Have pictures ever turned you off from a doll

It happened to me. I liked the way a doll looked on the site but then when I went searching for it on DA I didn't like the way she face was sculpted. I looked at many pictures from different owners and still didn't like the way her face was sculpted. In all types of lighting. So that doll is no longer on my list.

 

You've seen the doll in person first, but seeing other owners' pictures of the sculpt turned you off, so perhaps you just didn't like the way Red was photographed in these pictures. Face-up and presentation have great influence on how a doll is perceived, not to mention that photography, by its nature, flattens an object, so just because people have made him more feminine in those specific photos doesn't also mean that he can't appear quite masculine given the right face-up, wig, clothes, and accessories. So if you've seen the doll in person and liked it, I would trust that instinct more than any reactions a photo gives me.

 

Yesss.... =( I really wanted a Dika Chi because on the site he looks angsty and sexy. But then I saw someone's owner pics and decided he's just about the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Extremely disappointed.

 

When adding dolls to my wishlist, I'll go and pop around flickr or DA to have a looksie of what people have done with them. Not to get my own ideas, but just to see what the sculpt can really DO outside of the stock photos.

 

Yes, they really influence me. I have loved Iplehouse forever, and I know they are good, quality dolls. However, the company photos are completely different from the owner photos. Dolls that I liked before (mainly EID girls) weren't my style anymore when I looked at owner pics, so I changed my mind. However, other dolls I never even liked on the company site struck my fancy in owner pics, so now those are the ones I want. Pictures influence my decision greatly because companies are trying to sell their dolls while owners just want to show them off in their natural glory. Those pictures ring truer to me.

 

Yup! That's why I do three things when I'm trying to find a sculpt I want to buy: I look at the owners pictures, then I look the head blank, and lastly I look at the company photos and try to find as many angles as I can to see the head from. If I still like the look of it from all those different angles and styles, I buy the doll.

I've been extremely lucky that most of the dolls I fell in love with at first sight (and conveniently couldn't find owners pics or blank pics for) were just as beautiful in real life as they were on the sight. But if it's a sculpt that doesn't meet my typical criteria, then I really try to figure out whether or not I'm attracted the doll itself, or just the pictures/presentation of it in that one form. Dollzone Joe and Leeke's Lion were two examples of this. I thought I loved the sculpts! And then I saw pictures of the heads blank and I just knew they weren't for me. (Didn't meet my big criteria).

 

I get turned off by overly edited or really dark photos. What are they hiding? And most companies get twitchy when I ask for a simple, non-edited, well lit photo. *cough* Soom. So, while I admire the company photos, I don't trust them. Owner photos sell me on the doll. When DreamingDoll released Lia I thought it was too good to be true. Then I saw the owner photos and it was just as they showed. That's how I got my Genevieve.

As for owner photos, I have been turned off of whole companies by them. The flash-blown googly eyed photos annoy me and turn me off. Boy&Girl and Bobobie are the worst googly eyed arrivals. It's a nit picky thing, I know, but every time I see one all I see is googly eyes. It doesn't make a good impression. And when I see company photos all I think of is the owner photos.

Really, I think it's bad eye positions that kill me.

 

This happened to me today!

I was so set on buying a Volks Rinon as my next doll, but the more I looked at pictures I wasn't sure.
I love her, and would love to have one some day but this next character I have in mind doesn't seem to fit the mold. Then I started looking at the Delf Miyu. It was a mold I always admired but never thought was for me. Now I'm completely in love and I'm not even looking at any more pictures of Rinon. I know from experience it's hard to tell if you'll really love a doll until you've seen them in person. Meetups have changed my minds about a lot of different sculpts. But my mind was changed for some reason today.
Like I said, not because I didn't like the doll but because after a long time looking at the pictures I decided she didn't fit the character I have in mind.

 

When I first started looking at Bobobie and Resinsoul dolls the pictures definitely turned me off,but after seeing some owner pics I can say for sure that I love them. XD

 

There have been plenty of times where I've been turned off of a doll from owners pictures. Quite frankly I never want an El (or other similar CP sculpts) simply because I've seen waaay to many, and I've gotten bored of them. No doubt they're beautiful, but I just don't want one. Not an SD/MSD sized one anyway.

Then there's the rather unique instance I've had concerning Iplehouse's Carina, where I've seen one that looked awesome on here, but I've hated every other I've seen, and I came to realize that the only way I'd like this doll is if it looked exactly like that other person's- which wouldn't be fair to them.

 

Bad company (and sometimes owner) photos can certainly turn me off of a doll.

For companies, it's-
If the picture is too bleached out or too dark. Or maybe they have puffy things around their neck that prevents you from seeing the jawline -*cough*SoulDoll*cough* Sometimes they've got really full wigs that obscure most of the face, long wigs that obscure the lines of the body *cough*PopoDoll1/3GirlBody*cough* Drapery of fabric, not showing the entire doll in one shot, and not showing a picture of the head or body that's taken from straight on!
All of these can really turn me off. As EmbracedLight said- just what are they hiding?
That said, sometimes the companies photos just don't seem to capture the doll at all, and they look completely different in owner pictures or in person. Or a particular faceup just isn't flattering at all.

As others do, when I'm considering a sculpt, a look for as many pictures I can to get a better idea of what they look like. Sometimes it's just not what I thought it was.

 

I'm sure it's been mentioned previous but I find the Volks company photos are dreadful, to the degree I couldn't find a single sculpt I even remotely liked. It has taken a lot of looking at owner photos to change my opinion on the matter, and even then the company photos still make me cringe.

Also seconding the mention of SoulDoll -- while I love a lot of their sculpts, and plan to buy two of them, a lot of their photos are too "artistic" to be in any way informational about the doll.

 

Most definitely. There are certain things I am very picky on when it comes to my dolls and companies always seem to be great at making their dolls look perfect in their pictures so owner pictures are pretty important for me. I love dolls to have realistic looking eyes (Not huge, bulbous ones) and ears. Sometimes owner pictures show you just what you need to see!

 

Of course... this is why you should always look at as many owner pics of a doll as possible before purchasing one for yourself. You can only tell so much from the companys pics. Company pics are usually photoshopped, and usually only give you one faceup example with one wig and one outfit, etc.

That being said... we have a very different opinion of girly, because I used to stalk all the Reds posted on this site, and I've never thought he seemed girly at all.

 

Always. When I see a doll that I like on a company site, I go immediately and look for owner pictures. Owner pictures are usually the deciding factor for whether I like a doll or not.

 

I fell in love with Souldoll Apple some time ago. I thought she was the pretties dolly ever, and even startes saving money for her. BUT I started cheking owner pictures of her and somehow she was not at all the same girl as in Souldoll pages. I mean, she is a beautiful doll, but for some reason she just doesn't look like in the Souldoll pictures. Her eyes and her mouth are very different in actual dolls. I know that Face-up has a lot to do with how the doll looks. Two dolls of the same mold can look very different, but even those dolls that had been ordered with Souldoll face-up didn't seem to be the same as the Apple I wanted. So it was a sad moment for me to decide not to buy her. The more I saw pictures of her, the more i was turned off by her.

 

Bad company photos have definitely turned me off dolls. I skipped Breccia because Soom's official photos made her look so vacant and vacuous. I skipped Amphibel for the same reason. Epidos looked super frowny and pouty, and Hati and Skoll's fantasy parts looked blobby and odd. Vesuvia's official photo shoot definitely turned me off, just because they made her such a punky sexpot.

And thus the list of my missed-dolls-due-to-bad-store-photos list grows and grows... I try to get better at assessing the sculpt behind the photoshop, but sometimes it's just impossible to see a good mould through bad angles or bad accessories/outfits/etc

Luckily for me, Soom's photos tend to be more accurate - and I've certainly never a bought a doll from them and regretted it. Only not bought and regretted it once the owner photos start rolling in!

 

I really liked, I think it was Iple house Ryan, before I saw user pictures. When I saw them he looked rather ugly

 

Yeah, it's happened to me -- oddly enough with most Soom monthly dolls. For some reason, they just don't ring my bell like I think they will when I see them on the site. Then again it's probably all for the best. Saves my wallet that way.

I'm with you on this one. I bought mine partially because he was so boyish (and he fit a particular character brilliantly). If anyone labeled my Red as 'girly' I would seriously wonder what color glasses they were looking at him through. XD

 

Definitely.

A lot of company photos look amazing, but then the dolls in real owners pictures don't look anything like them.

I fell in love with lots of DoD dolls but they just don't seem at all the same in real life. :S