I’ve been taking photos of my American Girl dolls since 2014 and have learnt a lot about photography since then, here are 10 ways you can improve your photography and stay motivated. You can share your photography on blogs, YouTube or Instagram, this is a great way to receive feedback and make friends with people who share your interest in dolls!
1. Have your dolls look presentable
If your dolls have cute outfits and hairstyles, your photos will be more appealing to look at. Try to keep flyaways at a minimum in your shots, especially ones that fall in your dolls face because they can be distracting. Brush your dolls hair before shoot, use a tooth brush to their flatten them down, and avoid taking photos when it’s windy.
2. Lighting
Lighting is important, you don’t want your photos to be too dark or two light. A lot of professional photographers use fancy flashes, studio lights and reflectors but that is not an option for many people including myself. I’ve found that using the flashlights of my phones and positioning them next to my camera can help brighten pictures. It’s kind of like a diy ring light. You can also make your own reflector from tinfoil. Furthermore, I like to utilise my ISO setting, there are plenty of resources online that will teach you how do this.
3. Angles
Practicing your angles is key for improving your photography. Try to make sure your doll is centre of the photo and avoid having them stood in awkward positions, for example crouched over and about too face plant. Angles take time to perfect, I still haven’t found all the right angels for me and I’ve been taking photos of dolls for 6 years, don’t let that discourage you though. The Rule Of Three can be a useful thing to look up.
4. Editing
Editing can completely transform a photo, bit editing apps such as lightroom and photoshop are expensive. My alternative I use is Polarr (not sponsored), it has so many of the features lightroom and photoshop have but for free. It allows you to make your own filter presets, use pre made ones, and use filters made by other people. In the future I hope to release some filter packs of my own.
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Before.
5. Backgrounds
Backgrounds. You want your backdrops to be as interesting and eye catching as possible since they are a large part of what attracts viewers. Plants are great because they can contribute a lot of color and different textures to your photos. Fabrics and scrapbook paper can do the same. Fairy lights are always fun to use in shoots and if you live near a beach, waterfall, forest, or city, give them a visit because landmark pictures can be so fun and aesthetically pleasing to look at.
6. Followers and likes don’t matter
Obsessing over likes, comments, shares and followers will only demotivate you further and the more you are demotivated the less you will improve your photography skills. Post the pictures you are proud off and try not to get too upset if the engagement doesn’t meet your expectations, I know myself that this can be difficult but it’s not the end of the world, taking photos of your dolls should be fun and stress free.
7. A diverse collection
When selecting a new doll, go with a unique doll, the more diverse a collection, the more appealing and interesting your photography will look, it will also make the doll itself more special and you will have a deeper bond with them, since they won’t look like every other doll in your collection. You don’t need a ton of dolls either to have a mixture of face molds, hair types, skin tones and eye colours.
8. Knowledge of photography
Consume plenty information about photography from blogs, YouTube and podcasts, this is something I did a few years ago and it helped me become more confident with using my camera and improved the quality of my pictures.
9. Accept not every photo you take will be a masterpiece
A lot of your photos will come out looking ugly and you are going to make so many mistakes but that is okay, photography is a learning curve. There will be times it frustrates you so hard you want to throw the device you’re editing on, but every photographer feels that way from time to time, don’t let it demotivate you to take more. Personally I get very few good shots per photo shoot as you can tell if you watch my monthly photography videos on YouTube (cookieboodolls)
10. Being prepared
One of the worst things is driving out to a photo shoot area and spending hours making a backdrop just for your camera/phone to die on you in the middle of taking a photo. Make sure your device is fully charged, bring a spare battery or a charger if you can. Furthermore, wipe down and clean your lens before you take photos, you don’t want unnecessary grain.
Thank you for reading, I hope this helps you improve and inspires you to take or continue to take photos of your dolls. My Instagram is @cookieboodolls for anyone wondering.
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