Swallow is a dream to photograph. These pictures were taken with a point and shoot camera and I don't know if I changed some setting but I haven't taken such good pictures of a doll with this particular camera, ever.
I shot four ways: in sunlight, in shade with flash, in shade without flash and indoors with flash. Three of the ways are represented in the images below. Can you tell which is which?
Swallow is dressed in Apple's outfit which is tight across the bust as you can see. I prefer the newest body type better than this as the newer body poses better and the legs are more secure feeling.
Swallow's original black fashion stained the dolls and I knew in advance that this gal was arriving with stains on her feet and legs mostly with a few across her lower back and a spot or two elsewhere. I spent about an hour with a Mr. Clean eraser pad on her legs and lightened the stains a good deal. I also learned that when sanding resin one should wear a dust mask. Duh.
Spoiler alert below...don't continue unless you are not planning to guess about the pictures.
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Answers to Question:
1. Shade with flash;
2. 3. & 4. Shade no flash;
5. Sun (Photoshopped;
6. Sun;
8. & 9. Indoors with incandescent lamp light and flash.
Of all these my favorite exposures resulted from the photos shot in the shade. It was bright shade as the sun was still shining. Pictures shot in full sun have a yellow cast as do pictures shot in incandescent (regular light bulbs) light. The camera flash on this point & shoot is not strong enough to overcome the yellow cast of house bulbs although the yellow is less than those shot in sunlight.
Is all of this color of light talk gobbledygook? It's important for accurate color rendition. It is also important if you are still using regular bulbs at home to light your images.
Next I will shoot her in my studio with strobes and my DSLR. I really should use the same camera first as I used today because most digital cameras read color differently. We shall see how ambitious I feel.
