Doll Photography Woes
I got what I consider to be some fairly decent pictures of Moira on Sairee Beach. For each shot that I love, there were at least a dozen that were, in a word, terrible!
There was, of course, the tripod/lens test in the room and it struck me funny. To my eye, this pose is almost the perfect representation of the couple that argued the whole way to the island - we all know them, or have at the very least bumped into them while on vacation ourselves.
I imagine, at this moment, she’s turning to him and saying, “Can you please just be civil in public?” and he’s thinking, “I wish I had a mute button”.
On that first day I was really nervous walking anywhere that wasn’t heavily shaded – keep in mind, my pasty arse lives in Denmark and, especially this time of year, there’s virtually no sun. Even so, I’m used to wearing SPF15 each day because I’m paranoid.
On Koh Tao, I found myself on a hot beach with only SPF30 between me and the burning death ball in the sky. If you’re not imagining the level where sun tries to murder you from Super Mario Brothers, you’re not imagining it right.
Unfortunately, taking pictures in the shade, with that much back-lighting, wasn’t really an option. Well, I guess it was an option, just not a very good one.
Not that Moira doesn’t still look beautiful, and I love the texture of the wooden bar she’s seated on, but there’s only so much heavy lifting the poor camera can do. I even tried aiming my phone at her with the flashlight on and a tissue over it to defuse the light - it just wasn’t happening.
Still, I love the pose and, if I could have gotten the lighting right, this would have been a keeper.
This next shot ended up on the blog after some iffy photoshopping by yours truly. I just loved all the negative space and I couldn’t bear not to use it, as it was one of my favorite pictures from the day.
By the by, this is an inlet for when the tide comes in, that way the water floats into this area rather than partially flooding a nearby, beach-level villa. Creative, and just the right height to pose Moira. The boat being parked right there was serendipitous.
When you’re trying to keep an eye on your things, a wise idea on a beach where there are signs screaming “KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR THINGS” every 20 feet or so, posing the doll or fixing her hair for the umpteenth time after the latest breeze attack, waiting for other people to wander through the shot, and trying not to get sand (aka death) on the only non-phone camera you brought with you, you might miss something.
Like, oh, I don’t know…a fabric bag that’s taller than your doll! Even looking at the pictures on the beach I didn’t notice it, only after reaching Bangkok and scanning through the photos did I realize the bag had invaded every. Single. Shot. Photoshop to the rescue.
As for this next picture…do I really need to explain why it’s not on the blog? I mean…
There were so many issues with this photo. It was too bright for me to see my viewscreen on the camera, so I had to take it on faith things were going well. They weren’t, obviously, ha-ha. An army of tourists marched through the background and stopped to take their own pictures by the water (can’t fault them for that, beautiful spot), Logan’s hand wasn’t quite resting on his leg, and he’s not looking at the camera at all…just a whole lot of nope.
Poor guy ended up looking a little too “Weekend at Bernie’s” for me. I tried for about fifteen minutes with this one shot, haha, it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s okay, though, he’s supposed to be the photographer (in character) anyway.
I hope you enjoyed this little collection of doll photography mishaps. Thanks for stopping in and I’ll see you next time.
