A lot of you know that between times when I’m creating free patterns and YouTube tutorials, I’m also filming a stop-motion version of Romeo and Juliet with dolls. In filming stop-motion, I’ve come to realize that certain doll poses are more active than others.

For example, look at the Ever After High doll in the photo above. She isn’t just standing around wearing a dress; she’s almost dancing in that dress!

So how do you get a photo that shows a doll in motion? Move the doll’s arms and legs. Take a shot. Move the doll’s head. Take another shot. Keep playing with the doll’s position until you get something you really like.

In my day job, I’m a school librarian, but did you know I also teach our school’s yearbook class? That’s right; I teach middle school kids how to take sports photos… I bet you didn’t imagine that, now, did you?

And one of the first things I teach my yearbook students is “quantity ensures quality,” when it comes to photography. What do I mean by that? Tony Northrup puts it very succinctly in his book, Stunning Digital Photography: “Take Lots of Pictures (and Delete Most of Them).”*

This month I’m re-posting an older series of blog posts on doll photography to accompany an article I’ve written for this month’s issue of Doll Castle magazine. <= Click on that link to learn more about this magazine for the doll lovers and doll collectors out there!

Also, please note that the very lovely quilt pictured behind my Ever After High doll was made by my mother-in-law, Anita, who is a highly skilled quilter!

________________

*Northrup, Anthony. Tony Northrup’s DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital Photography. Edited by Chelsea Northrup, Mason Press, 2016.