Photo edits - more fake in a fake world?

I think it depends on the situation. If you are photographing for the sake of art or a story, then go for it. However, when a doll is being sold the photos should be true to life.

 

I suppose I could add to the chorus here and say that sales photos should be as unretouched as possible to show the potential buyer what he/she is getting. I *hate* the doll sales photos - company photos - where it's impossible to get a face-on look at the doll's head. I want to see, for example (thinking of one mold that caught my attention until I saw an owner's picture) that the eyes are not the same shape. I'm not paying a big chunk of change for that - but no company shots showed the face adequately, or accurately.

Artistic presentation of the dolls doesn't bother me as long as the pictures are SUPPLEMENTED by some straight-up doll shots. Here's what the bones look like. Here's what the body looks like under the ultra-cool limited outfit. Here's what the head looks like without that expertly-done and photoenhanced special faceup -- so that we can see what a normal, mortal human being might reasonably accomplish

And as to the broader issue of women in fashion magazines, etc... I would have been spared years of anguish if someone had told me early on that all those *perfect* teeth were whitened artificially, either by bleach or by photoenhancement. To say nothing of the ultra-wonderful, never a bulge anywhere figures. I still think the coolest thing in the last 30 years was Jamie Lee Curtis posing in her swimsuit (?) without makeup for one of the women's magazines so that everyone could see yes! A middle-aged woman has wrinkles, and varicose veins, and blotchy skin sometimes. It's... normal.

But that's an aside from the primary issue. I love artistic doll shoots. They're gorgeous. But not when they're used as disguises.

 

I absolutely agree with Baakay. Professional company photos often create alluring image of a doll maybe not connected with the certain mold at all. You pay attention to this ideal image and order it and wait for it craving to see exactly this ideal doll you saw at company website. Unfortunately ideal image and real doll are always the same, and it is one of the main reasons of owners' dissapointment and sadness, I think. I do love professional photos, some of them are really a piece of art. But along with them I'd like to see simple photos of mold and body. Let compare it with famous magazine thread 'before' and 'after'. I do want to see doll's potential and I can see it through professionla photos even maybe with diferent make but I need to see real, blank doll as well.

 

I do have a problem with photo editing, but not personal editing of private dolls in someone's gallery.

The kind of editing that makes a doll beautiful would never be the kind -I- could realistically hope to do however, since I'm not a professional photo editor, and the kind I have a problem with is the edits on doll sites themselves. I LOVED the Soom MDs, but I couldn't find ONE proper picture of some of them, only the very heavily shopped pictures from the site. I didn't buy my Soom till I saw some real, unshopped pictures of her.

So editing? Good, but overediting something you want to sell, even if your a huge company? Baaad.

 

I 's my photoshop, so I'm adding my voice to the "It's okay, as long as it's for artistic/personal use" pile...
Under no circumstances should it ever be used for sale photo's... and if someone asks you how you got your doll in such a pose/location/whatever, don't lie... it's not nice, because it'll frustrate them even more when they can't get their doll to do the same..

 

I'm sure everyone now agrees that photos shouldn't be edited when you're trying to sell a doll because it's just unfair to the person buying your doll. But I want to take *nice* photos of my doll so photoshopping is part of that, I guess. For me it feels really unnatural to take photos without photoshopping just because I used to work as someone who *did* edit women's faces and stuff in magazines. I guess now I just consider it natural. XD;

 

When I take pictures of my doll, the colors always turn out different.
Probably because her hair is purple and A LOT of things in my room are red.
So I almost always have to edit because the picture turns out either yellow or blue...
Maybe next time I could keep a white sheet around to focus on before taking a picture...

 

i mostly see it as an art
but if there are people who will look at your picture and say "i love your doll, that picture is so pretty"
i think the person has a right to know that the picture has been tampered with and edited
other than that i see it as the owner of the doll trying to bring out more into the photograph

 

I just finished a weekend photography class; expecting the 'what the heck does that setting do?' sort of class, and got that, and so much more. Our instructor has been a photojournalist for 26 years and he probably has forgotten more than I'll ever remember. One of the topics he covered was the ethics of photography. Images for journalism, such as news stories, should not be manipulated in such a way as to alter reality without noting the changes in the article. That being said, altering contrast/brightness, raising and lowering color saturation, and cropping for the best shot are fine. Things that improve image QUALITY, as opposed to the reality those images represent.
Art photography, such as glamor/food/ magazines are designed to present a fantasy, an ideal, achievable or not, and many of these are manipulated to creat that ideal.
Photos for personal, private use, those designed for entertainment rather than a presentation of reality can be (and based on my photo skills, should be) manipulated. As long as I'm not trying to falsify or mis-represent something I'm trying to make money on, it's fine.
Personally, I like playing with the photos I take, I do a lot of cut and paste as a means of research, trying wigs I haven't bought on dolls I'm waiting to arrive, changing eye color and makeup style, tattoos etc, before I purchase new parts. I'm also doing faceup planning on top of a doll's photo, then use the design I settle on as a template.
Photo manipulation is also a great way of putting your doll into scenes with you, like sitting across the table from a full sized human.

 

I personally edit my photos because I love very deep colors and hue and you can't always get that from a straight photograph.

 

I'm okay with photo edits. Be it used sparingly or over-used to the point of abusive/massiveness.

So long it doesn't mislead people (like concealing chipped parts or frayed outfits in sales threads), and enhances the beauty of the original photo; then i think it's okay

Personally, I feel editing is a individual concept/idea. How much or how little should we edit is up to individual's preferences. We may not like the way some people edit (like over saturation, super-up contrast levels etc.) but at the end of the day, if it's their own style that they're trying to portray, then why not?

 

I dont see a problem with editing as long as its not to trick someone into buying something or what not. Like, fixing colors, adding blurr and glow and what not, I think that is all part of the creative process! We arent hiding anything, we are just touching it up so it can look better and even add to the mood of the picture itself. =]

 

I only don´t like fakes when you don´t assume it´s a fake. If you take a picture, edit it, and don´t care a bit about telling the others it was edites, it´s ok... but " NOOO.. My BJD is PERFECT".... ._.'' well... I think the problem here is the "lie" stuff XPPP

 

It's my dolls, my photograph. If I want to make my dolls look like aliens in my pictures, that is totally my own business. But if I edit a picture used for selling to remove stains and scratches, that is fraud and very bad. And if ppl decides to bye a doll only after seeing my pictures and not doing more research, it's not my problem that that person is an lazy sob

 

For me, it all depends. If I'm just looking at photos of dolls for my own amusement, I don't care at all how edited and photoshopped the pictures are.

But when I'm in the market for a new doll, I actively seek out photos that try to show the doll realistically with no camera tricks.

 

I think the dolls don't need the help honestly. They have their own beauty, and it doesn't really need to be enhanced (I'm the same way with people)

But I can understand editing for the sake of art, but that's about it.

 

In sales photos, it should be a huge no-no. Even if the colors don't "pop", and it doesn't look that great, the sales photos should show the doll's condition. Don't we already have companies like DoD always getting snark about their artsy photos being misleading?

In photo shoots, I like it. I actually never got why people get so upset about real-life models getting edited. We know they're edited, we know that beauty we're seeing is not real. I'm not aspiring to look like any of those pictures, because I know it's not possible to be like that in real life. Same with dolls. When I'm looking for a work of art, and not for a deal, I want to see pretty. And that sometimes means Photoshop has to come in. I don't mean editing the doll's features (leave Shall's face round, DoD!) That goes into the real of photo manipulation, I think, which these beauties clearly don't need. But editing lighting, enhancing color, tidying up their hair, making some of the face-up's colors more vibrant... all of that's OK with me.

 

I think it's alright to edit photos. But to what extent depends on what you intend to do with the pics. If your making art out of the photos then have at it. But if the photo is meant to sell something then I think you should stop the editing after you fix the lighting.

 

I dont think theres anything wrong with making you doll look good. If its full redo over it defeats the point. I see what your saying though.