Versatility (or lack thereof) of Photographing Smiling Dolls?

Heya there! I don't have any smiley dolls really, but I do have a Soom Beryl with that ridiculous pout *that I adore xD*.

I think that you can definitely shoot different moods with dolls with a distinct feature or emotion sculpted in. A few tips I'd have are:

1) Try to set the mood through the scene. Maybe using different colours or a photo filter can help you achieve a different mood, after you've taken the shot.

2) Angles of your camera- take photos from different angles, even if it's something you've never tried or don't think will work. You might surprise yourself!

3) Posing your doll. Try posing your doll to help show how they're feeling. This combined with angles and colours can often bring a photo to life and show what you're trying to portray,

And finally,

4) Eye positioning! Try repositioning your dolls eyes occasionally. This can help their expression.

All in all, I think it's possible. Some dolls just WON'T have certain moods or expressions in photos, but it's certainly fun to try- and it can be a good challenge, too I looked up Lia, and she's really cute! I bet she could be versatile in her photos with a little work

 

I have a DoD Ducan who also always has a smile on its lips~
I also tried to just hide his smile at the beginning and liked it very much:


It is also helpful to shoot photos from a higher angle. Looking at the doll from above ceases the smile a bit.

And for anything else....Photoshop! Editing a smile is not that difficult. You don't necessarily need Photoshop, andy editing program with some kind of distort tool can do (Serif Photo Plus for instance has it and costs around 10 bucks, don't know if there are any good free ones out there with that kind of tool).
Example: