Photography: Behind the scenes

At the risk of shattering some illusions, we share some studio trade secrets. Let’s go behind the scenes to see the less glamorous side of doll photography.

As with many things in life, the key to taking great doll photographs is down to being organized and preparing ahead of time. There are some basics and some tricks that can help.

Digital cameras are virtually foolproof these days, and amazing results are possible. But make sure you have yours set to the highest resolution and do use a tripod. These two simple steps will go a long way to improving any shoot.

I have spent most of my working life as an art director in publishing, with many hours laboring in photographers’ studios – trying to get the perfect shot. Surprisingly, the set up of a professional, life-size studio can be replicated in miniature with remarkable ease, using not much more than a kitchen table, a few lights, some masking tape, and some rolls of colored paper

Props are essential to give a sense of scale and realism. But they should be chosen judiciously; anything out of scale for the doll will not help the illusion that you are photographing a real fashion model. To follow are some details of previous FDQ shots shown in the raw, and how they ended up on the finished pages.

if you want to get ahead – get a chair. My props box holds more mini chairs than any other item. Furniture scaled to fit your dolls is invaluable. Not only will it anchor the shot, it’s useful to have something for your model to lounge in or lean upon – and so avoiding other forms of support. We never want to see doll stands in our photographs! Marcella, Fashion Doll Agency’s (FDA) very first house model, reclines in a plain gray chair, shot against a roll of off-white paper. She wears Gala Noir from the FDA Collection Noir, with shoes borrowed from Rock Noir. In the background is a selection of more scale-model chairs that I use repeatedly.
Above shows how the Marcella actually appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine, the red-headed Petra ended up being seated, while Marcella stood. Both were PhotoShopped on to suitably bookish backgrounds.
Keep it simple. One of my favorite set-ups is the simplest. The doll is posed on a roll of white paper stuck to the wall with masking tape. This gives a seamless white background and, when evenly lit with minimal shadows, is an ideal candidate for cutting out – either to drop in to the page directly (as shown above) or to add to another background entirely. The spread shown above is from an article about the 1960s Simona doll by Furga of Italy.

Doll photography works best when you think of the dolls as little people, not as objects. You are trying to capture the best portrait of this tiny model, it’s quite a different mindset than photographing, say, a vase!
Be inventive. Whenever you’re shopping, try to spot anything that might be pressed into use for photography. In the case above, a roll of gold-striped gift wrap was the perfect elegant foil for these two dolls used in a recent story about curating your own couture, from the collection of Ryan Andersen.

Remember that flash is the mortal enemy of the doll. It will bounce unsympathetically off vinyl, resin and paint, with an unforgiving glare. Unless you are aiming for a picture of a lump of plastic, it’s best avoided. Keep the magic by using filtered natural daylight or simple studio lighting.

Why not get started with some simple head and shoulder doll portraits? Some great shots can be achieved by using natural daylight. Find a window with bright, yet indirect light – ideally north-facing, (if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere). You need a good flat light and no direct sunlight. Position the doll so that the face is side-lit by the daylight, and shoot! You can make the shot have more interest by positioning a reflector (a big silver one is shown in the table-top setup below) on the opposite side of the doll so that some light is reflected back onto the shadow side of the face. This will open up the shot a little on the darker side to create a more dynamic image. Another advantage of these doll portraits is that they don’t require an elaborate setup – just position the doll against a plain background near a window. You can even have the doll sitting inelegantly, no other stands or supports are needed , as only the head and shoulders will show.

Where’s the Stand? If you’re lucky, you’ll be shooting a belle epoque beauty whose lavish gown conceals the doll stand below. But take care that the gown hits the ground, otherwise your doll might look like she’s gently levitating. The backgrounds were created with broad strokes of watercolor.

Stands can be avoided by propping the doll up on armature wire. Don’t worry if a little of this support shows in the shot, it can easily be removed with re-touching software such as PhotoShop. The doll in the peach gown is held up with invisible thread supported from two retort stands, as shown in the studio set-up shot (above).

Build a roomset. The impression of a room can be created with a few artfully-placed backdrops and some carefully chosen props. The main shot above shows how this scene was built on set. It doesn’t matter at all how unfinished the set might look. What’s important is what shows on camera. Here an old enamel pitcher is used as a stand for a reflector, a handy roll of masking tape and scissors are to hand, and some coasters have been pressed into use as wall art. A version of this shot was used for an FDQ feature on the hand-made porcelain dolls of Beverley Senatore.

Download this page of studio photography tips here

This feature first appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine Summer 2015

 

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