Doll Company Photos, What Makes You Nervous?

I don't think photoshop is necessarily bad. When I edited my company's stock pictures, I did use photoshop, because I wanted the pictures to be as close to reality in color as possible. It's only when promo pictures are so highly edited/retouched, that they are completely different from the raw footage, that it would refrain me - as a buyer - from purchasing until I've seen owner pictures.

It's difficult, though. As a buyer, I would like to see pictures as plain as they come. Blank background, dolls photographed from every angle etc. A company, however, would like to stand out in this saturated market and that means creating a 'signature' style in marketing. Sometimes these two clash.

But sending out different face-ups than your promo-pictures suggest? That is just plain wrong. I've thankfully never had this experience, so I wouldn't know how often this happens, but I just don't understand why a company would do that. It isn't as if your customers wouldn't notice, so in the end, you'll only hurt your reputation, I'd think.

Have you ever bought a doll that only had company photos available, such as limiteds, new sculpts, or unpopular/overlooked dolls?

I ordered Distant Memory Peroth back in 2007 when there was a small pre-order period and no-one ever heard of the sculptor before. The moment I saw his face, I knew this would become popular and would probably be very hard to obtain later, so I took the plunge. Funnily enough, buying him has been my only impulse-buy in my entire doll'career'.

If so, was the doll what you expected?
The head was exactly as promised. It was beautifully sculpted and his resin feels very nice.

Do you find it exciting or nerve-wracking to be one of the first to order a new/unpopular sculpt?
I wasn't any more nervous than I normally am. Sometimes, when you're buying a doll, you just know it's going to be okay. If I don't have that confidence, I'm not buying anything, no matter how well-known the company is.

Any advice for taking the plunge?
Follow your gut. Like leXis said, trust that feeling that tells you something is off about the pictures or the sculpt. When you even have a little bit of doubt, don't go through with the purchase.
On the other hand: with my Peroth, the moment I saw the pictures and saw close-ups of the head, it felt absolutely right. And I haven't been disappointed.

 

What bothers me the most if they don't have a picture of the sculpt, face-up free. I need to know how it looks without all the extra before deciding if it's for me.

 

It drives me mad when a doll with 'extra' parts (extra head, fantasy parts, etc) are mostly photographed with one set of parts. For example, Soom's latest girl comes with an open-eyed head and a romantic head... but the OE head is only photographed twice (once in a very small shot), while the R. head is in the rest of the photos. It makes it very difficult to decide which head looks better (which is particularly annoying when considering splits!)

I also wish companies would take 'basic' shots. Naked, wigless, with the default face-up, in simple lighting. Close up of head (and any fantasy parts), and a full-body shot. Special coloured resins should include comparisons to regular colours.

I do think companies do tend to get a bit caught up in the (legitimately impressive) artistry of creating ads, and sometimes forget that doll collectors are more likely to buy a doll they can clearly see appeals to them, rather than take a risk on one that only might end up appealing to them.

 

the pics on bobobie's website are TERRIBLE - but an owner photo caught my eye, and I though I MUST HAVE THIS DOLL - had a look on flickr for more photos, which is a good way to see all the potential in a sculpt. In spite of their tiny, dark, wig-over-face, company photo, I ordered her, as she was also ridiculously cheap for an SD - And this is obviously a good thing - bobobie save money by not splashing out on a super-glam website, and they pass that saving onto customers, which is great! I only had to wait a month for my bobobie Elena, and she's lovely - and a bargain IMO - so I wouldn't be put off by bad photos if the dolls aren't limited or pricey. Anything really expensive needs to sell itself, and over-edited photos WOULD make me nervous if I was parting with a lot of cash.

 

Agree!
- lack of photos showing the different face angles - side and especially the front...
- Over-use of super flare/ light in the pics, just to make everything seem glowly and nice....
- wigs that cover most of the face
- Showing the doll face only and hardly anything of the body
- Super frilly/ bulky clothes that cover the whole body

These make me suspicious/ frustrate me... Thank goodness for owner pictures.
Though owner pics also vary alot - depending on photography skill and diy faceup quality/ style....

 

Something I really hate is that photo shopped "misty hue" that is put over the whole picture and makes everything look brighter and softer. I notice that it makes the faceups look softer, and for a lot of dolls when you see the faceup in real life it is usually a lot darker/has more distinct coloring. A lot of doll companies do that and it drives me nuts ><

 

The whole photos in general make me nervous. @___@ I remember when I first got into bjds, I assumed they came with all the stuff they were pictured with, which I found out, not so... so sometimes not knowing how a doll's gonna look in a totally different style of hair/eye color is a bit scary...

 

I fix that problem by looking at the dolls other people have bought and comparing. I initially wanted a Limhwa Half Elf...that is until I saw the photos from different owners. I hated her sculpt after that even though she looked gorgeous in the promo pics.

 

So many things about company pictures annoy me.

It annoys me when they don't have pictures of blank heads.
Or when the company has 129018390 pictures of the doll with several close-ups and with the same pose/head position, but not one single picture of its profile.
Or when there is not one full body picture of the doll, nor a single picture that isn't too close to the doll (I really like to see pictures where the doll isn't that close to the camera, since, with that, you can actually get a better perspective of their size and their proportions).
It annoys me when they edit the pictures so much and fill them with so many effects, that you simply can't tell if the doll truly would look anything like that in real life and have to depend of owner pictures to make things clear.
I couldn't agree more with Cktan about the huge clothes which prevent you from truly knowing the true aspect of the doll's body and, sometimes, its face.

And I'm sure there are many other things which annoy me, but I can't remember them all right now

So, to me, the perfect doll page wouldn't have tons of endless overproduced and incredibly similar pictures, only a few basic ones: clear close-ups of the doll's face, both looking front and its profile (looking up and down is also good, but maybe that's asking too much? x_x); clear pictures of the entire doll standing straight, front, back, and left and right sides; and blank head pictures.
That would be the perfect doll company page, imho.

 

I don't like crappy photography that doesn't really show off the way the head actually looks. So many of the unpainted sculpts I see look flat and boring when they are photographed and it just does not give you any idea of what they look like in real life. I always check for user pics if I can before I buy.

 

I don't like it when there are a lot of props covering the body/face I also don't like it when i don't see a picture of the doll standing up straight by itself (a blank doll picture, just to show what the body looks like itself)

 

>_> I really wish Resinsoul would fire their photographer...They don't take good pictures I think the only ones who have fantastic pictures on their site are Bei and Mei.

 

I tend to second-guess my purchases a lot during the long wait for the dolly to be created and shipped. I look over the pictures again and again to tide me over during the wait and realize I fell in love with a doll whose photos have heavily adjusted brightness/contrast among other elements, and it makes me all sorts of nervous during that waiting period.

Most of the time too I'm correct about the photo alterations and wish I had realized it sooner instead of making an impulse buy based off of pretty pictures. >_< I end up so heartbroken every time over the face-ups that are affected by these heavy lighting adjustments along with the resin's color not looking anything like the photos.

I wish companies would post at least one unedited image of the shoot to give customers an idea of what they're really paying for.

 

I don't like when things are covering the doll so I can't see what I am buying! I also don't like when they don't show what the dolls body looks like, I don't want to go looking on their form to find the body I want to see it in the pics right then. Most of the time the faceup pics are good but lighting in the photo doesn't tell me if it will look like that when it gets to me.

 

I personally don't like how some companies 'airbrush' and 'photoshop' out some blemishes of the doll. In the sample (preview) pictures, they just have close-ups of the dolls face and 'bust up' photos as-well. They're all basically doing the same pose, and they have clothing that's frilly and doesn't show the neck. If I really am considering purchasing the doll, I would Google search images of it from other doll owners. But still, it makes me second guess a lot. :\

 

To tell the truth im also really paranoid. I'm actually quite disappointed after receiving a doll most of the time. Most websites don't show dolls without the face ups and this makes me worry if I'll actually like the sculpt without the company faceup. Also they always show one side of the face in every photo and when I purchase the doll and see it myself it's like a whole different sculpt sometimes Dx I wish they could just simply put the doll naked without faceup at the end of the page

 

I wish more companies showed more blanks but luckily I haven't gotten burned yet in terms of disliking the sculpts. I don't tend to impulse buy though and I do a lot of research and look at owner pictures though. I probably overthink the process of doll buying honestly.

 

I am worried about this for a doll I plan to get... I really appreciate when company's have images of a blank sculpt, or different views of the doll. It can be really difficult to know how something will look when you have 10 forward-facing photos, and to discover I didn't like it would be upsetting. That seems to be what many think, though, but it's true that the marketing is for the best from the company's perspective. I suppose it never hurts to ask if they could provide the images you want, if you can't find any. It's not as if doll company's want to make you feel they have deceived you into an incorrect purchase.

 

The only thing that makes me nervous is wigs, they are rarely the same in real life as they are in the pictures!

 

Have any of you ever purchased a factory face up and it ended up looking NOTHING like the picture? So you make a complaint to the company only to be told the standard line that states 'actual face ups may vary from those pictured? I find that to be quite frustrating and wrong. The company should at least attempt to provide face ups that somewhat resemble the promotional photos advertised. I mean at what point does it become false advertising when you pay for a service that you, in effect, are not receiving? I think these companies, based on the cost of these dolls, need to do better at customer satisfaction.