Sunday, February 12, 2012

Camera Frustrations...

So.. before I stopped taking doll photos and went on a long hiatus, my camera worked really well and did a great job taking pictures of fiddly little things. Lately, it's been pissing me off to no end because it doesn't seem to be doing as good of a job as it used to.

I keep thinking: "Is there a setting I had it on that I don't have it on anymore?" The answer is no. Then I realized something. I hadn't taken doll pictures since I moved into my house. I have a serious suspicion that maybe my lighting is the reason why my pictures are not turning out as good as they used to.

So, I was wondering if any of you knew or could point me in the direction of set-ups for lighting that aren't terribly complicated. I hate using flash because it's blows out alot of my details and just doesn't look very natural.

In return for the advice here are some pictures of Hyori I took trying to figure out if there was a setting on my camera that I was missing out on.







5 comments:

April W. said...

check out the light box tent things. I heard they are very good. I never used one myself though.

Unknown said...

Hello from Spain: I love Hyori. It's a really beautiful doll with white skin. I like the floral dress. I can not tell anything from the camera. Keep in touch

Heather said...

The products from this company work wonderfully:
http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/

The diffusing lightbox is helpful, although you could always just try hanging a sheet in front of your lights, it will diffuse the lighting too.

The most important thing is to get the right bulbs though:
http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Daylight-Balanced-Fluorescent-Bulb/dp/B001ML9JUS/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1329322298&sr=8-3-fkmr0

You can get one like that, and just buy the cheapo garage lamps from Menards or Lowes or whatnot... and just spray paint the outside of them black.
(the ones that look like this to start with: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21hhrlgyiuL._SL500_AA300_.jpg )

And get a tripod, if you don't already have one. You can pick them up cheap from places like Meijer.

Brini said...

I'm still working on great pics. I still have to get some mini lights that will help out as well. Do get a tripod it helps cut down on camera movement. Check out fashiondollfoto.com, Matty has great tips too!

Liz said...

I was talking with the photographer in my work and hes said that he took LED lights from aquatanks, and cut plastic and built a box, and it worked perfect, so we might want to try that.

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