Photography and editing feedback

Looking to get some feedback on some recent photos I took recently. Including the raw and processed for comparisons. Apologies for the imgur link, I can't upload images here yet

https://imgur.com/a/oVLVuvU

Image 1: 1/80 f/2.8 28mm 80iso
Only had a small led light as an additional light source for this outdoor shoot. I struggled with overexposure of the background and shooting in the shade. Unsure if I should have underexposed, upped the f stop, or gone for some stacking.

Image 2: 1/80 f/5.6 40mm 80iso flash 1/2? 1/4?
Indoor shoot with a flash. I feel like the lighting here is pretty flat and not dynamic. Probably should have upped the iso a bit and played around more with lighting angles.

Black hair is pretty challenging to shoot. I was also not that happy with the harsh light reflections in the eye. I probably needed to offset my lights to the side more?
I'm new to portrait and doll photography, any tips is appreciated. Also please let me know of other places to get feedback thanks!

Edited Tuesday at 07:39 PM by kudoku

I would say the background is too bright compared to the subject so it pulls the eye away from the doll. In Lightroom you can use the masking tools to create a custom vignette that lets you darken the stuff around your subject and that may help the indoor image pop more. 

https://www.capturelandscapes.com/create-custom-vignette-lightroom/

Other tools should have similar features. 

For the outdoor image, I think you will need to do some adjustment brush work. 

For indoor images, I tend to overexpose by about a stop, but I am careful to make sure that the highlights aren't being blown out. Then I just pull the exposure down by a stop in post. Slight overexposure puts more data in the raw file and I get much better results with the contrast and saturation tools. 

https://photographylife.com/exposing-to-the-right-explained

I did a lot of testing with my camera to see how far I could push this, and it's going to vary camera by camera. Mine is a D800, which is old now, but it's a very good camera in terms of raw capture data.

That technique is easier indoors where I control the light, so I don't have to worry as much about blown highlights once the camera is set.

The lights in the eyes are a pain, but honestly I'm more bothered by reflections on doll glasses. The spots you have could be brushed out.

 

I'll critique a different but tough area to improve on, the posing itself. It's something that improves over the long haul and besides composition, is the toughest aspect to get right.

In the first image, she's not holding the stick. It's a pain because the optional hands are pricey, but Volks sells hands that have a secure grip for holding on to things.

The hand on the hip looks a little stiff to me (more the arm itself than the hand specifically). This is tough to get right, but following what JP doll owners do (on Twitter) is a good starting point for getting ideas of how to adjust the posing to look exactly right. Another source is to read manga or snap shots of your favorite anime at the right moments to get ideas.

Last but not least, try posing yourself facing a mirror and take note of how things look as you may naturally adjust your body's or arm's angle to look better. That's what you need to do with the doll.

For the second image, it's not clear to me what's happening with the (viewer's left) hand. The right hand is posed pretty well, but pop that hand joint back in (it's loose). It'd look even better if the head were tilted a little (like my avatar) to look cuter. In general, poses look cuter and more natural when there's asymmetry and variance to each part of the body. It's not a hard rule, but it's something that's emphasized a lot when learning to draw comics.

Hope this helps!

Edited 4 hours ago by chef_mai