Props and Settings: Doll sized or Human sized?

I love seeing photos of dolls in any way but for my own dolls, I want them to have doll sized furniture and props.

 

hmmm I feel like I enjoy a bit of both ends, but I have mad respect for people who got all the tiny props. it either is pricy or takes some skills to make them for the doll and I think that is super neat. (there is this one person I follow and they have a mini piano that looks so cool when dolls pose with it)

Something about dolls next normal books while holding tiny books just makes me so happy with mine (one day I'll get a better camera for taking pictures of it x3)

 

Both!

Creating whole worlds with carefully scaled props takes dedication and is really neat to see. It's like a magic trick and it's joyful just to fall into the image.

I do have a very soft spot for seeing dolls as dolls though. I'm in this hobby because I love the dolls afterall so it's just really neat to see photos that highlight that doll-ness. It makes the world a different fantasy. Hm, maybe like an exploration, or a meeting.

 

I think that depends on whether you are the kind of collector who thinks up an immense background story and a whole life story for each doll and therefore sees them as characters and wants to show this in the photos or whether you collect the dolls because of their "doll-ness" (as Lady Ravenswood has already mentioned).

I am the former, also because I love to make and find small props. It is quite cute, because my family always wants to support me in my search, but has no idea about the proportions of my dolls. XD Then my brother calls me at night because he found something "kind of small" on Ebay and asks me if I can use it. Sometimes it fits perfectly and sometimes it is a flop, but they are as happy as I am when it fits.

But really, it doesn't bother me when I see a photo on which the Doll are to be seen as "small people in a larger human world". One can still admire the Dolls for their outfit or their faceups.

 

It is amazing when people come up with alle the props and backgrounds in the correct size. But I like dolls in the himan world too. Depends a bit on the doll too.

Realistic dolls in a realistic setting is really nice and lets you forget for a moment that they are not ‘real’. But dolls in a human world are fun too because then you can explore the difficulties and possibilities this brings.

As @VentisetteStars mentioned, dolls with proportioned props next to human things can be really nice too. A doll holding a doll sized bag sitting in a human bag, a doll with a doll size book lounging on a pile of human books...

It really depends on the doll and the way the picture was taken. Sometimes things work and sometimes they make you go ‘wait what?!’ but then that can be fun too.

 

I like my dolls to have in scale props. My fill characters are normal people in their stories, so human size stuff is awkward for them.

 

I like both! I think it can add a different perspective to the photo with either size props depending on the effect you’re going for. I have items that are in scale for my dioramas, but photos can be different if I don’t take them inside the dioramas.

 

Both, depending on what the photograph is trying to convey. I love seeing dolls in doll scale settigns with doll scale props, but equally, a doll cleverly photographed so a human scale setting LOOKS the right scale behind the doll is great, and dolls in human sized surroundings are great if they aren't trying-and-failing to show in-scale details.

I'd rather see a doll openly shown in human-scale surroundings than a badly-done attempt to make doll and surroundings/props look the right scale for each other.

Since I don't often have the time or patience to set up elaborate backdrops or settigns for my dolls, 99% of my picutres are of the doll wherever they happen to be when I take the picture. And that's fine becuase I'm taking a picture of the doll rather than the whole settign/scene. I admire peoles work in creating elaborate scenes/settings props, nd stagign their doll pictures accordingly, I love to see thme, but I don't feel they are necessary in order to share pictures of the dolls.

Teddy

 

When I was over the moon at getting my very first BJD, I posed her with human sized props like a diary or video game controller. Though I gravitate towards doll scale props, there's something charming about photos where the dolls interact with massive items.

 

I enjoy both, although I usually don't take photos with props, because most of my BJD are larger and it's hard/or/expensive to find props in larger scales that don't look cartoony or off. I suck at photographs and don't own too many props, so I stick to mainly extreme-close ups of my dolls when I either modified them, or repaint them. I enjoy looking at photos of dolls in general, so I don't really mind if the doll is in a scaled setting, or placed in a real-life-sized room. Because I suck at taking photos myself, I enjoy looking at nice photography regardless of setting, and I'm easily impressed when non-pro-photographer-doll-owners take incredible photos of their dolls, because I know I'll never be able to (I do try sometimes, but I still fail). It's inspiring to me, nonetheless, as horrible as I am at it. (:

 

I don't have too many photos of my own dolls, but I adore seeing photos of dolls living in a doll-scale world! There's a special kind of magic and immersion in it, and it makes me happy to see.

 

I much prefer dolls in their appropriately sized world. Though in some context, maybe with the right story, dolls in the human world are also fine. I have also seen great pictures in a human environment when people play with perspective and shooting angles.

 

Lady Ravenswood- Thanks you wrote exactly what I wanted to say. I like both but seeing them as dolls is always interesting. Creating props and another doll world takes a while and lots of imagination but it also is so rewarding.

J.H - It always amazing me the different type of people that can be in one hobby. Collectors or players. I would say that I am the first one as I love to write stories but I do like seeing them as dolls as well. I was always inspired by the Borrowers or Thumbelina and how they were protrayed in relation to the human world- a family living under floorboards and a teapot as a boat.

CloakedSchemer- I discovered fairly recently that I like things to be in scale. It bothers me when a dollhouse has furniture that is slightly too big or small.I am not a perfectionist in my day to day life but in miniatures I am.

 

I think it depends on the doll and the situation, honestly. Scale is a measurable thing so if your objective is ‘in-scale’ props for the doll but one or more are out of scale, that doesn’t really work for me. I’m the same way with the clothing, out of scale prints/patterns/stripes, lace and buttons kind of annoy me on my own doll clothes but it can look absolutely charming if it’s say, a 1/4 or smaller childlike or anthro doll who feels so cute and small and the lace/button is human scale. It’s always amazing when I see larger dolls in a scene with correct scale props but it is also really funny to see a tiny imp like a puki-puki doll hidden in the produce at the grocery or a little kitty ‘helping’ in the kitchen.
So I guess it just varies for me and I only really get fussy about it when it comes to my own references for my own dolls. I have some in out of scale scenarios and clothes and that’s actually something I’m working on for 2020, getting everything to the correct scale doll and sorting out the props and clothing that doesn’t really work for me.

 

I love seeing doll scale props, accessories, dioramas as much as pictures where dolls are interacting with a human-scale world and their owners. It's the concept, posing, execution that draws me.

I wish you the best with your photography, go with what interests you!

 

I usually prefer my dolls to be photographed in doll scale settings - or in the real world photographed so they look like they fit in - but this conversation has made me think that it might be fun to try shoot them as dolls living in MY world for a change. Might be an interesting idea for a new project.

 

For my own dolls I prefer doll sized props, but I appreciate different styles!

 

I prefer doll-scale props since my dolls depict characters that aren't dolls from stories I like rather than being depicted as a doll living in the human world.