Hello and welcome to my bjd photography blog! I'm Anna or @/wanderingmeander over on instagram! I'll be posting my doll photography and hobby snippets (like sewing or cool things I've found for them), and reblogging others posts too.
My posts are tagged: #wanderingmeander for my photos, others are #reblog
Dolls and info:
Dylan: a Lillycat Deavon in Caramel skin.
Iry: a Dust of Dolls Cham Byol in Peche skin.
Juniper: a Frappzilla Dandelion Moon in Medium.
Anemone: a Bimong Mindulrae in milky choco, 38cm body.
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Aka: How to Improve Your Doll Pictures in Three Easy Steps
Decided to put together a little basics overview of things that have helped me improve my doll photography, since I've seen this discussion come up a lot lately.
Note: any of these steps can intentionally be bent or broken for a great photo- a great doll picture doesn't have to do any of these things, but keeping these steps in mind will really help improve your photos, and make it easier for you to take pictures you're happy with in the long run.
Step one: Angle
Take photos of your doll from as low an angle as possible, their chest height or lower even. Put them up on a table or stool or something elevated if you have trouble physically getting low. Taking photos of them from a low angle will make the photos look more convincingly scaled and less "doll-like", as well as adding a more dynamic element. This one is easiest to bend or break, but make sure you're doing so intentionally. Be sure to experiment with different angles, even tilting your camera so your doll is at a diagonal in frame, for different vibes.
Bonus: incorporate foreground and background elements in your shot as well as midground (typically the doll). This will give your shot a lot more depth and help to ground it.
Step two: Posing
Arguably the most important step, nothing brings down an otherwise solid photo like a stiff and mannequin-like pose. First, take angle into account, pose your doll while checking the camera's view- most beginner doll photographers make the mistake of posing their doll leaning backwards and almost craning upwards, or even just perfectly straight, which ends up looking like theyre leaning back. Use those slouch joints if you have them, tilt their head down- further- further. Unless you have your doll looking at an airplane or something, you'll want them looking down at a lower angle, even if not looking at the camera. Just trust me on this one. Experiment and try for dynamic poses as well, humans don't often stand very square- twist the torso joint, put more weight on one of their legs than the other, angle their head slightly to the side, put one hand by their face and have the other relaxed at their side- think of how dynamic marble statues look, and the way the artists exaggerate weight distribution and asymmetry to do it. Try replicating that. Don't be disappointed if your doll can only balance standing square. Using a stand is hugely recommended when photographing dolls, you can edit it out later or just minimize it's appearance. A dynamic pose will draw more focus than the stand will. I've even used a tripod and some shoelace to make a very heavy doll strike some fantastic dynamic poses.
Bonus: think of asymmetry and dynamism when it comes to your dolls clothes too! Pay attention to the folds and flow of the fabric, little details make a lot of difference and can showcase the doll's character.
Step three: Lighting
My final suggestion is to play with lighting. Lighting can do an immense amount to impact the mood of a photo. Avoid harsh, direct light, like full sunlight, overhead lighting, and the like. Color can always be corrected in post processing- you don't necessarily have to avoid yellow lights, but having the right color off the bat will make things easier for later you. Aim for diffuse, soft lighting at first, like in a shady spot, on a cloudy day, or with a diffuser (a handkerchief or paper towel will do fine) on your light. Then start experimenting with different lighting types and colors- like rim light, or soft blue! You don't need professional equipment for this, most of my artificially lit photos are taken using a color changing fish tank light or a workshop ring light with some paper taped over it to diffuse it.
Bonus: MacGyver other things for your photos, not just lighting. Have a sheet of textured acetate? Make the doll look like a monet painting by shooting through it. Have a sheet? Excellent, you have a backdrop for portraits. An old mirror? Try making the doll kneel on it and interact with their reflection. I MacGyver almost every one of my doll photoshoots.
(All of these tips can be done with a cell phone, you definitely don't need a special camera. But, a camera can do a lot more things with depth of field and the like. If you do get a camera, I'd recommend a dslr with a decent auto focus, and a 30 or 50mm prime lens for it, with an f stop of 1.8 or so- it'll allow you to get really nice foreground and background blur in your photos.)
I've waited a year to find the perfect project for this fabric, and this shift dress has worked out so well for it. And it might have become a few favourite dress I've made - looking wonderful on Juniper here.
I have a few: My movie Sally doll. Over priced for mid quality and shitty articulation. Unless you get her reeeeaaaaallly cheap, I wouldn't buy one. But she was a gift and I'm attached to her
My Jun Planning J dolls. If you want a doll that will break if you look at it too hard, this is the doll for you. Just never open the box or redress her or pose her or do anything with them and they're gorgeous.
Imomodoll bodies. I love the stylization and own multiples. They're slippy sloppy and the frames are often a bit too long or too short so feet or hands stick out awkwardly or fall off and the shell parts flop around. Maybe they've fixed these things by now, I don't know, haven't got a new one in a while.
I reeeeeally like this prompt!
Very often I am enthusing over a thing and then I think, I hope no one goes to lengths to get this thing due to me. Because I like the positives. But there's often drawbacks I'm not dwelling on! I will probably add to this list as time goes on and I remember more...
Any dollstown bodies for me. Love them to death, stunning dolls, lovely range of motion and sculpting is second to none- but bitches just wanna dead drop. I've had to do a simple knee lock mechanism on my dt 18 girl, and i don't even know what to do with the old 15 boy I have, his legs just completely swivel around. I had a doll with the elf body as well and I actually had to sell her cause the body drove me so barmy (why no upper torso joint? 😭- also why I'll never buy the new 15 boy)
Bahah, seconding the statements for DollsTown and Iplehouse. All of DTs bodies have weak ass knees. I have a girl on an Elf body and she's pretty solid with her stand, but it can get precarious when I'm first getting her set back up on it. xD;
As for Iplehouse, at the very least, stick to the FIDs and other small lines of theirs. Their stiff jointing is much easier to deal with in smaller sizes.
My addition would be Dust of Dolls. If you want a doll that sits really naturally, they're perfect for that, but if you need them to stand, they're a huge pain. Wiring and sueding is absolutely required for both the Roze girls and Cham just to clothe them without wanting to toss them across the room because they constantly crumble while you're trying to slip a skirt on them.
In general, steer clear of BJDs with actual ball-shaped joints (ironically enough). It's swivel hell and clothing gets sucked into them pretty easily if they're used for the hip and/or shoulder sockets. More structured pieces are infinitely better to handle.
Answer to this: If you use a phone, which usually have a wider lens, the doll will look off because wide lens (less than 50mm) distorts things. In this case try to put the doll in the middle of the photo where the less distortion is.
Don't use phone flash or built in camera flash, that's the best way to make your doll look like a creepypasta. You can use camera flash if you put a white plastic cup over it, it will soften the harsh light, and you can fill the cup with white papertowel or put white paper outside, you can experiment! Be careful of lights in general, if the light hits directly the doll's face, the sharp contrast will make the portrait look harsh.
The eyes should be placed carefully, to look alive, you can achieve that usually if the pupils look slightly up and they are symmetrical. Side-eyeing in different ways can look very natural too, looking forward can be cute or intense, depending on the doll's vibe.
If the wig is too shiny or too messy, that can be off-putting too. An obviously fake fur or plastic wig will always look unnatural. You can style fur wigs with a toothbrush or wet your fingers and gently make the hair looks like an organized mess, not a tangled mess. You can make very shiny wig look less shiny if you don't use an artifical light. I know that with heat you can style plastic wigs as well, like boiling water or a hair dryer, but look up the technics and be careful with you and your doll, heat can damage the resin as well!
Don't use props that are proportionally too big for your doll, or put them next to too big items (like a real car) if you want it to look realistic, but you can embrace the doll's doll-ness as well and put them next to human-size stuff. I personally don't care very much but the most life-like doll photos are very careful with any details. Same goes for the doll-clothes, it will only look very life-like if the accessories, stitches, buttons are not too big. If you don't care - like me - that's fine too, this only applies to those who want the most realistic photos.
Be consistent, decide what effect you want to achieve and avoid very fake and cheap looking things. I hope you will find it somewhat useful, if so, I can collect some more stuff. I use a camera and different lenses so if anyone is interested, I can give more tips for beginner camera photographers :) (I'm not a pro myself, but I have a passion for portrait photography and I am doing it for like 8 years now)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Another LPT for holding elastic in place when doing doll stuff, for me, has always been plain old chopsticks. Even the cheap disposable ones work. They're long, thin, sturdy, and easily available! That said, even if they tend to pop off at the worst times, shoutout to magnet hands. I'll take the occasional weak magnet over the absolute ease with which I can take off a jacket, my goodness.
Since Instagram's getting a little mmm right now, I've decided to give tumblr a go for bjds! To kick off my blog: here's a throwback pic of Dylan (from Aug 2021)
