Excerpt from the FDQ Editors Book 2010
Guidelines and Submissions for Photography
How do I submit my photography to the magazine?
For consideration in FDQ, your photography must be sharp, well composed and well styled. For print purposes your photography must be shot on the highest available settings. We cannot use files that are sized for web use. Photographs must be a minimum of 4x6” at 300 dpi. If you reference dpi, a full page file would be 2700px x 3500px. Please be sure to check your resolution to make sure the shot is sharp enough for print production. If the file is too small, it cannot be enlarged and maintain its quality. Files should be submitted as full resolution CMYK tif files. Files should be saved as tifs in Photoshop or similar program. Files can be converted to CMYK from RGB easily in Photoshop under Image–Adjust–CMYK. The more you can do in advance to perfect your files, the better the print reproduction quality will be. Note from CDS: TIFs are most desired but JPGs or JPEGs will do. |
How do I send these big files to you?
As these files are large, they cannot be sent by email. The must be uploaded or mailed. If you have your own website or domain, you can upload your files to your own domain, and simply send us the links to those files in an email, for us to download. You can delete them at your leisure. Note from CDS: This is not applicable for Weebly users. If you are participating in a Happening, please be sure to ask for uploading instructions when you sign up. Instructions of where to upload pictures coming soon. |
Formatting Your Files
Working With Page Specs
How Do I Know What My Shots Will Look Like?
Many enthusiasts have learned to take wonderful photographs of their dolls and collections. However, the concept of jpeg, tifs, dpi and file size is still a mystery. It is important to make sure your files are the best quality and the highest resolution to create the best possible photograph on the printed page. What may look wonderful on the Internet will not necessarily appear as sharp or bright on paper. Here are a few tips to make sure your shots look as good on the page as they do on your computer monitor. Choose A Camera Do your research. • Purchase the best camera you can buy. It will yield the best outcome over the long run. • Read the manual. Learn as much as you can about your camera to use it at its best. • Do a test shoot using the different settings to experiment with different effects. • Look at the different outcomes on your computer and note which settings work best for you. • If you choose an SLR style camera, invest in a macro lens for close-ups and accessory shots. • Try lens filters for additional effects. • We recommend B&H. Get A Tripod Stabilize your shot. Better focus, better composition. • Practice composing the best shots by taking the camera out of the equation. • Shoot many different variations of the same shots using the tripod in a stationary spot. See how the shot looks in the viewfinder by moving the model and the props, not the camera. • By keeping the shot stationary, this will give you the opportunity to look at the placement of your lighting and the model. Concentrate on getting the best lighting on the face and clothes. • Keeping the camera in the same spot on the tripod, try on different lenses to see how the shots changes. |
Shoot high!
Choose highest settings Raw or superfine is best • You can always make a shot smaller for email or the web, but you can’t make it bigger. • If you try to increase resolution of a small file, the computer has to guess what the missing dots would be, color-wise. This results in pixilation, and the shot comes out looking fuzzy and out of focus. • Always save your original or RAW files and archive them on a disk or hard drive for future use. • Even though the files are much bigger, your shots will be better in the long run if you save them as TIFS, which are uncompressed, vs. JPEGS, which are compressed. Compose yourself Don’t cut out too much. Allow for negative space and copy. • Your camera shot proportion is not the same as that of a magazine page. • Give yourself extra room in the shot for cropping in production. If you crop too tight, you may find the shot looks odd on the page. • Be sure not to crop off finger tips, the edge of the face, the shoes, or elbows. It looks odd and throws the balance off looking at the photo. • Make sure your backgrounds are wide enough to encompass the full shot. It is difficult to fill in shots that are too narrow, or show tables, kitchens and pets in the backgrounds. Take lots of shots Give yourself a chance. Take different angles and photo from different points of view. • Sometimes it is hard to imagine what the final shot will look like. Be sure to cover your bases, particularly if you are on vacation, or somewhere you can’t easily return to! • Move your angles on your shots to get different perspective. Happy surprises may be in store when you experiment. • If you are on location, make note of the time of day and the direction of the light. You don’t want to come home and find out all your shots are too dark or overexposed. • Bring a reflector and a scrim. You can buy these at Photo stores, or make your own, using aluminum foil as a reflector, or a nylon curtain to diffuse light. |
Styling tips for Photography
Styling Your Photography: The Finishing Touches
Prepare Your Shot
NO DOLL STANDS. A professional shot has been prepped and rigged to make the model look as realistic as possible.
Note from CDS: Look over the shots online or in magazines you really admire. It is now time to get those doll stands out of your pictures.
Use wire armature or furniture to prop the doll upright in a natural manner.
Order different gauges of wire at:
http://Pearl Paint.com
If possible, have a friend help style while you shoot. It’s more fun and the shoot goes faster!
Fashion Styling
Make sure you shoot away from the inner lining. In other words, don’t shoot looking into the lining of a jacket.
Make sure hair is combed and there are no fly-aways that you have to fix later. Bad hair is a telltale sign of an amateur.
Make sure all clothing is steamed and smooth without wrinkles, stains or threads showing.
Edit Responsibly
Don’t send us ALL of your shots.
Note from CDS: This doesn't apply as you will send only 1 picture for the magazine. However, if you are not sure which picture you want to use for the magazine, you can always send several low resolution pictures, and your CDS Manager will try to advise you.
Look at the best files that are well lit, well styled and properly composed.
Do not crop shots into unusual shapes. Look carefully at the proportions of a magazine page and how your shot will fit.
We do not run repetitive variations of the same shot. Choose the best – lose the rest!
Invest in good lighting & equipment. Build a styling kit of tools. Pay attention to the hair!
Invest in wire armature to rig your dolls.
Rotate your props for more variation.
Photoshop: A Photographer’s Best Friend
Adobe’s Photoshop is one of the most powerful and successful computer programs ever invented. With the new upgrades in CS4, photographers can do more than ever to perfect their photography, add filters and effects, or even design an art piece from scratch. However, Adobe’s ELEMENTS, also has many of the tools of Photoshop, and these quick tips will help you if you want to experiment with creating Photoillustrations, like this shot below.
NO DOLL STANDS. A professional shot has been prepped and rigged to make the model look as realistic as possible.
Note from CDS: Look over the shots online or in magazines you really admire. It is now time to get those doll stands out of your pictures.
Use wire armature or furniture to prop the doll upright in a natural manner.
Order different gauges of wire at:
http://Pearl Paint.com
If possible, have a friend help style while you shoot. It’s more fun and the shoot goes faster!
Fashion Styling
Make sure you shoot away from the inner lining. In other words, don’t shoot looking into the lining of a jacket.
Make sure hair is combed and there are no fly-aways that you have to fix later. Bad hair is a telltale sign of an amateur.
Make sure all clothing is steamed and smooth without wrinkles, stains or threads showing.
Edit Responsibly
Don’t send us ALL of your shots.
Note from CDS: This doesn't apply as you will send only 1 picture for the magazine. However, if you are not sure which picture you want to use for the magazine, you can always send several low resolution pictures, and your CDS Manager will try to advise you.
Look at the best files that are well lit, well styled and properly composed.
Do not crop shots into unusual shapes. Look carefully at the proportions of a magazine page and how your shot will fit.
We do not run repetitive variations of the same shot. Choose the best – lose the rest!
Invest in good lighting & equipment. Build a styling kit of tools. Pay attention to the hair!
Invest in wire armature to rig your dolls.
Rotate your props for more variation.
Photoshop: A Photographer’s Best Friend
Adobe’s Photoshop is one of the most powerful and successful computer programs ever invented. With the new upgrades in CS4, photographers can do more than ever to perfect their photography, add filters and effects, or even design an art piece from scratch. However, Adobe’s ELEMENTS, also has many of the tools of Photoshop, and these quick tips will help you if you want to experiment with creating Photoillustrations, like this shot below.
Above: The original photo from Madame Alexander’s catalog files.
Note from CDS: We usually need these solid backgrounds but it's good to know how to do something else. |
After: The plain gray background has been removed.
Photographer has built layers of a room and added filters and used brushes to create effects. |
Before you begin to play with a shot, make a DUPLICATE
of the original for future use.
Learn your TOOLS palette. One of the best tools is the magic wand. If your doll is on a solid background, it is easy to select the background and delete the color.
Another tool to try is the magic eraser. Just clicking on the background can make the background disappear and allow for the doll to be moved on another pre-existing background, or for background layers to be added behind the doll as needed.
If you need to color correct your shot, try CURVES (Control-D or Option-D on mac). The auto button can vastly improve the lighting and color of a bad photo.
You can manipulate the curves to heighten and subdue colors and tone as well. You can also use AUTO COLOR, AUTO TONE and HISTOGRAMS to manually alter the color and light quality of your photo.
If you want to create a more interesting or colorful background, use the GRADIENT tool to add a color gradient that will simulate a light-to-dark effect.
If you are in Photoshop, try the EXTRACT tool to select your subject and remove backgrounds. For more advanced users, you can create a MASK to select the more difficult objects, like feathered hats and allow them to transition cleanly to a different background.
Be careful using the crop tool. Make sure the resolution is set to 300dpi so that you do not crop a shot in a low resolution. You can preset the crop size so that all of your photos are consistent for web pages or magazine spreads.
Note from CDS: Proper cropping is most important. No matter what photo editing program you use, you will want to use this advice about cropping.
We use RGB color settings for web or screen use, but when sending files for printing, go to IMAGE–ADJUST– CMYK, to convert your files to four color process for
best print quality.
Note from CDS: We are not advocating you purchase any of the items suggested here. You have to do what works best for you. The overall message you should take away from the Photoshop information is that you need a good photo editing program, and you need to learn how to properly use it.
I hope you have learned some information that will help you in creating the best photos you can have for advertising. In our online world, if you want to sell something you must have good pictures to accompany your honest descriptions. Also, please remember, we want to be featured in magazines, to do so we must comply with their guidelines! Right or wrong - the magazine editor is always right about how they want pictures done.
of the original for future use.
Learn your TOOLS palette. One of the best tools is the magic wand. If your doll is on a solid background, it is easy to select the background and delete the color.
Another tool to try is the magic eraser. Just clicking on the background can make the background disappear and allow for the doll to be moved on another pre-existing background, or for background layers to be added behind the doll as needed.
If you need to color correct your shot, try CURVES (Control-D or Option-D on mac). The auto button can vastly improve the lighting and color of a bad photo.
You can manipulate the curves to heighten and subdue colors and tone as well. You can also use AUTO COLOR, AUTO TONE and HISTOGRAMS to manually alter the color and light quality of your photo.
If you want to create a more interesting or colorful background, use the GRADIENT tool to add a color gradient that will simulate a light-to-dark effect.
If you are in Photoshop, try the EXTRACT tool to select your subject and remove backgrounds. For more advanced users, you can create a MASK to select the more difficult objects, like feathered hats and allow them to transition cleanly to a different background.
Be careful using the crop tool. Make sure the resolution is set to 300dpi so that you do not crop a shot in a low resolution. You can preset the crop size so that all of your photos are consistent for web pages or magazine spreads.
Note from CDS: Proper cropping is most important. No matter what photo editing program you use, you will want to use this advice about cropping.
We use RGB color settings for web or screen use, but when sending files for printing, go to IMAGE–ADJUST– CMYK, to convert your files to four color process for
best print quality.
Note from CDS: We are not advocating you purchase any of the items suggested here. You have to do what works best for you. The overall message you should take away from the Photoshop information is that you need a good photo editing program, and you need to learn how to properly use it.
I hope you have learned some information that will help you in creating the best photos you can have for advertising. In our online world, if you want to sell something you must have good pictures to accompany your honest descriptions. Also, please remember, we want to be featured in magazines, to do so we must comply with their guidelines! Right or wrong - the magazine editor is always right about how they want pictures done.