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I don't have Photoshop... emo

I can honestly say black and white photography is something I haven't really played with. If I want a black and white photo I take a color one and change it in photoshop or whatever image editing program I'm using.

I do all of my photography on normal setting without a flash and then fix everything in photoshop.

The sharpen tool = my hero.

good tips. i'm really not that into digital anymore, especially cuz my only slr is a film camera, and i wanna be able to tweak everything, especially aperature and stuff. It might be nice to be able to get my pics immediatly but then i'd miss out on all the darkroom fun. Nothing like loads of toxic photo chemicals to brighten my day xp unfortunately cameras+photo supplies=expensive=no cash= no dolls at the moment

Okay this is such a small thing but it's also a big thing... if that makes any sense. Basically, the tip is pay attention to the little details.

I cannot tell you how many pictures I've had that would have been perfect were it not for the fact that there were a couple stray hairs across the doll's face, or maybe one of the eyes had gotten knocked kind of wonky and I hadn't noticed. So here are some tips along that line. These are all things to do right before you take your picture.

1. Check the doll's hair. Make sure there are no stray hairs running across their forehead, getting in their eyes, or anything like that. Obviously if you're outside this is more difficult. These are things that can be fixed in Photoshop but it's really easier if you just try to avoid it in the first place. Here is an example of a misplaced hair. Look at Key's left eye in the before picture. Now that may not bug some people but on my own dolls it drives me nuts!

2. Look into your dolls eyes. If you're on the Den of Demons forums you know that wonky eyes are something that's pointed out a lot. Make sure they're positioned right and that they aren't <_> >_< ^_> 6_9 or anything like that. Personally I have a problem with Donovan's brown eyes because the stems hit his S hook and he ends up with a wandering eye. I've had lots of pictures that I thought looked pretty good until I opened them up on my computer and realized his eyes had been screwed up the whole time.

3. Look at your dolls hands and feet. I've had a couple pictures that I later on realized a hand or a foot was at an unnatural angle and unless you can crop that out then the picture is ruined.

4. Look at their clothes. Are they bunched up, twisted, etc? Straighten them out! Make them look natural. Also I recommend paying attention to lint (especially if your doll wears a lot of black) but I admit since I started using Photoshop I tend to just fix that there.


Checking for all this stuff (and any other details you might notice) won't even take you an extra minute and it can make your pictures a lot better!

One tip I have....which suprisingly works out amazingly is wait until the sun is going down for woods photos. Turn the flash off and get the lighting of the sun just right. It made for a beautiful picture of my boy Shoji!

Shoji

Thanks Phishy! I hope you don't mind I added a little title to that and linked it on the front page. I know nothing about setting white balance manually.