How do you properly make a DD stand well without a stand for photo ops?

Hello!

I've been super busy and haven't been checking this forum and website for a long while now, since I've a full time job now and distracted by many things on my off days.

I just need some help of how to make a Dollfie Dream doll stand on her own without support or stands for photo opportunities? I don't have a DD stand for now, but once my DD Kirika is ready for travel, I'll need to take her outside for wonderful photos. I also need to get a stand for her anyway soon.

But I've some trouble with her standing on her own, since she almost always falls down and I've to stop her from falling before she hits the ground as I don't want any minor damages!

Does anyone have great suggestions and advice of her position and posture of her legs?

Thank you!

When you see a fancy pose w/out a stand photo... it is a lie! Doublely-so if the photo is outdoors
There are either bendy wire stands, where it is bent in a very wide arc so it is behind the doll, or it's a straight long rod which is creatively hidden behind the doll in the pose
OR , and this is far easier, it is photoshopped away. What u need for this (best results) is something to act as a camera tripod. You take a photo of the space w/out the doll, then keeping the camera w/out moving, place the doll and take second photo. Merge the two so it appears no stands were involved

Examples!
1) Mari is absolutely on a saddle-type stand. The rod is behind her straight leg, the base is buried in the grass

2) Mari is not really sitting this dainty on a slippery metal duck. Her leg is literally tied to the neck of it (memory serves it was an old shoelace) which is hidden by her skirt

3) This is specifically shot from this angle, stand placed on desk so you can see it. Again, the actual metal rod is carefully hidden behind her leg, and without ground "debris" covering the base, it becomes a bit more obvious

an last example, this had the stand carefully edited out (where to look? the saddle-base curve on her inner thigh). And the doll wasn't even balanced very well - the stand is hiked up HIGH on an uneven surface, I'm shooting from below and the barest breeze of a wind whisper knocked the entire thing down. Don't be like me.... get a stand or lean your doll on a solid thing

Edited November 1, 2022 by Chise

Ask @finnleo. Supposedly he doesn’t use stands for his photo shoots 🤷‍♀️ 

PS: establishing cred: I am utterly infamous for nonsense like this! Her Grace is sitting on a railing with zero support whatsoever and we're on 2nd floor... am hella good at dumb balance. It takes like 30min..... but ..... Don't be like me.... get a stand or lean your doll on a solid thing behind her, anything to keep her secure!

Edited November 1, 2022 by Chise

I also rarely use stands since I only adjust my photos' color and exposure, and don't use photoshop.

Disclaimer: if you try these things you must accept that they will sometimes fall. Do not try if they are wearing anything breakable like glasses or resin ears or horns.

Here's some of freestanding in a public place:

Below was a 1st gen MDD body

She can stand with one hip cocked or on one foot like that since her shoes are nice and chunky. Yes one foot poses do require a support wall unless you're willing to spend a while tweaking their joint tension first.

Yes this is still just balance and at a doll meet! They stood like that for quite some time until I decided to move them.

In this one the SD was on a stand and my Melty was clinging to him to stay up like that since his strung arms did not support her.

I'm particularly proud of this one, where she's freestanding in that leaning over position. Yes she did fall over shortly after the picture was taken.

I'm also proud of this one- she is actually squatting balanced on a sloping rock by herself. 

And here she is on a playground climbing wall.

There's also sitting in trees unassisted. 

Anywho I think that's enough photo spam. 

 

Personally I don't think there's necessarily a trick to it per se. You just have to play around with them and learn where their center of gravity is. You could try starting out somewhere that if they fall the landing won't be too hard.

The easiest pose is with both feet flat and about shoulder width apart, just like a human. Once I get them into a stable standing pose I can just gently pick them up by pinching their neck between my thumb and finger and then place them back down in another location. As long as I didn't bump the angle of the ankles they can just balance exactly how I had them before. Keep in mind if you're outside though to mind the wind. These dolls are very light and anything above a soft whisper of a breeze can blow them over. 

Left to right: 

@poofiemus' Abby, @sinclair's Reina, and my Tana. All were freestanding with no stands or other support.

 

 

Props can help. Here's Uzuki waiting for her train to the anime convention. I find most of my girls will free stand outside, but there needs to be no wind and I'm on hand to catch them should they fall.

Oh, these are fantastic photos! Thank you all for the info and advice of how to properly make Dollfie Dream dolls stand on their own and with bases as well. I'll keep these in mind for my upcoming travels.

I'll try my best to make my DD Kirika Towa Alma travel ready soon.

These were taken earlier and she was not freestanding at the time, but leaning on something for support. Also, I need to practice more often when I've time for photo shoots of my one and my only Dollfie Dream doll via freestanding or with a DD stand. But I'll definitely buy another one soon.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by ZandurFox

On 11/1/2022 at 3:22 AM, ragnamuffin said:

Ask @finnleo. Supposedly he doesn’t use stands for his photo shoots

I actually do use stands every now and then... you can spot one here:

Saber002

As for general posing stuff... Ankles, ankles are everything.

Kirika as standard is on a DD3 body, which out of the box should be pretty good for posing, at least I've liked all of my DD3's better than any of the DD-F3's out of the box. in my limited experience the F3's just turn into a limp rag doll after a few poses and need to be tightened up after which they are ok, although the thighs popping out of the hips are a utter annoyance trying to get them alinged back (as I recently experienced with my megumin)

One legged standing poses outdoors probably are magic, but some freestanding stuff is possible like this:

shino008

nina014

nina030

Generally I stick to indoor shoots, since the outdoors stuff for the most stuff besides a few expections give very little payoff (apart from personal).

But as I already mentioned, posing in general for me is getting a feel for what the doll is up to. where does it want to lean to, and compensating the legs, and especially the ankles to counter it.

One skill for more nutty stuff is preloading, where you lift the doll, and you have the limbs in a way that they will counter act any force towards them.

Here the the tippy-toe foot has some preload, while the planted foot acts as the main balance point:

Kaede007

At some point you can start to get a nice lean going on, where you have a leg outstreched just to balance the torso out:

emilia069

But what both poses have in common is that the feet (or foot and toe) form a triangle for the best balance you can get out of it. But these are still unstable poses and cant stand to be knocked about.

It does get more tricky the smaller the triangle becomes:

ballerina006

sabrina043

I shared most of these in another posing post way back when ...but still...

Then there are a few body specific quirks, like the DD2 can lock its arm from drooping in a certain angle:

bunbattle006

Teamwork photos are fun, since you can have one very planted pose doll, and another in a totally peculiar one that grabs all the attention:

Saber002

dance047

But again I dont do these much anymore because of lack of payoff.

But all in all, its going to be, practice, practice and more practice, and you preferably cant be afraid of your doll falling on its head every once in awhile.... or restyling wigs after every knock or every near fall you manage to catch.

 

Oh, very nice!

Thank you for sharing the photos, finnleo plus everyone here.

I'll use those references to pose my DD Kirika when I finally do take her to travel.

 

 

All of these tricks and tips are amazing!  I'll have to remember them.  Thank you!

 

Ryu

Thank you so much for sharing all these tips and tricks from balance to posing! Will try them out next time!~