'Don't do exactly what I do'

I have been keeping myself busy with some photography stuff. My lightbox project went alright I guess… as in not as well as I hoped it would be. For starters, the box I got wasn’t as big as the example. And without the proper lights and a decent SLR camera, my shots still kinda lack that elusive ‘wow’ factor.

Here’s where I based my little handicraft on. If there’s anyone reading this and wanna do his own lightbox, please follow that example and don't do exactly what I do. Here's another link to an interesting piece on cheap homemade lighting. I was actually watching last week’s American Idol while cutting up the box with a pair of scissors. Use a penknife, it’s way easier on the finger!

I have since replaced the sides with a translucent material (the kind you find when you buy huge electronic products) instead of regular photocopy paper. It lets more light in. Here are the untouched, raw results. As you can tell the lighting isn't as good as it should be.

With only one light source, it's tough getting the right lighting conditions. Using the camera flash leads to overexposure and nasty shadows. Don't use the flash and the pix turns out looking dark and dim. Also the box is a little too small. There's not enough depth to it. I should have taken the A3 box instead of the A4 paper box.

So as you can see, I got my work cut out for me.

Oh, another thing. A week ago, there was a Friday when I was really free in the office and I spent almost the entire day reading up on digital SLR cameras online. Hah, I actually filled up 4 notebook pages worth of stuff on the subject. Was reading guides, forum discussions, etc. And today, I called up one of the recommended shops and they told me the price of the Sony A200 has dropped from S$1,099 to S$960. Better freebies too, instead of $100 voucher on lens, it's now an extra battery.