Lenses + beginner tips?

I usually use either the good old 50mm or a 60mm macro lense. It depends a bit on what kind of pictures I want to take. Especially portraits I really like the 60mm macro lense because it allows me to get really close to my dolls. For full body pics either lense works.

But I'm just generally most comfortable (and most used to) working within the 50-100mm range. Sometimes I'm at a really nice location and wish I had a wider lense with me to show off more of the surroundings.

And for beginner tips I would advice the following:

1) Take pictures at your dolls eye level. So if possible position them a bit higher up. Alternatively you can kneel (or lie) down.

2) Lighting is super important. To begin with it's easiest to work with soft light. I like to take pics in the shade on sunny days.

 

I think the body and lens are fine for starting out. You have an MFT body, so your 25mm is equivalent to 50mm on full frame. I have a few lenses, but the one I use and love the most is Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 on a full frame body. If you did go for a different lens, I would maybe prioritize fast lenses over a different length. I really think you're fine though. A different lens won't make you a better photographer.

I don't shoot in raw. My photos aren't good enough to bother with that level of editing. If you enjoy editing, go for raw, but I personally don't think it's worth the space on my SSD.

My big tip is to manually focus. My camera sucks at getting a sharp focus on a doll eye at short range so I stopped bothering with fighting it and do manual focus only for everything.

 

I’m not a photographer, more someone who likes to take photos that are better than snapshots however I echo some of what has already been said.
I maybe get away with it more as I’m very artistic with a very detail focused mind but in reality I haven’t a clue.

Once you get a feel for things then good quality macro lenses are really excellent for portraits in general but better for doll portraits as they allow you to get close-up detail on small items and that is something you’d struggle to do with normal lenses.

Take your time and get used to the equipment you currently have. As was previously mentioned the equipment doesn’t make you a photographer, your ability to see things and use light does. You cannot buy that, it’s already within you. Expensive equipment only improves the physical quality of the picture so use what you have until you feel you understand what type of photos you enjoy taking and but are beginning to get frustrated by the image quality or camera/lens’s abilities.

RAW wise I have my camera set up to take both a RAW and JPEG image but that’s because I like to browse through what I’ve taken on the camera in case I need to adjust settings. RAW is far superior when it comes to editing however if you’re just starting out you can get away fine with decent quality JPEGs and they take up much less card space. Again upgrade once you’ve got a better idea of what you want to accomplish and find you no longer can with what you have.
I have a Canon camera and use Photoshop so cannot really comment regarding various editing programmes, too stuck in my old ways lol.

One thing I will say which kind of proves a point, if you look at many of the photos taken by the best doll photographers on here they’re not about extreme detail, they’re not about you being able to count the painted on eyelashes, they’re about the lighting and the emotions provoked by the images. Many are quite simple and uncluttered in appearance. The main factor in all of them is the fine detail regarding posing and that has nothing to do with the camera at all. It’s actually about being able express emotion adequately with subtle placement of the hands or a tilt of the head and using light to enhance that.

Have fun with it, you’ll find the rest will come to you in time.