Get Comfortable with the Camera
You don’t need fancy equipment to take a great photograph! If you have a digital camera or a DLSR, that's great, but you can take equally good photos just using your phone! Work out how your camera functions: How do you focus on your subject? Does it have a portrait mode? Can you use different lenses? Understanding the tools you use will help your photos look more professional!
Find Your Light!
Proper lighting is crucial for a good photograph! Too dark and your Flower Fairy or Romantic Princess might turn out looking dark and gloomy, too light and the photo can become overexposed, meaning all the beautiful details of your doll are lost! The best light is natural light, try to shoot by a window or in a room full of natural light. If you are shooting outside, it's best to take photos where the light is more diffused rather than heavily concentrated. For example, many photographers like to take advantage of ‘golden hour’, the period shortly after sunrise or sunset when the sunlight is softer and redder. Taking photos at this time will give your photos a ‘golden’ glow, imbuing them with a little bit of magic!
A Sense of Proportion
Photo composition is another important skill for a good photographer to learn. The most basic trick is the rule of thirds. Imagine there is a grid on your camera of four horizontal lines and two vertical lines creating nine discrete squares (sometimes we don’t even have to imagine, a lot of cell phone cameras come with an optional grid superimposed over the screen and Instagram also offers this feature in their app!). You can use these squares to guide your picture, sometimes it will look good to have your doll in the center square to make them a focal point, or you can place the doll where the lines intersect to create a more visually interesting picture.
Obviously, every rule has an exception, and some are made to be broken. This rule will help you create great photos, but you can always experiment with it to create truly creative pics!
