Need help taking pictures of very contrasty dolls together

This is a very common problem with the dolls - white skin dolls wearing black clothing. And with wedding photography - most grooms are wearing dark tuxedoes and most brides are wearing blaring white! My point being that it can be adjusted for, but yes, it's going to depend upon how much manual setting you can do with your camera. Here is a basic approach, can you make these settings:

 

Edit: I'd like to say I think I read your post wrong. I am seeing now that your only problem you're wondering about it how to photo them without teh camera either washing one out or shadowing the other. I was reading into it as their personal contrasts was a big problem too (meaning I thought you meant besides the lighting issues I thought you meant you were having a hard time getting their physical differences to look right on camera as well. Sorry about that! But I thought I would leave me reply up anyway in hopes it might help someone!

It can sometimes be difficult photographing dolls that seem to be mirror opposites of each other but it is possible. The link already given to you has a lot of really helpful information in it.

Another good tip is get to know your dolls (photographically) as one and not apart. Angles, to me, also have a lot to do with how the different contrasting styles and features look together. I know that may sound a bit stupid but I had the same problem when I started photographing my Lucian and Lily Belle together. They are half siblings and have very stark contrasting differences. They both have white hair, but Lily is moon white and Lucian is tan which starts the contrast. Lucian usually wears darker colors like deep greens and blacks and Lily prefers something colorful like bright pinks or something white with bright spots of color. When I first started photographing them together it was a complete mess. I could take really nice photos of them on their own but not as a whole. That's when I started sort of sitting down with them and (without the camera involved) just starting trying different poses with them. I would pose them and then step back and think "how does this look in person?". If it looks awkward in person it's going to look awkward (and probably even more so) in a photo. Take time to consider what poses and angles work best for them as one and how to incorporate those poses as a singular entity. After getting to know them better as one, then take out the camera and go from there! I've also come to notice that dolls with a lot of differences sometimes look better when they are photographed from closer up as to help camouflage some of the heavy differences. Full body shots can be done well but will take a little more effort to figure out what poses will make them not look too separate.

It might sound silly but in my opinion it really helps! With just that little effort, and using that simple tip, my photos of Lucian and Lily went from this:



To This:

(please note the wig in the first picture that Lucian is wearing was obviously not the right color but it still shows that at first I was terrible at photographing their differences and shows the improvement I made on photographing them together).

Another thing, you mentioned his photograph was darkened and hers was lightened. When taking photos of them together, try opening some photos of them together in an editing program and play with the contrast settings there. Sometimes editing the contrast settings is better than using the light settings (which I don't know which you've been doing so if you've been using the contrast settings just ignore this part then).

And on the camera topic, I personally have a Nikon D60 but it is very possible to take photos of contrasted dolls with any camera in my opinion. My friend has a regular cheap ole point and shoot and she's taken some lovely pictures of my Lucian and Lily together.

 

How about exposure compesation? Just meter the brightest area and then overexpose 2 points with exposure compensation if your camera allows you to play with this setting. I'd also recommend aperture priority mode.

 

Are you using a tripod? If so, put the camera on manual, pick an aperture/f-stop, and just adjust the shutter speed one step at a time until you get a shot that looks good. That's the easiest and most predictable way of finding the right exposure. You can do the same thing handheld but the shutter speed might end up too low and the pictures might be blurry, but it's worth a try.

 

I totally understand your problem!!! This is going to seem strange...but it works. Basically work with your dolls together. See where they sit/lean/stand/loose linmbs/etc. See what they're natural positions are. Your lighting is perfect, its just a matter of your dolls falling into place. I don't know why, but after working with coupled dolls, knowing where they fall naturally will elp set up your shot. Basically (here's the strange part) once you've worked with the dolls for a while, their personalities will show along with expressions...basically as if they were alive. Yes this is strange, but I run into stories I write where the character takes on a life of their own. >.<;;

 

Well, if you are using a simple camera with automatic metering, (that will hold that setting for a moment before taking the picture, by holding down the shutter button halfway, or some such thing), there is a little trick that you can do: Find something that is about evenly between the two doll's skintones in value (I have been known to use my own bare foot LOL) that is at the same focal distance as the dolls, and take the reading off that instead of either of the dolls, then move the camera as appropriate and snap the pic! It actually works rather well as a way to 'cheat' yourself into getting a medium setting, so the dark doll is not too dark, and the light doll is not washed out. =3

 

*stalks thread* i have this problem too >,>