Ideas for outdoor photoshoot locations?

I've done hiking trails and greenhouses as well as Botanical gardens, backyard garden, wooded parks and forests, by the ocean, public parks with expansive lawn and good sky viewing.
I have on my local bucket list currently the marina and inside the mall.
There are all the options you can imagine it really depends on what inspires you, how you imagine your characters, and your location and physical capabilities.
I'm one of those people who is always seeing the world in a visually picturesque way (coming from a fine art background I guess) so I see beautiful vistas all the time.
I like the way roads look and show perspective as well as a good angle on a fence. I love patios of restaurants with pretty lights and wooden boardwalks. Old iron bridges and old city power plants, chain link fences, quaint downtown buildings of small towns where I've been a hold a lot of appeal to me. I also like any time there is a good tree in the frame to create dappled light. Recently I even found an abandoned carwash with cracked pavement to be beautiful!

 

We have an area in my town that every time I see it I want to do a doll photo shoot but have never gotten around to it, they do an O+ festival here and local artists paint murals on everything from multi storied bulidings to retaining walls, always thought it would be a cool backdrop for an urban photo shoot.

 

I'm not sure if this would work in your country, but I usually rent photo studios. Mostly cosplay studios, because they have nice and unique settings. They're quite expensive so I bring other people so I can split the bill with them.

 

Depends on the doll and the character. But I take many pictures in parks with many flowers like "japanese gardens". Or in nature like forest or lake. I really love nature pictures.
If it's for cyberpunk pictures, I look at places with many neons or look like "future city" if you see what I mean. Can look for some worksites sometimes too with many concrete, debris...

 

I feel like it's important to keep the scale in mind. Dolls are a lot smaller in scale than people so you can do with a much smaller pictoresque spot. Sometimes one pretty bush on a parking lot can be enough . Or a pretty corner with interesting stonework in the middle of a city.

Personally I drag my dolls to a lot of places. Including mountains, castles, forests, cities, lakes, ... Some fountains actually work pretty well as a backdrop. Again it doesn't need to be the whole fountain. Part of it is enough. And I always enjoy taking them to places with a view at the dolls eye level too.

Spoiler: Some examples

Fountains:




Stairs:


Elevated place with a nice view at 'more or less' eye level:

I don't think it'd be necessary to rent out a castle for doll photography. Unless you have a concept that clearly requires you to do so. As dolls are much smaller than humans it's really not that much of a problem if there's other tourists around. Plus most castles are not that brightly lit so it's not that easy to get good pictures there.

 

Friends of mine (photographer husband, costumer wife) used to rent a different historic building each year, for a holiday locaation, and use it as the setting for costume photo-shoots while there. If possible, they'd arrange for other costumers to turn up for a day or so while they wre renting it to photograph them as well.

That sort of arrangement could work for doll shoots, if you could afford to hire them in the first place.

Teddy

 

hiking trails, by a pond, in shallow water for a playful photo(if you fell comfortable getting dolls wet), in non sharp bushes, for a peekaboo effect. in those large arched door like holes in trees. hope this helps

 

I can often, not always, find a way to use play structures with the dolls.

Water features are often good including many fountains.

 

I don't know the costs involved in renting hitoric properties for holidays, but I imagine they wouldn;'t vbe among the cheapest of rental prices, but wouldn't be luxury hotel prices either.

Given that most people would be taking pictures of their holiday experience I can't imagine that any of the historical sites availabel for holiday lets wold have restrictions on photogrphy - they probably assume everbody takes holiday snaps and it wouldn't matter to them if you were taking pictures of "real" people or dolls.

Teddy

 

I second this!
Depending on doll size, you may not need that big of an area. This picture was taken in my back yard. What looks like a great snow covered field is the lawn of an empty lot next to our house. This is not a big lawn, it's squezed in between houses. What sells the scale is the fact that none of the plants in the picure is close enought o the doll to give away the scale. And of course, if the image hadn't been so tighly cropped at the top you would have been able to see the neighbours house in the background and that most certainly would have give it away.

 

Hi!
Those of you who have taken photos of your dolls in shopping malls, touristy castles, and similar places with lots of people around: what about people trying to interact with the cute and very interesting "small scale human"? Specially kids, they are faster than lightening. When I go to such places with my dogs there's always a chance of a toddler hanging on dog's neck and while my dogs are ok with that I imagine the doll wouldn't be. Or somebody not noticing anything around them and walking over the doll and the whole photo scene. Go early before the crowds or how?

 

I take a lot of outdoor shoots with my 1/3 dolls and so far never had people interact with me. It could be the country I live in (Australia): people tend to keep to themselves, even if they're curious they'll never be busybodies and butt into your activities. If someone is curious they tend to say "excuse me" or wait until I finish what I'm doing. Also, it's very hard to not notice someone taking photos of 65cm-tall dolls...

Generally I ignore passersby when I'm taking dolls photos, and they ignore me -- although I know some are observing. Dogs are mostly required to be on leash (it's a local law), sometimes they are off leash, but so far I haven't encountered troublesome dogs. With kids, they're always supervised by parents, and as mentioned above, adults in my country are generally careful about not letting kids bother strangers. So no busybody children either.

That said, I don't do photoshoots in very crowded places with lots of people walking around. The big reason is scale. I like taking realistic photos where I can give the dolls the illusion of being "in scale" with the environment. If humans appear inside my doll photos they will completely break this illusion, and it's very annoying to keep having to interrupt my photography just because someone wandered into the frame. So I look for quieter, more secluded places with less chances of people randomly appearing in my photos (also less risk of a busybody coming my way). Outdoor spaces are also easier to shoot in than indoor spaces (indoors are more crowded). If it means going earlier/later in the day, then I do that. For example, there's a war memorial in my city where I'd like to take photos, but it tends to have lots of visitors/tourists in the day. I could probably find a quieter spot where I can set my dolls up without people wandering by, but I'd much rather go back early in the morning and skip that hassle.

So it depends on how many people pass through. I've done photoshoots on walking/cycling paths that have passersby -- but I do it at quieter times in the day (eg. dinner time, early morning). I once did a shoot right on a cycling path in early evening, it wasn't too busy but I had several joggers and a bicycle passing through. I just waited in place or moved my doll to the side of the path (at one point I was right in the middle of the path so I was in their way) and resumed after they've passed. If that cycling path had more people using it, I'd leave and come back at a quieter time.

ETA - Another thing... I'm very mindful that taking a doll photoshoot in a public space means that I can potentially get in the way of other people's use of that space. It's a bit of a tricky thing, but I really try to be a good citizen and respect passersby while I'm doing a photoshoot. The busier a place is, the harder it is to not be an obstruction! Also, indoor public spaces can be more tricky to shoot in than outdoor public spaces without being reported to security or something. If someone in authority (eg. a security guard) comes and asks me to leave, then I'll be respectful and leave. So be mindful of how you take doll photos while in public places and crowded areas.

 

Yes, yes! That's exactly what I want to do with my dolls (when I get them, as you see now I'm in "Fresh resin scent" stage, like a hound picking up track). Photos are my side gig, mostly travel photos and I have discovered crystal ball photography. That also involves a heavy, slippery, fragile, expensive object that provokes curiosity in people. I'm in middle of Europe and can't say "in my country people are this or that" as you go 20 km and you are in a different country with different mentality. There are places where it's zero problems with strange dogs or kids, there are where it's "no worries, he doesn't ..." and then it's kaboom! Precautions the same as you say, out of the way and at times when there's less people around. That's also when the light is more interesting. There's a kind of travel photos "My girlfriend in red dress on beautiful/historic scenery". That's what I'm after.

 

It sounds like you've done similar photography before... that is great, a lot of that experience will transfer to doll photography. And the more you do these photoshoots the faster you'll get setting up the dolls, putting them into poses, adapting to changing conditions... that's been my experience!

While dolls do take up space, they are still smaller than people. Depending on your camera, the kind of photos you want to take, and how you set up your dolls, you will be staying very close to them. I find myself usually at arm's length, occasionally 1-2 metres away; and if I move further away the in-scale illusion starts to break down. So you can keep the "set" contained and unobtrusive, and if you're in a secluded place people might not interfere at all. And it was said earlier in the thread but the small size means you can find good angles for in-scale photos, and you don't need a lot of room to achieve this.

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I should add to the main topic! My city is relatively young, most architecture is modern functional which is not too interesting overall. But it keeps very good parkland, amongst other things there's a region of parkland that has memorials to war veterans (World Wars, Korean war, etc) - statues and shrines, etc. I love them because the architecture tends to be more artistic/classic and timeless, and there are lots of interesting corners and details that look great for doll photos. War memorials, shrines, statues, sculpture - a small section of them can be good enough for dolls.

Spoiler: Recent shoot at a war memorial

Spoiler: In front of a gate

 

That's nicely reassuring.
Love your photos and the dolls. Did you make their clothes? Looks great.
Here we have lots of medieval castles both standing and ruins, gothic cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries etc, mostly open to public. Not far from my home there's a manor house with huge lion statues by the entrance, for the doll those will look like the Sphinx. Have been eyeing them for a while already, they have lots of possibilities for any kind of photo.

 

Returned to this topic.
Usually if a place is not ok with people taking photos at all that's very clearly indicated, there will be signs all over. Some places will sell you a photo ticket. Some historic places don't want photographers using flash lights or tripods - because it can be nuisance to the other visitors or some tripods can scratch historic floors. There are usually signs at the entrance along with signs "no mobile phones" and "no dogs". Things though become slippery if you want to sell the photos. You may need a bunch of property releases or take the photo so that the place and doll is not recognisable.