Doll Company Photos, What Makes You Nervous?

I don't feel too nervous about it really. When I saw pictures for the B&G Triya, I admit, I loved it. And when I got her and when she got home, it didn't really feel right for her.
I think it's ok for them to have those photos up on their page without showing off the bad things since well. . . It is business. Plus, if you ever really needed to find out more about the doll or more pictures, you could always use DoA or for non DoA users, there's always DA or search engines.
It would be nice to have the face up like it is on the pictures though. As well as having the choice to see more pictures in different colours rather than just the one skin tone with a chart underneath.
One thing that I think would be great though, rather than pictures, is a possible list of what faults there could be with a doll like in a FAQ or something.
The faults don't apply to every doll remember. It could only be a handful.

Ah that's really good =D as far as I know, Bobobie do that too. Well with a few of their sculpts like Apollo.

 

Like others, when I like a sculpt, I try to find owner pictures to see if I really love the doll. Lucky for me, I tend to find the dolls that don't get many pictures D: but if I can't find any pictures to convince me yes, I just won't buy it. Simples.

It makes me nervous* when I can't find nude body shots ANYWHERE on the site. It's a bonus to see them on the actually doll page, but if it's not there and not in the parts section, then I really get turned off about buying it.

And I don't like it when you can't see how long the nose is.

But my main gripe is when the pictures are too small! Or when the picture is large, but the doll subject is tiny inside! Or both combined I wanted to see the face on a sculpt once, but it was like, the tenth of the picture size! Then again, I found bigger pictures and decided I didn't want her, so no loss I guess!


*I say nervous, but really more "nghh.... I dunno..." indecisive.

 

I think most of it has been said already. Hmm... Yeah, mostly worried about or dislike the deceiving editing/lighting/angles or clothing that hides trouble spots.

I think that is why I won't buy any product without searching for owner photos or reviews. Owner photos are usually a little more candid. And depending on the product reviews are really helpful.

 

For some reason, EARS are very important to me on a doll. I was trying to find a doll with small elf that suited a character but company photos often hid ears under a wig. No one on DoA had this sculpt yet either but I took a risk and got lucky. She was perfect.

I also 2nd the complaint that an outfit in a photo doesn't come from that site. :P

But bad photography (like on BBB and RS) hurts just as much as a photoshoped photo. Research is half the fun of this hobby anyway. I LOVE trying to find the right photo to see if the sculpt is worth it.

 

That's a really good point Modesty! Ears would be great too! When I got Ai-Ai [ Marki ] we had no idea he had little elf ears!
Not that I'm complaining, just some ear shots would be a plus too!

 

When I started looking at BJDs to buy I started getting nervous because you know that the company stock photos been soo airbrushed and photoshoped that you have no idea what your doll really looks like. Especially if you get it without the default makeup. And then the doll I eventually picked only had a few photos of her standing straight up on a doll stand. Pose-ability really wasn't one of my concerns at the time but I still wanted to know her range of motion.

So in the end I had to contact the company to find her body style because it wasn't listed in her doll details and then find it in the webpages "option parts" section because I had previously combed the page and found that That's where you could see more pictures of the dolls body types and how they could bend. And because in this section all the types are naked so you could see thier detailing better.

I still purchased that doll I wanted but in the end I thought it was a little ridiculous that I had to go through all this when they could have just had 2 less close ups of her face and instead had 2 of her posing in manner that wasn't straight up.

 

I wasn't nervous at all about getting my doll. She was a limited (although at the time I didn't know it until the very night (the last night) I got her cause I'm a nub) and I just drooled over her for days. Her photos I know had been photoshop'd because she was just so beautiful but when I got her I was amazed at how much I still loved her even though her face up was much lighter then the photo and her skin was A LOT darker (I hadn't expected that honestly it made me go WOW). But it worked for her And she is AWESOME~

But like other people said I guess you gotta just take the plunge or research it out before you put money into it.

 

I think you raise a lot of good points (as do others, here).

What we have to do is keep contacting the companies and asking for more photos that give us a better idea of what we are actually buying.

Most companies will try and put some other photos up--or send them out to those who ask... but that only helps a few people. If everyone keeps asking for basic photos, different angles, photos of nude dolls and heads without faceups, I think the companies will eventually get the idea that if they really have a good product, it will be good from all angles and naked, as well as good all dressed up and photoshopped!

Or at least, that SHOULD be how it is...

 

Before I actually purchased a BJD, I researched a whole lot on them. That includes looking at owners' photos (flickr!), watching intro videos (youtube!), and reading owner/collector blogs. They gave me a really good idea on what to expect when getting a new doll (seams!), the cost of this hobby, how well the dolls pose, other forms of modifications, other info, etc.

Also, being a graphic designer experienced with photoshop and a business owner myself, I actually expected the doll company photos to be touched up and photoshopped. My paranoia also helped too.

 

In my experience, most pictures that the companies post have been pretty accurate. I try to never rely just on those though, and look for owner pics whenever possible. My biggest pet peeve is when they picture a doll with eyes/wig/outfit/accessories/faceup that are not available. I don't get the point of that.

 

I really never know if I'm going to like a doll until i have it in my hands. Sculpting them has made me ridiculously picky. at the same time i will NOT buy a doll if i can't see a photo of the body. Mine sit around naked so much while i'm sewing that i know i'm going to see that body quite often so i better like it. I think the original dollzone photos were a bit misleading with their faces. In person the noses stuck out way further than they seemed to in photos. I ended up modding mine heavily and then finally selling them because i just did not like them.

my own experiences with my own dolls is that most people like them better in person than in my photos. but i'm not a very good photographer... it's not a strength. I have very poor depth perception. e_e;;;

the worst time for me was my Isao. I cried over him because i missed the chance to buy him twice. Then finally, FINALLY! I was able to buy his head. It was more than i wanted to spend but it was Isao! I open the box and... the top of his head is shaped like a mushroom. I think I sat and stared at him for a good ten minutes. Eventually i found that certain wigs minimized the mushroom effect... but i knew it was always there. lurking. I finally had to sell him because his mushroom head just bothered me way way too much.

 

Just yesterday, I ran into a situation where I found the owner pics vastly different from the company photos. I was interested in getting an SD with really large, round eyes. I saw a doll from SoulDoll, and decided that I'd rather have the head, because I'm finally interested in doing my own face up. I thought it was absolutely perfect - the eyes were big, and the lips weren't frowny... until I saw owner pics. The doll's eyes looked oddly squinty, and smaller than they looked on the website. And too far apart. I fell out of love with it.

 

The Withdoll rosybrowns.
The color of the actual resin makes me nervous. From owner comments and pictures is seems like the color isn't one color, each rosybrown seems to have their unique slight tint (some people have yellower ones, some people have purpler ones, some people have greener ones, some people have greyer ones).

There were none around when I already ordered mine so I couldn't see the owner pictures and I had to rush so I did buy him. The solace is that I do actually like ALL the owner pictures I've seen around, despite their different hues. It just worries me that I might get something strange and formerly unseen o.o

 

Hmm... Things that make me nervous on doll sites is when they have lens flare filters and little sparkles obscuring the doll's features. Aside from reminding me of a certain (most unpleasant) book, theymake me nervous as to what the doll actually looks like under all that gaussian blur and diffuse glow.

I also like to see a doll from all angles if possible, and profile in particular. I like my dolls to have 'blunt' noses, and sometimes a nose can look blunt from a forward facing image, but from the side it sticks out to quite a length. Without seeing it from the side, I don't know this.

What I like to see in doll company advertising is a lot of shots showing angles and the way the head connects to the neck. I like a list of measurements for ease of body-head matching (I have characters of all sorts of different sizes and I like this to reflect in my body choices, but I also like keeping their heads 'in scale' with one another so they don't look odd.) and most importantly - pics of the blank doll! Without the face-up! So I can get a close look at the features and decide if they're to my taste.

 

I think Souldoll is a really good example of this. Often, they have really really artful pictures, and their dolls are dressed in layers and layers and layers of clothes, in weird poses, locations, and doing weird things with hair all over their faces. At least it's easy to ask for blank head photos where they take one photo straight-on and one sideways.

They've had symmetry issues in the past, but I took the plunge and bought a Shaun. They seem to be doing better.

I absolutely love it when they post pictures of the complete nude doll to show the body and sculpt.

 

I get suuuper nervous with default faceup photos. I've always loved Asleep Eidolon's 60cm dolls but barely anyone has them so I can't do much research And when someone does have one with a default faceup, the colors look totally different from the company photos!! It makes me sooo hesitant

 

I don't get nervous about the pictures; I think after you've bought a doll or two you know what to look for, and what to watch out for. If I see something that makes me concerned, I wait for owner photos. Sometimes with a limited doll, you can't do that, so you just cross your fingers and hope! Will my Clozel look a little bit cross-eyed when she arrives? Hopefully that's just her limited eyes...but if she does, I won't be surprised by it lol. XD

 

I completely agree with magicmage's orginal post in terms of 'commercial techniques' by doll companies, especially online, where pictures are so much more important than going to physical stores. It doesn't make me nervous as much as just frustrated because then I know I will have to look elsewhere for possible 'faults'. Though at the same time I do appreciate seeing other doll owner's pictures.
Seeing lovely doll pictures from companies but of the same poses always amuses me somewhat, and it tempers my exasperation, because I do wonder what the people behind the company is thinking when they took and posted those pictures. My first subconscious assumption is that they're hiding something, but after looking around and reviews and owner pics, it's not usually the case. Then I just assume the company is not bothering to be systematic about showcasing the posing logistics of their product, a major part of which is about the joints and poseability.
And would just like to add that those companies that do post pictures of the sculpt blank from varying angles, sometimes do not consistently do so for all their sculpts, and that, too, exasperates me to no end.

 

What makes me nervous is... well I know that a doll face-up will certainly look different, but I've seen some threads involving face-up issues, where it looked nothing like the photos and was very poorly done.

I'm always worried that may happen to me... which is why I look for owner photos just to see company face-ups, *and* to see what all can be done with a sculpt just in case I decide to get a blank doll.

 

I've never had a problem with company pictures from anywhere except Resinsoul/Bobobie. >.> This is coming from somebody with a Bobobie tiny and a Resinsoul MSD planned. Their pictures are just plain BAD! Which is why I'm grateful for places like DoA where owner pics are abundant.