Moody Jax Photoshoot (Taeyang Natsume)

It's been a long while since I updated here, but I have been taking photos of my dolls again, and wanted to continue to document my progress. I actually found it very helpful to look back on what I had done before, and having this blog up to date has proven to be quite handy.

Today I returned to Pinterest for some posing ideas (see my post here, where I originally had this idea). This time I searched for "photography poses men" in the hopes of finding some evocative poses for Jax, my Taeyang Natsume.

This was the first pose to catch my eye:

Pinned from Vogue UK

...and this is what I came up with:

Brooding Jax

I wanted Jax to be leaning quite far forward for this shot, but I was limited not only by the articulation of his body, but also by his fitted leather jacket and 2 players of cotton beneath it.  For the  tighter shot below I shone a flashlight on Jax's hair and allowed it catch his right eye a bit.  His downward-cast face and the fact that he is looking out of the frame of the photo give him a brooding, withdrawn, melancholy mood.




My second posing "Pinspiration" came from this pin:

...and here is my photo:

Emerging from the shadows

Jax looks a little less sad in this photo, but still rather... wistful?  This was a pretty straightforward pose.  I leaned his left side against the wooden crate I had as a prop and stood him straight with relaxed arms.  I always check his writsts and elbows to make sure they are looking natural before I stake my shot.

My final pose came from this Pin:

Because Taeyang can't rotate their heads up and down, I had to modify this pose so his body and face were pointing the same direction, but I tried to replicate his positioning the best I could.  I really like how this one came out.  I think it feels quite intimate, due to the close crop (I crop all my photos in camera, not in post-processing) and direct eye contact.

While I had him shirtless and in bed (lol!), I tried a few body-centric shots just off the top of my head, and I like how they turned out.  I had trouble deciding between keeping these their natural colour or changing them to black and white.  I ended up leaving them natural because it made them feel warmer, which I think helps elicit the sadness I wanted for this photoshoot.



All the photos above were taken with a 50mm lens, shot with an aperture of 4.5, shutter speed of 1/50, and ISO of 200.  They were minimally processed in iPhoto only to correct for white balance (due to the yellow walls in my room).  I had the overhead lights turned off (there are no windows in my room) and used only the small lights in my "photo studio" to light all the shots from this session.

BTS: Moody Jax Photoshoot

Clothes:

Stock outfit items, Ken doll jeans.

Rusty Photographer (Pullip Photography)

Here are some recent photos:

Suri (Bloody Red Hood):

It's so nice that spring has sprung!

Suri sitting pretty

Mao and Rae getting close...

Rae: "Don't give me that look... we're just FRIENDS!"

Mao got a lip-ring this week.

Chillin' in the treehouse

Rae received some new dresses from our friend Stephanie this week

Clothes:

Suri: Stock socks and boots, dress and sweater from Clear Lan

Mao: stock outfit

Rae: unknown source for jeans and white t-shirt; dress from AnnieDollz

Introducing Neela (Pullip Cat Woman)

Pullip Cat Woman arrived today!  She is the second doll I bought (the first was Rae) with money from selling other doll stuff (mostly stock outfits).  Cat Woman immediately went through a transformation from this:

Pullip Cat Woman in her stock outfit

to this:

Redressed, hair trimmed, bindi added

I wasn't planning to keep her as Cat Woman in the first place, but I could not get her Cat Woman hat on her head, and the gloves looked kind of weird (Pullip gloves always look weird), so I was glad to redress her.

She has one of the most beautiful Pullip faces

I love her dark skin tone and smokey eyes!

Black eyelids!!!

My new favourite!

 

Making Pullip Doll Photography sets for a small space

I have a small doll photography area at the end of my long craft table, and I've had a few questions from people who have seen my BTS shots (behind the scenes) on Instagram about how I set up my sets.  I'll try to explain how I have approached setting up a small doll photography studio and I also have a video to go with this post (you'll find it towards the end of this post).

For indoor doll photography, there are what I call on-location shots (like shots of dolls on their doll shelves, or around my house, by a window, etc.) where I use an already existing background as my set.  For these, I usually bring my photography bag with me (see a video on what I pack Here), and treat it like any outdoor photo shoot, except it is warmer and drier (usually).

On-location indoor doll photography

Then there are what I call studio shots, where I add props to a plain background in a semi-dedicated space and build a scene.
I use a small section of my craft table that is 36 inches wide by 30 inches deep, which gives me more than enough space to set up scenes with multiple dolls.  My table is deeper than most and I could easily make due with a standard depth of table.  I have 2 different types of sets for studio doll photography, and both types have several different options for set-up, so I end up having lots of different looks, all using the same 36 by 30 inch space.

The first type of setup is using a seamless fabric background (you could use a roll of wrapping paper too).  When I use this kind of setup I usually use minimal props, and the photos are more about the dolls than about setting a scene.  I hang the fabric from a curtain rod on the back wall of the space and let the fabric hang down the wall and across the table surface.

Below is a shot of my studio area when it was 30 X 30 inches (before I filled in the table between the end of the table and the wall on the right).  Sometimes I put something on the table to look like a floor (as below):

BTS photo shoot from January 2014

Sample photo from the setup above

And other times I let the fabric be exposed on the floor for a true seamless look:

Nero poses for his introductory photos on a piece of blue fabric

I have several different fabrics that I use, plus I have 2 purchased doll photography backdrops that I use as well:

Sample photo using the above backdrop (don't mind the wonky wig)

So just by adding an inexpensive curtain rod on the back wall above my table, I have a range of options for backdrops that are limited only by my supply of fabric (or wrapping paper).  I do show the curtain rod itself and binder clips I use to attach the fabric in the video below.

Besides the seamless fabric background, the second setup I use is a 2-walled diorama.  To make a simple diorama all I needed was some foam board, patterned paper, mac-tac (cupboard liner paper with an adhesive backing on it), and bristol board.  Other supplies that come in handy and add to the options and details are pieces of narrow wood trim, velcro, tiles, or laminate wood floor pieces.  You can get even more detailed by adding a window using more wood trim pieces, etc.  

The video below shows how I go about setting it up in detail and talks about what supplies are required.  Since making this video I started working on a window that can be attached to the wall and detached when I take the set apart.  I will show that in a separate video when I get it completed and work out the kinks.

The video shows how quickly you can build and take apart these sets once you have them made, and then the fun part is the decorating.  My kids helped make these 2 sets:

The first set was created by my 8-year-old after I set up the walls and floor.  She put her own American Girl posters on the wall in the open space (where I plan to put a window once it's done).

Setup # 1 Red chevron walls with wood floor

Even in close-ups that don't show much of the room, having baseboard peeking out in the corner reminds us
Suri is in her bedroom

The brush is a prop only- do not use aplastic brush on your doll or her hair will become very frizzy!

As the video shows, all I did to get this second, completely different looking room is turn around the foam board and switch out the floor!  This room was decorated by my 7-year-old daughter:

There is lots of room for several dolls in this small set

I'm not sure why Ally is holding a giant stop watch, lol!

It feels like things are happening when there is lots of stuff in a room.

It's apparently a very sad movie!

I hope you found this helpful.  Feel free to share your ideas for setting up photography sets here or on my YT channel!

Introducing Rae (Dal Ra Muw)

I bought Dal Ra Muw from paypal money that I got from selling some other doll stuff. She arrived yesterday:

Her box is a unique combo of turquoise and brown

Gotta love that sweet pouty face!

She comes with lots of steampunk accessories

I love dolls that come with solid footwear.

Despite her huge head full of gorgeous hair, I can still stand her without props or a stand thanks to those chunky boots.

It took awhile for Dals to grow on me, due to their sad expression

 What I love about Ra Muw is that her eyes are not sad looking, and she does't look angry to me at all.  Her eyebrows aren't visible in any of my pictures here but I show them in the video and they are nice neutral, and straight.

Familial resemblance?

Although Ra Muw's skin tones are much warmer than Blood Red Hood's, they have similar hair colours, and the exact same eye chips, so I think they look like sisters or mother-daughter.

Although her head can't tilt she looks inquisitive when she is titled a bit.  Almost happy, lol!

Coincidentally, the same day this pretty little thing arrived, my younger daughter found a large metal spring in the ditch in front of our house, and I think it makes the perfect prop for my little steampunk girl!

Perched atop the spring

This is my favourite photo of her so far.

I am still getting used to how far back her neck is on her head.  It seems like the angle of the photo is more important with a Dal, because she looks very inhuman in lots of angles because of that neck.

So annoyed!

This is my first steampunk doll (although I did buy the steampunk Aurora stock outfit, used for Suri, my Bloody Red Hood doll) and I am impressed with the quality.  The price is higher for these dolls, but they do come with a lot of accessories.  I really love the quality of her dress and even her wig is great quality (although I'm sure it will be difficult to manage and frizzy due to its curl) for a stock wig.

Check out the video below for more details on Dal Ra Muw, who I am naming Rae:

 

My Not- Romantic Alice Pullip

I've been wanting Romantic Alice, but not really wanting to buy a new doll, so I decided to buy her stock outfit (used, on eBay) and then try to find a wig that would complete the look.  My Suzette doll (Pullip Io) has been in need of a re-wigging (she been wearing a plastic orange wig since I bought her) and she has the most amazing blue sparkly eye chips I've ever seen, so I thought she'd made a good Alice.

I found this wig at the Fatiao Doll Shop on eBay and it look amazing on Suzette with the Romantic Alice stock outfit:

"Would you like some tea?"

Just for comparison, here is what the original Romantic Alice looks like on the Pullipstyle website:

Romantic Alice (stock image from Pullipstyle.com)

Not a bad match, eh?  I actually like her better with blue eyes than brown, as it really brings out the blue in her dress.  Here are some more pictures:

Raspberry tea is delicious!

Wait, do I see a rabbit over there?

With a Rilakuma tea set

All the pretty frills, lace, and ruffles!

Suzette is now by far the prettiest of all my dolls!

 

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