Doll Company Photos, What Makes You Nervous?

The RS photos (since BBB seems to be mainly focusing on casting) are done by the site creator,administrator,sculpter,translator,faceup artist. It's essentially a one man job. The photo's are bad. We all know this, but he's doing the work himself keeping cost down instead of hiring someone to do fancy photoshoots and touchup and effects etc.

It does bug me when the sculpts are overly clothed or never show how the body looks at all. I'm more interested in the sculpts since most of the time the clothes they are posed in.. aren't coming with the doll or even available at all.
I also tend to hate when companies rely on overall dramatic lighting situations for every single of their photos. I don't want to buy a doll where most of it is cast in shadow. I wouldn't know what im getting into.

 

It's true a lot of the dolls are 'touched up' for the promos. I always think it's best to check out owner pictures on this (or other) forums. Flickr is also quite a good referance from dolls.

 

This is a good idea in theory, but it doesn't work in practice, especially when you consider the very small size of some of these companies. They may not even sell eyes, or wigs, or clothing -- they may only sell dolls. Some stores sell only heads! I do not think they should be constrained into showing their product alone. While they should show it that way at least once, showing it on a body, eyed and wigged and painted, is not something I'd think in any way inappropriate. If they do sell items of that kind, yes, they should ideally use their own stock or what they have or plan to have available. Saying they must, regardless of what types of goods they actually sell, can be an unreasonable hurdle for a small company to overcome.

 

I'm sorry, this made me laugh.

Anyway, no, original poster, you are not alone! Sometimes, it's a bit of a leap to buy a doll based on the website's info. Like others have said, try to find owner photos -- oftentimes, those are far more helpful than website photos.

One of my beefs with doll companies is the hiding of elf ears under bulky wigs! I wonder how many elf-eared dolls are lurking on various company websites, masquerading as human-eared dolls? I wish more companies would show the doll heads without make-up or wigs.

 

I didn't know at the beginning that the BBB/RS Mei had elf ears. Didn't matter, because she'd look cute either way, but still... And I didn't know that BBB/RS was pretty much a one-man job! That's impressive.

It's also a bit of a leap to buy a doll that you can't get many company pics of. Like my Emma is a DM Kid Flocke, and I checked DoA as well as Flickr, and I only saw a limited amount of them (not as many as there were Pados). But from those few pics, they still looked like the company pics, and mine pretty much looks like that, too - I actually ended up trying to order her with the same stuff as she had in the company pics.

 

I haaaate Angel of Dream's photos.
- blurry
- super-close up of face so you can't see how it looks on a body
- doesn't show different positions

That's the biggest one for me...I hate when I don't get to see the back of a doll, or at least a side-view. You can't get a good feel for what the doll really looks like.

 

How is it misleading if the doll isn't going to come with the wig anyway? Doll companies don't always focus a lot on things like wigs and clothes -- they primarily sell dolls, so I can certainly see them using things like wigs from another source since they don't actually specialize in making them. Some companies do sell a lot in the way of wigs/clothes/eyes/etc but it's not unusual for them to have fairly minimal offerings in that department.

What's kind of ironic to me is how much companies can't win for losing -- if they don't create stellar sales pics people complain. There are many comments along the lines that Volks (for instance) doesn't show off their dolls well on the site since the photography and styling is fairly plain, but if a company really pulls out all the stops to create a really stunning promo piece, people complain that it's not accurate. Now I'm not saying that all promo pics give people the info they want, but buying on-line is always somewhat of a risk no matter what. Seeing a doll in a picture is never going to be like holding one in your hands, and dolls can look so drastically different depending on who styles them.

 

-raises hand-
That's why I usually come on here before I make any decisions. I hate to say this but I'm the most nervous when I see the photos on Crobidoll. Their pictures are just so incredibly awesome and they tend to take photos at epic angles but... I don't know.. especially with sleepy eye sculpts. -shaking head- it's so easy to be misled.

 

You can't blame a company for trying to sell their product, and as long as there's nothing truly falsifying going on (i.e, photoshopping doll features to look different or removing some unwanted "blemish" that's present in the sculpt, or modifying the doll's body so that it can pose better without disclosing that they've done that) I don't see the problem. Well, I'm not too fond of how some companies like to crank up the contrast because it really makes the doll's features difficult to see, I think that's sort of edging into the "falsifying" territory even if it probably wasn't the intention.

But, honestly? I love seeing all-out beautiful promotional photoshoots of dolls in fancy outfits and wigs. I wouldn't even mind if they had photos of dolls in custom face-ups as long as there were clear pictures of the basic face-up on the ordering page as well. I think they really show the doll's true potential in capable hands. The buyers need to realize that they just may not be as capable (or maybe they're even better at it, one just need to take a glance in the Gallery+) and accept that as being their own fault - not the company's, and not the doll's.

 

When I first started in the hobby, I didn't have access to DOA and so I relied only on the company (DOD) pictures when I bought my first doll. It was those photos that made me want to bring him home, and personally, I think he looked even lovelier in face than on the website.

Now though, I'd look first at the company's photos (these are what draws me first) then look at DOA Database/Gallery/Box opening photos for comparison as well as to gauge their potential. Occasionally, I search on DA as well. What I'd look out in official photos for are the basic full body shots, face close ups, angle shots in addition to all those fancy photos and poses. And if I am getting the full set I'd want to look at the naked body as well (to decide if I should get them together or make a hybrid?). I don't mind fancy photos coz they are what draws me in first, but I'd also want to be able to see clearly their entire look (+ face close up) and body proportion as well.

I'd get nervous if I cant see any photos that show me clearly what I want to see, and that's when I'll look deeper into the issue (e.g. why isn't they show the doll in full frontal body view but from a top down angle only? is there something odd about body proportion? --> this happens with one of the doll I like, sadly). So in the end it's really up to yourself to do some research before making a decision.

 

Well, first, I want to address kiyo-ai's comment. Don't worry about Crobidoll. Their dolls are just as lovely in person as they are in the photos, and I think most people agree. And, the face-ups they give are gorgeous.

Personally, I'm fond of something somewhere between of "super photoshoot" and "basement photos." I don't want the beauty (or flaws) of the doll itself to be hidden by hair/make-up/lack of angles/photoshop, but I also don't just want a million photos of blank heads. I like to see the potential in dolls.

I was very interested in a Souldoll Morse for a while, but the lack of angles and the heavy make-up that hid his features made me a bit nervous. On the other hand, some BBB pictures are WAY too small to see some any important features, and most of their dolls only have one photo!

I think that Iplehouse does it pretty well. Their photos are nice, but not usually overdone, and they have plenty of blank and comparison photos in their member gallery. I also appreciate how Crobi does close-ups of their dolls' face-ups.

So, anyway, if I could give only one suggestion to doll companies, it would be... SHOW SOME DARN PROFILES OF THE DOLLS YOU SELL, PLEASE. I CANNOT TELL IF YOUR DOLL HAS A HUGE PINOCCHIO NOSE OR NOT.

 

Just about any doll with elf ears catches my eye, but sometimes, it's impossible to tell -- for example, Impldoll has two elf dolls in their regular Impstar line but none of the photos of them show their ears! I found out quite accidentally that they had elf ears. I would have coveted them much earlier, had I known.

 

This is my main complaint about company photos. You can't really get a complete idea of what a nose looks like from the front alone, and sometimes angle shots can be misleading...but the nose is so important! If it's the wrong shape or size, it can throw the entire face out of whack.

 

Their other problem is that they don't UPDATE the pictures of their sculpts when they alter the mold somewhat. Case in point is the AOD Rao. Their site picture shows their older face sculpt with the rounder face where as the current sculpt has a somewhat narrower face. And they're not the only ones a little guilty of this.

So yes, that's the other thing... when companies alter their sculpts and don't bother to update the site with new pictures of said altered sculpts.

Sometimes I also wish the companies would add in a little variety, like showing how a particular doll would look with different wig/eye combinations. Sometimes I get nervous when I only see one wig-eye combo being used throughout because then I don't know how it's going to look with others. (and yes, this is where the DOA database comes in, but I would still like to see it on the company page). At least showing three basic wigs like blond, brunette or black hair on a doll can give the customer some basic idea.

And I agree with the person who mentioned colors differing between the picture on screen and the real thing. FL Snow Waltz Cupid - his/her hair and faceup looks REALLY BLUE in the site pics. They are not so in RL. his/her hair is actually more blue-violet, going into purple, same for the faceup.

 

Maybe it's just because I'm a noob, but I would love more pictures of skin tone comparison.
I hate seeing one doll in one skin tone when the drop down menu has more than just one tone.

 

I get nervous when they don't show you the body and head of the doll in detail so you can decide whether you want it or not. Also they may have manipulated the photos ... And also when they mostly show angle shots ...

 

I'm gonna have to go with how only one angle is ever used, and profiles are always obscured. I've fallen in love with so many dolls only to find out that I'm not sure how they really look when I'm not looking at them head-on! I'm pretty sure many people feel the same caution I do too, as the dolls I like are either hardly on this board or not present at all. Such a problem!

 

It doesn't make me nervous, per se, as in most cases I can look up owner pictures for a second opinion. But I do share your hesitations; I really hate when company pictures are totally washed out! I pretty much sit in front of my computer tilting the screen back and forth and adjusting the contrast until it makes me dizzy. I really appreciate it when sellers (companies, artists, anyone!) take head-on and profile photos of their product. I don't think it detracts from a theme or message of the rest of their photos to do so, and it would just tempt me all the more :P

 

I think it is helpful to see the pictures the company takes, but also look to owner pictures to really tell what doll you want. I wouldn't put all my weight on what dolls to get on pictures the company takes. They are trying to sell you a product after all!