are you using?

 

A trick I use with my dolls (2 are WS) I angle the camera a bit so the flash is not directly on them. Another is find a more than well lit area so flash is not necessary. Really I suggest play around a bit. Also don't set them up where you can only shoot from 1 angle; move around (this help with angling the flash away from the dolls).

Here is a pic I took of mine and my sisters Dollmore girls both WS. Here I was in the bathroom which mine has lots of light and many many mirrors so no flash was needed.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q22/lostleafnin/dollfie/100_2095.jpg

Just a well angled camera flash. although this looks head on it's not I angled my camera just slightly. (In case anyone is wondering I use a Kodak Easyshare C77)
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q22/lostleafnin/dollfie/100_2050.jpg

 

For lighter-skinned dolls, good-lighting really is key. [I personally NEVER use flash; the glare it creates on wigs looks bad, regardless of whether or not the doll's white skin or not.]

You want your dolls somewhere where it's brightly lit enough so that your camera can catch the details of your doll's faceup/sculpt/whatever, but not so bright that your doll gets washed out. Pretty much, take pictures in natural sunlight but avoid direct lighting.

As an example, I took this pic outside around 3-4 pm-ish in the shade. Bright outside, still, but not too bright.

 

I've just purchased my first 'White Skin' doll and am worried about getting good pictures. My camera really hates taking pictures without the flash or a tripod.
* Would a difuser solve the 'over-flash' problem for the white skin dolls?
* Also, what's the best indoor lighting for white skin dolls?

 

the great thing about taking photos of dolls is that you never need a flash. because they don't move like real models you should take the time to always use a tripod or at least set your camera down.

it also helps if your camera has a macro setting to turn it on if you are less then two feet away. this way it will be easier to pick up the subtle differences.

as far as suggested lighting when there is no natural light you can always you lamps and diffuse the light by putting tissue paper or white fabric in between the light and the doll. and then just play around, you can use white poster board(or similar) as a bounce to help even out the light on the darker side, again to bring out more details that might get washed out by harsh lighting.


if you still want to use a flash then you can try standing -far- away and zoom in. however i still would only recommend this for 'snapshot' style photos


i also highly suggest reading your manual, nearly all digital cameras allow you to whitebalance them before taking photos by selecting the type of lighting you are using for photos. taking care of this before the photos are taken means you dont have to worry about losing detailing if you color correct the photos afterwords.

 

I have a couple of white skinned dolls and I second everything that Constance said. Never use a flash on a white skinned doll because it washes everything out and always, always be careful about the lighting. Typically, I never bother going out to take pictures of dolls from 11-ish until 2 because the light is so harsh and bright. Prime time using natural light is before 10:30 (preferably a bit earlier) and 4/5 onwards when the light gets all yellow-y golden closer to sunset. (Portrait photographers looooove this 'sweet time' for their pictures.) Even during softer light time periods, it'd also be a bit better to take the pictures in the shade to help further diffuse the light.

The key is just... always be aware of what type of lighting you're putting your doll in.

 

My personal, and very ghetto, strategy is simply to stand in the way of the light when I'm outside :'D Of course that means you have to be careful or else you end up with a human shaped shadow in the picture XD My msd girl is white skin and she's white as paper ha ha. Keep your doll in light but out of direct light otherwise you'll end up with too much shadow or too much light

 

I find when taking pictures of my WS girl, slightly underexposing the picture helps keep her from blinding viewers later on It does require a little correcting later on, but that's easily done in Photoshop if you have it.

 

Tips to avoid bounce issues:

Stand farther back and zoom in. Flash has a VERY limited distance range.

Diffuse the flash to make it less intense. A thick tissue (think Puffs!) over the bulb would achieve this.

Redirect the flash. The pros use what's called a kicker card, and you, too, can own one for $17.95! Or you can get a piece of white poster board (or cardstock), and tape it to the front of your camera in such a way that the flash will reflect off the card and up to the ceiling. This provides the same effect of the diffuser, but the light is coming from a different direction.

 

This. I always put my DoT Ducan in shade for outside pictures and never take pics just before, during or after noon. Also overcast days are very much your friend, try to sneak out for a quick 30 minute shoot before the rain starts.

 

A quick thought - A lot of cameras try to auto-balance the contrast in a shoot. If your doll is surrounded by black, the camera will try to capture the detail in the black, as well as the white. You might want to try putting her in a white or very light area, see if that helps. On the other hand, the light bouncing around from the reflective white surfaces could also be causing a problem for the camera, so try taking some pictures with dark backgrounds, as well.

Basically, it's not just the camera settings that you have to consider. Try changing all of the elements - lighting intensity, diffusion (try holding thin white paper or fabric in front of your light source), and direction, backdrop color, focus, the doll's outfits can sometimes effect how they look in photos. Keep playing with different conditions and situations.

 

That's a very good point to bring up: All cameras, no matter how sophisticated, strive to achieve what's called "middle gray." To photograph a WS doll on a white/light background will result in a flat photo. The whites will look muddy and blase. To photograph a black/dark subject on a black/dark background will result in the same thing, only with black. On the other hand, we all know what happens when we mix black with white: We get gray! This works with the camera, too: Blacks will look black while whites will look white. This is all assuming, of course, that there is no flash involved.

What we were taught to do in class was to prepare the camera for middle gray exposure at the same distance as the subject, and use those settings on the actual subject. This is most easily achieved with manual/partially manual settings, however. On the other hand, what can be done with the Instamatic cameras is half-press the shutter button on the Middle Gray, let the camera self-adjust, and then quickly press the shutter button over the subject (Do NOT change the distance, lighting, etc. Note that Zoom should be okay, though.) without allowing it to readjust. Just press it all the way.

Hopefully some more active photographers can correct me if need be XD;;

 

Okay, if this is your camera ( http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/HP/hp_435.asp ) it looks like it has what they call "Exposure Compensation." If you can find that setting, I would try dropping the compensation to a -0.5 or -1 and see if that helps. What that should do is either close the aperture opening by a stop or (more likely, given the specs) to speed the shutter up to twice the speed. Either way, that should let in less light, which should give a greater contrast value to the white skinned dollie.

EDIT: Erm, this probably isn't helpful, is it, considering how long ago this thread was started...?

 

Mondai: Maybe not to the OP, but my little Olympus has a similar feature as what you'd mentioned, so I think for future reference, it's quite helpful. Other cameras have it, too, and lots of people won't know what it means.

 

Popping by in defense of flash. If you cannot control your light, flash is not advisable for white-skinned dolls (or anything for that matter). I'll agree with this, but never say NEVER to using flash. Flash is entirely kosher so long as you're in control of it. Below are two of my wife's dolls.

Dollzone Mo (white skin).


Pipos Baha (Just TRY and get whiter than this).


Both of these were shot very quickly with flash diffused via a shoot through umbrella. If you were to check the histogram on these photos you should see that nothing's so far to the right that it's blown out. The Baha is as white as you're going to get it without losing detail (on my monitor, at least).

I'll echo the point Constance brings up regarding hair glare, but I'd argue that has more to do with the type of wig than the light. The Mo above has a synthetic wig. For comparison, this photo taken indoors at a doll meet this past February used flash (into a bounce umbrella) on a Hound with a natural mohair wig. Notice the absence of glare.


I'm a flash guy. I love that I can work up to a skill level (not quite there yet though) where I can make light bend to my will, not the other way around.

Admittedly, if I were using a point-and-shoot I'd probably NEVER use flash. That much I'll concede. But I'll always defend the use of flash, because once you've learned how to control and manipulate it flash can be your best ever friend.

 

Another example of Flash being your friend, even with a WS

 

If you're using flash (e.g in very dark rooms or when the light is bad) and you have a DSLR, then buy yourself a flashgun.
I took some pics of my WS girl and she came out just fine, though flashguns take some work getting used to, and learning how to position it.

 

I agree with that...

"For lighter-skinned dolls, good-lighting really is key"

My doll is white skin and sometimes, depending on lighting is so difficult to take good photos from her. Of course I'm not used to use flash cause i think photographs looks less realistic with its effect

 

I've done this a few times and it's a great way of making the most out of a shoot on a too bright day. This shot was taken with me standing between the sun and my doll. Although she'd not white, Dollmore resin is very pale and can blow out easily:

I agree.
Most point and shoots have an option like this these days, and compensating by even -0.5 can make quite a difference.

For shooting inside using natural light, I've found that light between 11am and 2pm is best. While it would be too strong for outside photos, inside it's usually just right. Lace curtains are handy for diffusing the light too, making it much softer:



If you're using lights indoors, have a play and find the point where you can get enough light on your doll without blowing out the shot. I often like to use one lamp off to the side, and often have it a reasonable distance away so that the light isn't so harsh.


Camera settings are a huge part of it though. Learning how to control the exposure and shutter speed of your camera to get the light level of light can help so much in creating a better shot.

 

I own mostly odd-colored dolls (grey or tan skin for example) but when i do take pictures of my white skin dolls, i set up a lamp off to one side and ALWAYS have a dark background.

For example:


My lamp has a more yellow toned light bulb in it, but lighting this way is good for contrast, which is KEY for white skin.

the dark background is because black absorbs most light.

also, you want the camera VERY steady. I've noticed if the picture is even SLIGHTLY blurry, the doll tends to look MUCH MUCH MUCH more washed out. almost like it... contrasts too much? like in your photo, you can make out her eyes and no other features at ALL. this is because you only get masses of color, and not the small details, like, the small shadows in her lips or around her nose. it blurred into the white and was lost forever o.o;

also, try some natural lighting. take photos outside in a slightly-more-shaded area.
this will keep the white skin WHITE not yellow. another example... only this time its my cheshire who is grey skin, but the same still applies... he gets washed out worse then any other dolls of mine o.o' he even has it on his ear, and his paw. but because he was shaded under his hood he stayed the right color, if a bit darker. which is more acceptable. (his default face-up, please forgive it )

 

I hope nobody minds me putting my own question into this, I didn't see anyone post a doll that is as WHITE as my Theron is.

Sometimes when I take photos of him, in natural light, I see that parts of his faceup get strange blue outlines!

Here's an example:



Can anyone tell me if this is because he's so white or if there's something else going on? Photo was taken in natural light in the shade with a Nikon Coolpix L20 on the automatic setting, with macro turned on and no flash.

 

SnyderOfBerlin: It's most likely your white balance setting (or the one the camera is picking seeing you have it on auto). I would see if there is an option on you camera to change the white balance manually, and see if you can get a different result.

 

SnyderOfBerlin: i do agree with kawaii_mon about camera setting...in addition to two other things.

DM WS is white enough to take on the colors that surround it. so there may be reflections of whatever he's around affecting his resin color (and if there isnt now, in the future its something to be aware of).

example?
i always have to take the green out of my boys face (photoshop is my friend), for obvious reasons XD


also, is it possible the blue is in his faceup? i have seen 3 different DM faceups in person and by far the best one was the above boy who came with a limited faceup...in just the eyes alone there were several different colors blended together...if they wanted more definition in his face its possible they used an indigo color along with black...and it only shows up in photos...

again, like kawaii_mon its most likely camera settings, but i am tossing these out there as possibilities as well...

and in case anyone wants to know, the above pic was taken with a flash in poor lighting outside...

 

I've had some limited experience taking pictures of my girlfriends dolls, many of which are either light pink or white skinned. Now, my own first doll is shipping to me, and she is a white skin as well. In many of the pictures I've taken, the features wash out, so I was looking for any general tips anyone might provide to get good pics of a light skinned doll.

 

I've a doll in white skin and I have no problems for make photos. I don't usually use a lot of light with her because she looks too white.

For example:


This photo is with natural light, I put the curtain between she and the window, and the photo was well ^^ The white skin not need cause problems when you're taking photos.
Sorry for my bad english, I hope I helped you

 

Ah, I hadn't considered using a curtain to filter the light instead of blocking it entirely! Thanks for the advice! And your English is quite alright. Thanks for being multi-lingual!

Now, does anybody have something to say about photographs of them outside? Is there a particular time of day that works best?

 

Yeah, in general you don't want a super bright light aimed directly at them. But you can still work with that! I took this photo with two lamps aimed directly at his face from a couple feet away. I set my camera's ISO to the lowest setting, 80, and lowered the exposure, so he didn't get all washed out. Depending on your camera, you might be able to manually change the shutter speed, in which case you should make it very fast... that should help, too!

More than lighting, though, the biggest variable in how white skin photographs is what you have on your doll, and its surroundings. (In my experience, anyway.) It is MUCH easier to photograph a white skinned doll if it is wearing light colors, has light wig and eyes, and the background isn't very dark. Photographing one with black hair, black clothes, black eyes, and a black background would be the biggest pain in the butt ever. I only have one example of this, to show you what I mean, and these are super old photos This doll had very light resin, so I had my camera set the way I described above. He photographed well enough. As soon as I stuck on his black wig, though, his face washed out a little even though my camera settings and lighting hadn't changed. Pretty annoying, but you can work around it with softer lighting.

Anyway, super long post of doom, haha. I am admittedly not the master of photography or cameras, but these are just some things I keep in mind when photographing my own white skin dolls

 

Thanks so much for the tips! I'd figured out the ISO thing, but I hadn't tried lowering the exposure yet, and increasing the shutter speed NEVER occurred to me! Persephone (my Mei) is going to end up with a lot of dark clothes because of her character (she's a necromancer), so I have a feeling taking pictures is going to require a lot of patience.

 

hi,you can try with dark background, and never in direct sun the child
I have a Heliot and goes well, always in a dark contrast
so I hope my advice will serve you

 

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to try them tomorrow. I just got a Soom Sphaler, and I cannot figure out what lighting to shoot him in. Everything I try makes him look washed out, or it is too dark for my camera to take clear pictures. It's getting to be quite frustrating.

 

The first important question is, are you using a DSLR or a point-and-shoot?

• If a P&S, depending on the model, your options may be limited. Just experiment with the options available and how you can mold existing light and see what works.

• If a DSLR, you should be safe; you have several options to play around with. However:

Rule #1: Don't use the pop-up flash. Just ... don't. Not unless you can soften it, reflect it onto the ceiling, or do something else creative with it.


Okay, that out of the way, here are the things you can play around with:

• Aperture. Smaller aperture (i.e. larger f/stop value!) lets in less light, hence decreases exposure.

• Shutter speed. Shorter time (i.e. faster shutter) less exposure, obviously.

• Exposure compensation. There is a control with a "+/-" on it on most, if not all, DSLR's and many P&S cameras. You can use this to decrease exposure even further.

• ISO sensitivity. This doesn't affect exposure as such, but rather the sensor's sensitivity, but this amounts to the same thing. The smaller the number, the less sensitivity.

The key to photographing white skin dolls is soft light — you don't want harsh highlights or sharp shadows (that's why you shouldn't use the pop-up flash — you can't get a harsher light source than that).


The next thing to play around with is where and how you tell the camera to meter for exposure:

• If you meter over a large area, and that area gets a lot of dark wig or dark background in it, the camera, if on automatic, will compensate by increasing the exposure, washing out the light areas.

• If the scene is light, the camera, if on automatic, will respond by lowering the exposure, blacking out dark areas.

• If you set the camera on centre weighed or even spot metering, you can set the exposure at the doll's face, and the camera will optimise exposure for that surface, regardless of what the rest of the scene looks like.

• Your best bet when faced with tricky exposure conditions however would be to set the camera entirely on manual, and then fiddle around with shutter speed and aperture until the pictures look good. The advantage of this is also that once you've found the correct settings, as long as the light does not change, you need not worry about the whole exposure thing any more for the rest of the shoot!

Don't forget to set the white balance, though. A white skinned doll can look very funny in incandescent light if you've set your WB to tungsten... If you can set a custom WB, you're safe.

And another thing: You have one more option. You can ignore almost all of the above, if you have the capability to shoot in RAW format and then do all the exposure and WB adjustment in Photoshop or iPhoto or suchlike. This only works in RAW (NEF etc), though — not JPEG, GIF, TIFF or any other format!

Personally, I think it's more fun to try to get it all right in-camera, though...

To illustrate, here is a photo I took of my wife Quiet Queen's White Skin Volks Miruku, Sakurahime.
It was taken in manual mode at 1/30s shutter speed, f/18 aperture, and -1.0EV exposure compensation.
Lighting was an improvised tungsten "beauty dish". Shot in JPEG; no post processing.

One thing I see in retrospect that I might have done better would have been to add some "catch light" to the eyes...
Oh, well.​

Hope this helps!

 

@ The Dragon: Wow, all of that information was right on the spot! Thanks for also explaining what each of those settings mean, because now I can even experiment with them myself if I get to wanting a particular look instead of just going by trial and error.

The problem is that I don't actually own a camera myself, so I'm relegated to using the one owned by whoever is on hand, which ranges from a tricked out Nikon D50 to my laptop's webcam. I'll probably end up getting a still camera sometime in the future, and I do plan to go with a DSLR camera when the time comes, so these tips will help a lot.

I do own Photoshop CS3 ( I also have access to CS4 if my roommate is around), so how would I go about shooting in RAW format? I'm interested to try that method as well.

 

That's easy: you just set the camera to shoot in RAW (i.e. NEF, on Nikon cameras).
Depending on the camera, you can even set the camera to store images in RAW and JPEG, which is useful if you also need to be able to publish images quickly, without time for post processing.

 

The Dragon do you have any tips on using a point and shoot? I has a BW doll and a kodayeasyshare camera 10.3 megapixels....

 

Well, basically all of what I say in my previous post is easily applicable to P&S cameras, too, provided that you can manually adjust aperture and shutter speed, and somehow influence how exposure is metered.

Unfortunately, I am not at all familiar with the Easyshare family, so I don't know what these cameras do and don't allow you to do. Therefore it's a bit tricky to give recommendations ... but try playing around with the Scene Modes (is that what they're called?), and softening the ambient light; see if you can find a combination that works.
Other than that, I'm afraid the best recommendation I can come to think of right off the bat is upgrading to a camera that allows you to adjust the parameters I mentioned earlier.

 

okay, I'll try playing around some more before I upgrade, thank you so much!

 

I have three white skinned dolls and for the most part I never have an issue taking photos.

What I normally do is this. For every composition I take a minimum of 3-5 shots. I set the Shutter speed differently each time and I am sure to take some photos where my camera is telling me that I am dipping below the recommended Shutter speed. Meaning I am letting light in the lense for less time. I find that slightly under exposed photos are easier to work with and I always adjust the contrast in Photoshop. If you cannot adjust your Shutter speed just be sure to take the photos in indirect light. Also, if you are outside go for early morning of late late afternoon (the Golden Hour) shots.

Below is Laine in a soft natural light. He is sitting close to the window. I never put him in direct light because then he really glows However, keep in mind that diffuse natural light like this is cool and will bring out the colder tones in your doll. Meaning they will look more chalky and less creamy. I like that.


Here is an example of Laine with a tungsten light on one side and natural light on the other. This photo was taken at dusk so there is a lot of blue in the natural light. The tungsten light is a very yellow light so it warms up the photo. This photo is strange because the colors are so saturated, but still interesting for illustrating how you can bring warmth to a white skinned doll with artificial light. I adjusted the contrast level in Photohop.

 

I often have trouble taking pictures of my Pale/White skinned doll outside. It looks WAY to overexposed and you cant see her facial features. I tried changing around the settings on my camera (all I have is a digital, nothing extremely professional) but it doesnt work.

How can I fix this

 

The easiest way would be to not take photos in bright daylight. Try early morning or late afternoon, where the sunlight isn't quite so harsh. Finding a shaded area would also help!


I really love the ethereal look WS has. :3

 

try keeping some sort of shade with you. something that isn't completely see through like a sheet.

 

My favorite time to take pictures is when it's cloudy out. Good luck.

 

The photos on this thread I took under the shade of trees on a brilliantly sunny mid-afternoon, using a hotshoe flash in BL mode as fill light.

Worked quite okay, I thought.

 

I would try sunrise/sunset times. Also, places with partial shade will help. Try doing some shots under a tree.

 

Like everyone else mentioned, try either taking the picture during the sunrise or sunset. However, if you would rather do it in the middle of the afternoon: Try to pose your doll where the sun is NOT shining directly in their face. You know what I mean? The bright sun is causing the washed out pictures. Just try moving her around to find the right amount of shade. Good luck!

 

My white skin dolls always have a blue cast to them outside, drives me crazy!

 

Also, if you have it, use spot-metering on your camera, or at least do the press-button-down-halfway thing and see where the metering square shows up. Meter for the brightest area, aka, the doll. You can always brighten other areas later, but darkening the most-exposed areas later doesn't get you any more detail. (Digital cameras remind me a lot of when I used to shoot slides instead of regular film. Overexposing gave the same loss of detail.)

As for a blue cast -- check your white balance (unless it's JUST the dolls that look bluish when everything else looks good. If everything has a cast, make sure your white balance is working correctly, or try manually tweaking it through the various settings), check what places or times of day give you the blue cast and avoid them -- I get a bluish cast if I wait until the last gasp of daylight, and cloudy days can shift things towards the bluish or even violet tones -- or are you shooting under open blue sky? The pure white will show the overall color tinge more clearlly than things with broken-up surfaces or mixed colors.

 

You could use some kind of diffuser. Anything that can stand in front of the light to soften it should keep things in better view. Usually direct sunlight can create a very high contrast with very light and very dark spaces. Most people have something that goes between the subject and the light (like the sun) to soften this. You might need a second person, depending on what you decide to use so they can hold it while you take the photo.

This is why a lot of BJD owners like taking photos on days where it's overcast.

 

I've had the same problem with my RS song, I think I took one picture of him that I liked with the flash on. but for the most part I try to use well lit areas and avoid using the flash all together. I've been playing with the idea of getting a lamp that I can pose to shine where I want it to and using that on dark backdrops so the skin stands out but doesn't wash out. this might work for you too.

 

This was really helpfull for me aswell, i'm getting my first white skin in a few months and im a bit nervous about how to photograph him.

 

I have a white skinned doll and I can say that one thing I do to take good pictures of him is to take pictures outside. The natural lighting really helps. I never use flash, it just blanks out all his features. But I believe that when it comes to white skinned dolls, lighting is key. Natural light is the best light, in my opinion.

 

If your flash just blanks the doll out, you're using way too much flash power. Try turning the flash down a few stops, and see what happens. Another avenue might be to shrink the aperture a bit, and/or reducing the ISO one or two stops, which would reduce the exposure from the flash, but also reduce the light on the background, possibly helping the doll stand out a bit more.

 

I had no idea white skinned was difficult to photograph but I haven't had a problem with my girl. She's white skinned and in person she's pretty pale also she has a natural looking face up which makes her even more pale looking. Though what I do is take pictures in natural daylight, not directly in the sun more like in the shade or just opposite of the sun because for me the sun does wash her out a bit. I never use flash, I just dislike it. So far I'm loving the pictures and actually doing this doesn't make her look as pale as she is in person. I'm not sure why.. might be because of the sun?

 

Try using a light area with a good background! It should help balance your contrast!

 

I don't have any white-skinned dolls, but being an extremely pale, white-skinned human myself, I know that flash is the worst thing ever. Flash is the devil's plaything. Never, ever use it if you can avoid it, because it makes everything look awful. XD

The thing I love about my doll is I never have to use the flash! I can have as long an exposure time as I want, as long as I have my camera on a tripod, because my model doesn't move!

 

Bad flash is bad flash.
Now, good flash ... that's another thing entirely. Whatever available light you start out with, good flash can almost always make it better.

 

This thread was very useful thanks!!

 

Something I've been going for recently with my WS Dika Molin is that very flat, washed-out, lifeless kind of picture that just kinda haunts you. With my natural skin boy, this isn't a problem and it's quite easy, but every time I try it with my WS, it looks awful. It washes out to a white halo around him instead of being muted and grey.

I've tried PS, too, but I just can't figure out how to get my WS to look like my NS!

Any thoughts or tips?

 

@DeadRoseCircus — Can you post an example, and tell us how you've shot it?