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Fujifilm Instax: A "Tangible" Approach to Doll Photos

Aug 29, 2014

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    1. Half on impulse, I recently bought a Fujifilm Instax Mini 8. (and decorated it :sweat)

      [​IMG]

      I love, love, love this camera even more than my regular one for a number of reasons. For the most part, it feels more like a toy than a camera, so it gives a much more personal experience to photographing things (also less professional). It's a basic Polaroid camera that's completely analog--battery-powered with no digital features whatsoever. You can't upload it to the internet, there's no memory card slot, you can't use photoshop on it. Only one picture comes out at a time and that picture is the only copy that exists. The camera itself has very vibrant pastel colors to choose from and even though it's bulky, it's very lightweight. This review can explain the features from a photography point of view, particularly lighting.

      The camera is relatively cheap depending on where you buy it--Amazon is probably cheapest. Camera-wise, it isn't out of most peoples' budget range like DSLR, but it's the film that's expensive--about $1 per photo. This means every photo counts. You aren't mindlessly snapping a million photos you may or may not root through later, you consciously and carefully take that one shot and when the photo comes out through the top slot, you hold your breath as you watch it appear hoping that it came out right. That also means that you need to get more creative with your photos because snapping the same pose over and over could be a waste of film. But this is also the charm of using it.

      A number of ideas for use in doll photography.

      1. Decoration, obviously.

      A lot of sites give room decorating tips of using clothespins to tack them up, or putting them in the shape of a heart. In general, your doll(s) are going to be the main attraction in your room, but if you were able to take a successful photoshoot outside in some scenery that you might not be able to return to, sometimes it's nice to have a quaint little reminder of that on your wall.


      2. Photo-Card Swapping

      I think it'd be a cool idea to treat the Instax film almost like trading cards. The Mini 8 film is about the size of a credit card, so it makes it an ideal size for swapping to collect pictures of other peoples' dolls. In other online communities, there are Polaroid Postcard Groups, where you just write the address and put the stamp on the back of the photo. This might be an interesting concept with doll photography, because then you are the only one that has that particular photo, making it more personal.


      3. Concept Notes and Organizing

      If you're someone like me who likes to change outfits, hair and eyes multiple times over a month, then sometimes it's nice to have short-and-sweet concepts of what the doll looks like in a particular style, like white pants versus a bell skirt. Using an Instax, you can stick that photo on the box of the outfit to better organize and remind yourself what it looks like on your doll.


      4. Meetups

      I don't go to meetups, but considering this is a very social camera, it's sometimes nice to have a photo right to instantly give to a friend as a gift. The tangible approach allows better bonds with people and the camera itself is a conversation piece. Nowadays, unless you have a 3D printer on hand, you're not going to get a hard copy of your event while it's happening, so sometimes having a wallet-sized memory of your dolls and their meetup friends is nice.


      Does anyone else have an Instax? :)

      [​IMG]
       
      #1 Grimoire, Aug 29, 2014
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    2. I have an Instax mini 8! So far I've only used it to take pictures of my cats, but I do (eventually) plan to use it to take pictures of my dolls.
       
      #2 radioactivealchemist, Aug 31, 2014
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    3. I'm finding it might be best to put a piece of tape over the flash like the youtube video suggests...doesn't make the doll's face ghost white and gives them a more soft glow. :}
       
      #3 Grimoire, Aug 31, 2014
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    4. I have a Polaroid from the late 90s that had sticker/strip photos. It was so much fun. I've been eyeing the Fuji for awhile. I LOVE how you deco'd it!
      I dress in Lolita and Otome a lot and so do my dolls whenever possible.

      I'm going to have to look into this more seriously. (And start printing out more of my photos.) My next phone will hopefully be the sort with a really amazing camera feature.
       
      #4 Urbanfaerie, Sep 5, 2014
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    5. Sticker and strip photos would be AMAZING. :D
       
      #5 Grimoire, Sep 5, 2014
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    6. I have the mini 8 in brown, and I have the larger wide instax 210 camera as well, but I really want the new instax mini 90, neo classic, because it has loads of extra features and looks awesome! I've tried taking photos of my dolls with some of my toy cameras before, but they never looked that great, so I stuck with my digital camera. Also, I've found when photographing things close up with the instax mini it's really hard to get the thing in frame correctly because the viewfinder is positioned quite far over to one side of the lens.

      For sticker photos, I have a polaroid pogo, which is digital but prints onto mini stickers. The quality isn't as good as analogue instant photos but it's quite fun! I used it for a photo-a-day diary a while back.

      I'm a huge fan of analogue, and especially instant photography but I haven't used it much for doll stuff. The idea of taking photos of them to help you choose outfits reminds me of clueless!
       
      #6 minimoon, Sep 5, 2014
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    7. I have one, I love it, but as my fist doll hasn't arrived yet, I haven't tried it out yet, I actually haven't thought of using it to take photos of my doll when I get it.
       
      #7 Shortstuff, Oct 25, 2014
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    8. I have the Instax mini 8 in black.
      I've tried a lot of different types of photography with it. Landscape, still life, animal, doll, etc.

      I actually scan my polaroids and edit them in Photoshop. I really enjoy the combination of the analog and digital processes.
      I really like the camera, but sometimes I find it a bit difficult to work with because the flash creates a very strong, harsh light.
      For doll photography, I put a few pieces of semi-transparent tape over the flash and that makes a huge difference.

      I have a 35mm film SLR camera that I also use a lot and just like with my polaroid camera, it's expensive to take pictures.
      The polaroids are actually a little cheaper than photos from my 35mm SLR because I have to buy film as well as chemicals to develop the film.

      But cost aside, I definitely think trying out some type of analog photography is really beneficial, because it changes the way you take photos.
      I feel like I end up with a lot usable photos when I'm using an analog camera. With digital, it's just click, click, click, until I finally get one I like. XD
      Also, I have the bad habit of guesstimating the lighting with digital camera and just taking a picture and checking it on the screen.

      With my 35mm film SLR I actually use the lighting meter, because there's no way to check how it turned out. There's no delete.
      That's another huge benefit to analog cameras. You can't delete photos, so when you take one that's not quite what you were aiming for it doesn't go anywhere.
      You put it aside and come back to it later and realize, "Hey, that wasn't all that bad after all. I think I can use this picture."

      Another great thing about film (not polaroids unfortunately) is that there's a huge amount of information in negatives.
      For a digital camera to have as much information as a 35mm negative it would need to have at least 20 megapixels.

      I really like the idea of using them as swap cards. I went to a doll convention and that would have been a really cool thing to do there.
      Since polaroids are developed as soon as they are taken you wouldn't even have to do them before the convention.

      [​IMG]
      daisya by Ya-u, on Flickr
       
      #8 punkturtle, Nov 9, 2014
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    9. I own the black Instax 8 as well!

      BTW i love the way you decorated your camera. ADORABLE!

      I feel as if the photos that come out of the camera never satisfy me. That's the only complaint i would have, i always have problems with the focus of the pictures because i forget the standard focus length and i tend to get closer to the subject.
       
      #9 yumibara, Nov 19, 2014
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    10. That is soooo very adorable!! I would love to have a wall of my dolly photos!!
       
      #10 jessicatheteenager, Nov 26, 2014
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    11. I have Polaroids (SX-70, Spectra, 600) and have used 'em for the occasional photo (which I scan) and they're pretty fun. This reminds that I should break out some film right now....I've got an entire refrigerator full.....
       
      #11 dollhausen, Feb 9, 2015
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