Hello /p/, if you have any questions about dolls and related topics, feel free to drop by
>>>/jp/42523337 to ask. I've been taking doll and toy photos for a while now (Pentax K1 + 77mm or 55mm macro lens; before that it was a Canon EOS Rebel T3i with the kit lens) and it's a lot of fun. Even if I'm trapped at home under several feet of snow, I always have a model if I get bored! People are surprisingly positive if they see you out IRL taking photos, as well; typically, they're mostly just curious. In the age of instagram and youtube, people assume anyone carrying a camera and doing something weird is doing it for social media, and that's helped break down some of the assumptions people tend to make about grown adults with dolls (or stuffed animals, or whatever else you wind up photographing.)
My introduction to this hobby was 1/6-scale, roughly Barbie-sized Azone Pure Neemo dolls, and I consider them a good place to try out photographing dolls before jumping into buying something that's significantly larger and more expensive. Obitsu also reasonably-priced dolls from Nendoroid-scale Obitsu11 to 150cm monstrosity that I both fear and covet in equal measure. Starting small has the benefit of keeping costs low and making it easy to find props and clothes (Azone Pure Neemo wear everything a Blythe doll can wear with the exception of headwear, for reasons that will become readily apparent when you google them.)
Whatever you decide to start with, experiment and take a lot of photos, and please feel welcome to come share them in /jp/ even if you aren't personally satisfied yet. I'll post the first one I've taken that I actually liked when I started the hobby, and reply with a recent shoot I did -- like photography of any other subject, it takes practice and fucking around to find what works for you -- and once you do, it's really nice to look back and see how you've grown over the years.
