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The first image turned out pretty nicely and so I have moved on to the second render. This time I tried to play around with some interior lighting techniques.

I started out with this initial test just to experiment the some lighting as well as reflection/refractions:

Then I moved on to the actual interior design:

Ended up with:

While I was playing with the lighting I also accidentally generated this rather cool looking effect where most of the light source is coming from the three columns on the left. It was totally an accident though! The space ship to the right is actually an existing model that I created a few years back, I thought putting something long above the rectangular shelf would make a nice decoration piece.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Incoming search terms:

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I have always posted game related posts most of the time, maybe its time for a change. Since it is almost Christmas time, I had to think of something to surprise my girlfriend, it was actually her request to “surpise” her. I also happened to be interested and curious about photography and I found out that you can build your very own DIY Photo Studio In A Box easily. So I thought why not build her a mini photo studio since making a gift yourself meants a lot more than buying something that’s already made (its the thought that counts right?) and also the fact that she sells bling cellphone cases for iPhones, BlackBerry, HTC, G1 etc so that her product pictures look more professional.

By using just the digital camera with default settings, you will always have pictures that are yellowish (see picture below), with uneven lighting and looking too sharp because the flash light is not soft enough. But with the combination of correcting white balace using Photoshop and this photo studio in a box you can turn your everyday ameture photos into better looking images. My coworker once told me, its not about your camera, be it an everyday digital camera like my Canon SD400 or one of those fancy DSLR, its all about white balance, light and the lense itself. The latter might be hard to change since not everyone can or willing to pay hundreds just for the lense. So this is where the photo studio in a box comes into play!

Items you need for building your very own photo studio in a box:

• A box that is at least 10 inches by 10 inches, otherwise you are limited to taking photos of very small items
• Wrapping paper (the ones that you use for stuffing gift bags
• Two (three if you cut out the top opening as well) very bright lights, I bought two outdoor flood lights from Canadian Tire. If you can find natural light/bright white light lamps that’s good too but not necessary since you will be doing the white balance correction in Photoshop anyway. Oh, make sure you buy the matching bulbs, chances are most of the lights are only the housing themselves, without the bulbs.
• Tape, duck tape, scissors, razor, pencil and ruler

 

Quick and dirty build guide (for more detailed steps please check the links below):

• Cut out square/rectangle openings, depending on the shape of your box, on the left and right sides of the box and make sure you have enough space around otherwise the box might not be strong enough to stand on its own anymore. You can also cut out the top as well if you wish to have more light coming in (where the third light comes in).
• Tape the openings with wrapping paper and try to stretch them, but without tearing them apart, to minimize the ripples
• Don’t pretty it up yet though, we still have to test it. Place one light on each side and start taking test shots of some small items (once that fit the assumed 10 by 10 box). My coworker suggested me to set everything to manual for your digital camera with lowest ISO, enable white balance if applicable and TURN OFF FLASH! since we will be utilizing the two flood lights’ lights.

 

Here is what mine looks like

And the result…..

Yellowish and unprocessed image:

Processed image:

Notice it looks much better? Though not enough reflection or “bling” from the crystals but that’s a different experiment for now. All you need to do is go to Photoshop -> Image -> Adjustments -> and pick either Auto Level/Auto Color/Level and play around. I personally and mostly pick Level -> Options -> Find Dark & Light Colors with the Snap Neutral Midtones checked because I like the dark greyish/bluish tone.

I hope I haven’t missed anything or mentioned something incorrectly as this is my first photo studio in a box as well! Let me know if I did though!

For those interested, here are a few that I checked out and found useful (they are more detailed too!):

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
http://www.macworld.com/article/60804/2007/11/dec07digitalphoto.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Do-It-Yourself-Photography-Light-Box-for-Under-40/
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

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Jessica Simpson was the second victim, what do you guys think? I think my Angelina Jolie one turned out better though. I’m still trying to experiment with masking, filters and just playing with different layers and textures. Hopefully my third attempt will turn out better than my first. One thing I like about this one is her white hair, inspired by Rogue from X-Men.

Next victim is Britney Spears. (Evil smile)

This is my first blog and first product review, I have put in a a lot of efforts into writing this. Ok, let’s get to the point.

For your information, I have been a web/graphic designer for more than 10 years, I am not saying I’m a professional (skill wise) but I can say I know enough to judge that this Web Design Mastery is a good read for those wanting to know more about web design, promoting your own website, whether for business or personal purpose.

From the site it shows you the topics that are covered extensively in 8 volumes. If you are really interested, you can just go straight to signing up for a free trial which contains 77 pages of the full 500+ page ebook and no I don’t gain anything from anyone by signing up for the trail version ebook and that’s not why I’m here.

I got myself a copy of the trail ebook by signing up on the site, you can unsubscribe from the list once you receive a link to download the trail ebook through email (note if you are using yahoo or hotmail accounts, the email will most likely be in your junk mail folder). By the way its in a form of PDF, you will need Acrobat Reader in order to view it, you can get it here.

I have read through the content and honestly, even for a trial version, it covers a lot of the concepts and ideas of how to plan, create and promote your website. I am not going in details about the content, if you are still reading and interested, try it out yourself But there are a few key points that I should point out:

• Be passionate about what you do, in this case web design. You will be very disappointed if all you want is easy and quick money. There is no such thing, as least most of the time!
• Don’t be cheap! Invest money to make money. Personally I think it also motivates you to work hard for the money invested.
• Build a website in an ethical way, for example, don’t use images without the person’s permission.

If you made it all the way down here, I am really happy because my blog was worth reading. It means a lot to me if you could leave me feedback as well, even the negative ones please as I want to improve and get better at blogging. Finally, if you are truly interested about web design, get yourself the trial copy now and start making that site that you have always dreamt of making. It is also rewarding to see your own creation for the first time. I hope I have enlightened you a bit about web design (I used these two words so much I know!)

Feel free to check out my site!
Project Mobius

Thank you for reading and I will continue to try my best to produce quality reviews!
Webtechreview