Photostories: Do or Don't?

I don't really do them as a hobby. The reason I don't do them is pbb because I don't know how so my mind doesn't go there when I try to do something with my dolls.

But I've promised to do a shoot for a friend with a bit of a storyline in it! So I hope it goes well!

 

I don't do photostories in the classic sense - my photos are typically just illustrations for my blog stories. Nothing too elaborate.

 

I like photostories. But I don't do them mostly because arranging dolls and camera literally give me a back and head ache. I would honestly take more pictures save for that.

 

I probably won't do photostories, really, because I'm a terrible photographer. Like, really bad. Right now, I have NONE of the dolls I planned to get who are family so would interact! I try to take individual shots of the girls because they're all such different styles that I don't think they look good in the same photos.

 

>w> I plan on doing stop motion with mine hehehe

 

I've done a few over the years, but it turned out not to be something I was particularly fond of... I prefer to do simple photos rather than try to tell some sort of story.

 

I am not much of a photographer, so I don't do them myself. I love photostories though. I think they are the most fun thing about DoA.

 

I've done one photostory before. It was for a photography class where we were tasked to create a visual story with photographs. I only had one doll, my first doll, at the time, and I decided to use her as my main 'prop'. It was a ton of work, but I really liked how it turned out in the end. It's been a long time, and I actually lost that photostory when my laptop died, so it was really discouraging to me. But thinking about it again makes me want to try making more some day.

I actually don't like any of the photostories I've seen in the past. I don't know, they just don't seem very artistic or emotionally touching. I hate the look and style of speech bubbles coming out of dolls, most of the stories seem silly or flat, the photography work is usually bad and messy, and it just becomes more like a hacked together comic using dolls as the rigid props. I wish I could see some really inspirational and beautiful photostories to inspire me, but I get discouraged quickly whenever I take a glance at the photostory section.

It's because of those reasons that for the photostory I made, I used just the photographs themselves, without any obvious special effects or dialogue, and an outside setting for a more candid feel. I think I would avoid dialogue/text bubbles in any future photostories too, and instead focus on what stories I could tell with only the visual information from the settings, dolls, and poses. I think that's the most effective for bringing out the expressive and emotive qualities I'd want from a photostory.

 

I would love to have the drive to do photostories, but between work and other responsibilities I just don't have the time to perfect my ideas enough to do them! I really have enjoyed a couple of photostories I've seen, and there are a few collectors that do some amazing photostories that I am always waiting for the next release on! It is amazing how certain collectors are able to make their dolls so lifelike.

 

I got into making photostories about 6 or 7 months after I started collecting, back in 2006. It evolved, as I learned how to best use my camera, pose the dolls and compose a shot. For about 3 or 4 years it was a lot of fun, but then it became so much work, between having too many dolls and worrying about "production values" (props, lighting, posing, etc.). I have plenty of story ideas, just not the will and energy to pull them off right now.

From the comments so far, I find it interesting that some prefer stories without dialog. For me, that was part of the fun, channeling the "voices" of the doll characters, the give and take between them. It is difficult to make clear who is speaking, and when; I usually have the dialog of the photo directly below the photo, with the name of the character speaking in bold type. I've wanted to experiment with speech balloons, but so far I haven't tried to master the photo programs to make them.

 

I do not have the patience to do photo stories. Some of my dolls aren't great posers, and they don't all make sense together, so it might look really strange. I prefer to just set up a few photos. I do appreciate that people put a lot of time and energy into photo stories, though.

 

I used to do photostories. I loved it, had a few loyal followers, and my stories were decent, though my photography and backgrounds were horrendous. Now, I'd rather role play my characters, with the occasional photoshoots to accompany the stories, but not fully act them out.

 

I do dorky little ones occasionally just for funsies. I think it would be way too much work in set building and prop making to do a full scale one though - I tend to write prose and take a snapshot that goes with instead when I really want to tell a story.

 

I don't do photostories mainly because I'm not interested in collecting lots of items in doll scale. I really love taking pictures of my dolls, but most of my pictures are portrait-style. I do enjoy photostories though; I find them interesting to read/scroll through. I suppose it doesn't matter to me if there is dialogue or not, I'm not partial to one over the other.

 

I do photostories and really enjoy it. I love the staging and posing aspects of it.

I really like reading photostories too, probably much more than looking at just a set of photos of a pretty doll--portraits are not very engaging for me, no matter how well done they are. I enjoy seeing how people are sharing their own personal narratives and stories through photography and dialogue (or lack thereof). Even the rough ones take a lot of time and effort, and not everyone has a perfectly lit area or a high-end camera to use, and that's okay too.

 

I really do not do photostories and I do not like it
there are exceptions when it's really well done, poetic etc..
but I,M not a big fan

 

I think photostories can be a great way to share a story. I'll admit I mostly like flipping through them so I can drool over beautiful dolls, outfits, etc. But, I have found a few that drew me in or made me giggle. I think it's fascinating to see what others do with their dolls and what lives these dolls lead.

 

I love to read photostories. I've seen some amazing ones. Even the less amazing ones are a lot of fun, because you can see the personalities and lives of the dolls. I would like to do more stories myself, but they're a lot of work. I really admire the people who put in the time and effort.

 

I'd like to, one day, just to see what it's like. I quite like reading other people's though, particularly cute ones or ones with a sense of humour - I love to see how other people imagine their dolls' personalities.