Doll dioramas or natural settings?

I am very guilty of taking portrait style photographs of my dolls, or using natural settings to enhance the picture. It's a lot easier for me since I rarely have much time for my dolls, and most of my dolls are in the 65cm or 72cm range. In addition, I don't have the space to build a diorama, but oh I've been tempted.

I would like to build a room for my largest dolls when I have both the time and the space, but for now I feel happy to spend a bit of time with my dolls.

 

I also like the idea of building a whole environment to take photos in. However there's the cost issue, and when you skimp on that sometimes it looks like you're taking a picture of something in a tiny box with a few props strewn about. It's a little tight/claustrophobic looking even though it looks cute and cozy in person. O.o

I strangely like photos of dolls taken in someone's home - especially if they have a nice place with wooden floors and natural light streaming in or some such. Then the focus is on the doll. There was a photo shoot I saw done on a farm awhile back (can't find it anymore) and it's one of my favourites.

 

I'm in a process of building a diorama for my 1/6 bjd and I also love taking the pictures of my dolls outside, so I'm really up for both the dioramas and natural settings. In both cases I especially love the pictures where dolls look realistic. So, whatever helps dolls to look like a real persons is great.

 

I like both, but for me it also depends on the size of the doll. My Realpuki has two dioramas (a bait & tackle shop and a house). I like that I can easily find props in the 1/12 scale size and also that things in that size are easier to store away. My bigger dolls,I take them outside or use scrapbook paper for portrait type backgrounds.

 

I take a lot of pictures outside with Mirai, but I'd like to have a diorama for clothing pictures. But she's a SD, so that'd be a big room, and I seem to fret over making it every time I consider making it. I want it to be nice, after all.

 

I do enjoy doing portrait style or natural photos, but I love my dioramas! Even if I do photograph them all the time, I have about ten "rooms" set up permanently and enough stuff to build a few more temporary ones. I love the little details as much as I love the dolls, and have even put off buying new dolls in favor of buying more sets/props.

 

I'm planning several dioramas for my doll (my first). I have several 1:12 scale dollhouses and also some 1:4 scale furniture that will be perfect with my RS Mei.

 

I like photos of the dolls out in nature as part of their storylines but sometimes a good place with lighting can be hard to find in my location plus weather, transporting them and such can be annoying. I don't have a lot of room for scenes in my house either so I like to edit the photos and change the backgrounds

 

I greatly admire those who can take good, sometimes, wonderful, pictures in the real world! But I find it much too difficult. First of all, nothing is in scale, and using perspective to fool the eye is very tricky. You can't control the light or the weather. If you're in a public area you have to deal with the embarrassment factor. And there is more of a chance of doll damage.
So I prefer to take photos in my home. However I don't have any dioramas per se. I do have a lot of props, furniture and backdrops though and, for the larger dolls, I do love those close-ups!

 

I like taking outdoor photos - I've never even tried to pretend that my dolls are in "human" scale - but I also have a bookcase I turned into a dollhouse for indoor photos. I really need to figure out more indoor setups.

 

I'm obsessed with doll faces so I mostly take close-up portraits. I would love to have dioramas in the background, but since I collect 1/3 size that's just too big. I barely have enough room to store the doll themselves, much less make some kind of set that would fit them! O__O

 

I picked the last two options. I live with my parents in a fairly small house; there's really just not enough room for a diorama for my larger dolls. With them I tend to take closeups and portrait shots. On the other hand, I tend not to want a diorama for the my smaller guys, because I like photographing them messing around with people sized stuff. My favorite picture I've taken is of one of my Littlefee staring up from amongst a flowerbed, with the daffodils quite obviously towering over her head!

 

I like looking at both, and I'd love to make dioramas for my dolls, but my girls are all over 60cm so that'd be some huge dioramas and I don't have enough room for that, and I'd hate to make one, use it once and tear it down. There's also the problem of costs and I'm terrible at making miniatures, haha. Maybe someday! In the meantime I'll just enjoy my photos inside my home or in natural settings, because I love those too!

 

Well, I'm a pretty lazy collector and most of my dolls are 60cm or bigger. I love the concept of diorama's but I gotta be honest with myself; I'm not likely to build one. The other reason is that the quality that I would want in my dolls room is much higher than I could produce. So for now, I just take simple portrait style pictures of my dolls. I do collect a lot of props for my dolls, so maybe one day if I get around to room boxes for them, they'll be all set.

 

I'd prefer my dolly photos to have real world surroundings so you can tell they are dolls, but also see the beauty in them. That, and I don't have any dioramas. No room for one either.

 

I always take pictures outdoors when I can. The lighting is better and I like using my ferns, sapling trees or miniature green bamboo as backdrops. They compliment the dolls well. That said, portraits are about the only pictures I take of my crew anymore. I stopped taking more "active" photos years ago... But back when I did, I still preferred outdoor backgrounds to indoor.

As for room boxes and dioramas, while I do have a fair few props for the crew, I just don't have the right kind of space for permanent "sets". I'm a bit of a neat freak and have pretty strict personal guidelines about how much space I'm willing to allow the dolls to occupy in my house. They're restricted to their display cabinets. As much as I may like having them around, they don't get to take over the place, which 1/3-scale dioramas absolutely *would*... and that's before we even get into issues of light exposure.

 

I've been living in tiny 1-bedroom apartments for a few years, so I don't have the space for a full, permanent diorama/room at this point. I'd like to have one someday, but today is not that day.

I'll sometimes use props to make kind of a temporary diorama, but that doesn't happen terribly often--usually only for full-fledged photo stories.

Outdoor shots though, then I can go someplace fun AND take dolly photos! How can I say no to that?

 

Before I did my pictures only in natural settings, but I have found an inexpensive way to make a diorama with a cardboard box, contact paper for wall paper and piece of corduroy fabric as a carpet. It turned out pretty nice and I am thinking to add some doll house windows that I have around as well as some props later.

 

Real world settings are cheaper and easier for me, though the dioramas look neat.