Equipment Photography Set Ups

I don't currently have a good setup in my current apartment, but here's a silly pullback shot I made of how I used to take photos in my previous place.



I found really pretty handmade art papers in a local store, and used stickytack to put them up on the wall as backdrops. The black thing is foamcore, I bought both white and black, to use as backgrounds and light reflectors/absorbers.

The weird looking cardboard thing emitting light is a homemade softbox. It was made from a cardboard moving box, aluminum foil, and plain white cotton fabric. It was cheap and fun to make, but it's kinda fallen apart over the years. My cats didn't help. I plan to replace it with actual umbrellas and/or softboxes next year. Here's how I made it: DIY Softbox

 

What equipment do you have, and what type of photos do you want to take?

I unfortunately don't have the room for a dedicated setup, but I can just commandeer some space temporarily when I need it. Having space for a permanent setup would be great, but also potentially limiting as your mind might just get fixated on what you can do in that space.

Backgrounds can be anything -- craft papers, natural foliage, a TV/monitor displaying a picture, a cloth backdrop, or just empty space and let shallow depth of field take care of it.

For flash lighting I bounce it. I only have plastic dolls at the moment, but direct light on them gives hotspots and a very "plastic" look in the pictures. I'll either use a rogue flashbender or bounce the flash off the ceiling. Or use a fast lens and just use ambient light.

You can also use a desk lamp and either bounce the light off some white cardboard or use a home made softbox to diffuse it. You may get some odd colour casts from this depending on the type of light used though.

If you're really interested I'd also suggest shooting raw images (rather than JPEGs), and learning to use Lightroom to manage the images and postprocess. It's a bit of a steep learning curve, but it's worth it. And there are heaps of tutorials on Youtube as well.

 

I have been through A LOT of lighting modifiers in my time and the ones I have settled on as being most useful are softboxes. This is the thing that cowpewter is using in their shot. It gives controlled, soft light, which I find to be most versatile. You can make them out of cardboard (but be careful with those hot halogen bulbs. You don't want to burn the house down) or you can get them relatively cheaply on eBay. Be aware that the cheap ones are also not that good at heat resistance and you should only keep halogen bulbs on for a short time (10-20 seconds, whilst you take the shot) and then switch them straight off as you adjust things. You can also get LED bulbs, which are cooler. They are not as good at translating the whole range of colour, but you can spend your time adjusting the position without fear of fire.

So, my usual setup is one softbox, approximately the size of the area I am photographing (so, a 40x60cm softbox for a 1:3 doll). It is set on a light stand and is placed about 50cm from the doll. I sometimes use a second light as "fill" (so, to add some light to the areas of the doll that aren't lit by the main "key" light). However, as I like a good shadow, I more often use a reflector to bounce light back into the shadows. This can be a large piece of white card, although frosted silver works even better. That needs to be as close as you can get without getting it in the shot. For background, I use fabric, paper or card. I have a background support, which was a good investment. However, you can hang fabric off the edge of a table or drape it over a piece of mountboard or foamboard. Anything that will enable you to support the fabric or paper and keep it flat.

I usually shoot large dolls on the floor and 1:4 and smaller on the dinner table. The latter is so much easier and doesn't involve chasing cats out of the room.

So, one strong light, with DIY or cheap softbox, a sheet of white card and some fabric is really all you need to take a good shot.

And don't forget to control all other light coming in (shooting at night and drawing the blinds is a good solution) and to set the white balance on your camera to match the colour of your bulb (getting a grey card and learning how to set custom white balance on your camera is a very worthwhile investment).

Good luck!

 

No problem. And not a light box as, if you search for that, you will end up with a light tent. That does a good job of giving lots of even light with few shadows, but isn't as versatile as a softbox. Look for something like cowpewter posted. And you will need a light stand with it. There are some kits on eBay that include two softboxes with stands for not a lot of money. That would be a good start.

ETA: Like this, although the softboxes are a little large. The rule of thumb is to use a softbox that is about the same size as the area you want to light. And make sure your softbox has a diffusion panel; (that white fabric that goes across the front). If it doesn't come with one, you can make one.

Photography Studio Soft Box 2x135W Softbox Continuous Lighting Light Stand Kit | eBay

 

I was finally diligent and took a shot of my set up. It is very like the one cowpewter uses. However, rather than having black board to absorb the light and darken the shadows on that side, I use matt silver board, to reflect it and lighten them. This is because I shoot in a pitch black room and the only light comes from that 30x30cm softbox you can see in the top left. Having a dark room means you have complete control over the light and can position it just how you want it. It also means you avoid that thing with lots of different, weird colours of light messing up the photo. I propped the silver card up on the side to take this, but I actually hold it as close as I can to the doll without getting it in shot, to reflect as much light as I can. It helps to have a remote shutter release cable for that. Or long arms...

Background is an A1 sheet of card. The white cloth on his lap was because I was tweaking his hair with a wet toothpick and I didn't want to dribble on the table. However, it also served to bounce a little light up into the deepest shadows under his chin.



The resulting photo. You can see how using a reflector means that the shadows on the unlit side are pretty light. With no reflector, one side would disappear into gloom. That could be what you want, for a dramatic effect, but wasn't what I needed here.

I had to tweak the white balance, as I didn't set it terribly well in camera (I have two, identical LED bulbs and had set it for one a week or so ago, then inadvertently used the other for the next shoot. Even though they are identical, one is markedly more blue than the other. Lesson learned. Set white balance every time).

 

Last year I did a presentation on tabletop photography featuring
shots of my dolls for my local photo club. I later made a .pdf of it
and put it on my web site. I spend a lot of time discussing backgrounds
and rather than repeat it all here I'll point you to the .pdf.

http://www.photosbytom.net/PDF/Tabletop.pdf

 

Wow! these set ups are pretty awesome! I'm new to taking pictures so I may have to try these out.

 

I know this is an old post Tomb but this file was very helpful thanks for sharing

 

I'm pleased that you found it useful Sheltie!

 

We sold our second car some time back so I got a
corner of our garage to use as a doll photo studio.
This is what it looks like...

Studio by Tom Beach, on Flickr

 

that look a grand set up Tom

 

That is an awesome set up!
Where did you get the backdrop?

 

Thank you! The brick wall background immediately behind the
dolls is a 20" x 30" poster size print of my image. I have probably 25 of
them ranging from parks to building fronts to landscapes. The
larger graffiti wall is a 3' x 3' vinyl from fabbackgrounds.

 

I use only an external flash on the camera and a portrait lens (you can replace with a maximum zoom on a zoom lens) for a beautiful photo blur.
I have additional lighting in the form of spotlights, but for the time being I only used it for video.
I live in an apartment, I have two children, additional space for photos and installing additional lighting are problematic for me. So if you have little space and you cannot allocate a lot of space for a photozone, acquiring at least an external flash is a reasonable purchase.
But when using external flash it is important that the ceiling and walls are as light as possible, otherwise the light from the flash reflects from them and distorts colors, which increases the time spent on color correction of the photo.

 

I prefer shooting on location with natural light, but have some places in my house that work well too. I prefer not to use flash or even my photography lights if at all possible, since it just doesn't look very natural in my opinion. I prefer to just use my tripod if the light is too low inside for a photo to be shot hand-held.

I have a series of albums on my website with 'Behind the Scenes' shots taken throughout the years (when I remember to take them) - Behind the Scene - Photo Tips
It's all pretty simple stuff.

 

Didn't we have a similar thread? Because I remember taking this photo for it five years ago. I still have the same set-up but I have a black velvet coat draped over the boxes. It makes a nice background for a lot of my shots, but I also have other fabrics and papers I use, generally scrapbook papers for my smaller dolls, as in this pic.

Work space by Nadine, on Flickr

 

Thank you so much for that link! I do always enjoy your awesome and detailed photos, but also seeing the ‚Behind the scenes‘ is very inspiring!
( I did try to use the example of your husband to inspire my hubby to help with photos next time, too, but I think he‘s not to thrilled... I‘ll try again later after Formula 1 car racing is finished )

 

natural light is the best light. specially the ones coming in from your window. as long as dont shoot at high noon. this one was taken with natural light coming from the window

 

Wow your work is impressive. The set up and diorama work is awe inspiring. When setting up outside, do you typically prefer to hand hold your camera or use a mini tripod? I love how your dolls are always shot at eye level to make the scene so much more realistic.

 

Thanks. I only have a regular trip-pod, and will use it if the photo shoot is important. I'm getting too old and stiff to get down on the ground, so mostly shoot outside with my scene set up on the patio table in late afternoon when it's in the shade. That way I can sit on a bench to take photos hand held, or I'll use my trip-pod. Like here when doing a Jurassic Park photo shoot....

Photos here - Jurassic Park - Fav Photos 2020

 

Does anyone have any tips for setting up shots where the doll is ground level? My DSLR is older and the way it focuses is through the view finder. Even with autofocus and a remote, it has been a struggle.

 

My camera is like that too, and I pretty much need an assistant to help me. I set up my dolls how I think they should be, get down on the ground - as in laying down flat - and direct my husband to make any minor posing changes so the dolls are looking exactly like I want. Because once down, there's no way for me to get up easily and change things. At my age it's not easy to get down, or worse yet up, but I have to if I want nice photos.

 

This thread is so great! I want to improve my photography and it's been so tough. Thank you everyone for sharing these tips!!

 

You could bend over to hold the camera low to the ground and aim the camera toward the dolls. I do that cause I am lazy but sometimes I get unexpected results that I like. Digital is cool cause you can shoot till the cows come home.

 

I think having a partner really helps. I am ok with crawling on the floor. I just can't get level with the view finder to manually focus. One day, I will invest into a new DSLR body with a movable display

 

Well, as has been noted, getting down onto the ground with your camera is the gold standard here.
Alternatively use a wide angle lens or get back a ways from your doll so that your subject is a small
fraction of the frame. Now straighten it and crop it in your editor. Most doll photos get posted to the
web not printed and framed for gallery viewing. You don't need all those pixels.

You might do a bit better if you stop your lens down a bit so focus isn't critical and use manual
focus rather than auto focus.

 

Also, if you have a telephoto lens, then you can stand, or preferably sit on a bench, way back and zoom in on the scene. I've done that before too. That's a lot easier than actually having to get down on the ground, and then it's easy to just go and adjust the doll's posing if needed.

 

Agreed, but you still should not be much higher than your dolls. It should not be evident that you're looking down at them.

 

So, do you mean like when you have smaller dolls and can't really get an image that doesn't look like it"s taken from above unless you got like the camera on the ground, too? :O

I think that's what you are saying based on Tomb's and MB's suggestions, but just so I am not giving a tip that has nothing to do with your concerns.

 

The key is to always shoot straight at the doll's eye level, whatever level they might be on. If they are really short and on the ground, then your camera has to be that low too, and unless;ess you have a camera with one of those rotating viewfinders, that means you have to lay on the ground too. For bigger dolls like SDs you can sit on the ground with the camera being at the doll's eye level. If it's too difficult to get down on the ground (like it's getting for me) you can always set up your doll scene higher up, like on a table, and then shoot at the doll's eye level. That's what I do most of the time these days.

 

Yes, I also use boxes or books.

 

I try to find more eye level locations, but when I am out and about shooting in gardens, it is not always possible. I am already toting around a giant reflector so I don't think carrying a box or table is going to happen any time soon. I did get one of those "flying doll stands" and hope it can help my girls stand higher so I can still get them in frame. I got a remote for my camera so hopefully I test my focus until I like the shot, it just takes longer and I don't like my girls being out in the sun that much. Even on the laying ground, I tend not to be low enough if the doll is sitting on the ground. I will probably need to invest in a new camera body.

 

Yeah , I don't take my dolls outside, so it's not a big deal for me to set things up. The stand should help, actually. although it is also an extra thing to carry, but easier than a table or box I guess.

I think they also have attachments for DSLRs that extend the viewfinder (even the old ones) for situations like this, but I admittedly have no idea if that would be cost effective.

 

here is what I was talking about! I didn't know what they were called so I went to see if I could find an example for you. They are less expensive than I thought.

 

@Seiko Thank you! This is exactly what I need! I'll look into getting the Nikon one because it has better reviews and I like to invest long term into my camera equipment. I'll do some ore research and see how it goes for me.

 

Besides "lay on the ground", "elevate the dolls", "use mini tripod and remote" there is one more option: "fake drone photo". Let the dolls all look up, wave, you stand and take the photo from right above them. Or slightly from aside but still very high up. Just be careful not to get your feet in the frame.

 

Same. Thank you all.

 

Thank you very much for the link! I really love what you did on your blog, it helps a ton! Now I really want to improve my shots quality so I will for sure use the tips from there! Thank you for sharing your knowledge to people, it will be very helpful

 

Ah, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you to everyone who has offered tips.
I have nothing useful to add as far as what to do, but I'm happy to share what hasn't worked for me.
Using blankets or sheets as a backdrop when you have cats:


Using the bed when you have cats:


Using a low table when you have cats, especially cats who like to knock things over:


Using the floor when you have cats:




Using the couch when you have cats:


Basically, I find that cats are not conducive to taking photos.
And heaven help you if your cats happen to love stealing wigs...