A light box helps give you a clean back ground with no harsh shaddows, you shine lights through the sides of the light box (which are paper) and the light is defused giving soft light so you don't get harsh shadows.

My light box is made from a big breakfast cereal box, some white paper and tissue paper with a white card back ground.

With my tripod set up opposite the box I used two table lamps on either side of the box to light the item inside. attached my Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro lens to my Canon 30d and set my camera to self timer so I would illuminate any shake from me pressing the camera button. I chose a slow shutter speed as even with the two table lamps I didn't have enough light getting to make my picture bright enough, so my setting a longer shutter speed I allowed more light into the camera by keeping the shutter open.

These are a few of the pictures I took with it-I know I could have worked harder in post processing to make my back ground more white.

August 26: playing with shrink plastic (and amazing glaze, combined)

August 27: meat poster (for etsy), amazonite + nut earrings, 28g. artistic wire wire-wrap (bad idea)

August 28: Thom Yorke letter, fused silver (earrings, bracelet)

August 29: Lariat with fused rings
(has since been deconstructed)

August 30: T earring prototype

August 31: ghetto light box

September 1-3?
not sure? where'd it go?

September 4: rosary beginnings (peridot + sterling)

September 5: WTF spokane (photos)

September 6: bracelet sample ("Hey mollie, wanna make something for the store? Yeah it can be anything! But, actually, it has to use silver tubes. Oh, and some czech glass" haha)

September 7 - 8: super secret photo album that you can't know about until, maybe, November? I'll post it then.

September 9 - 11: ?

September 12: Knitted Calorimetry (Noro)

September 13: Crochet/Knit collar (soft acrylic bulky weight)

September 14: Crochet Mobius cowl (baby llama fur!!)

September 15: mini fused earrings

So I ask her if she got a light box. She told me no all that she uses was a construction paper that she got a target. So guess what I did last week I went to target spend a whopping 56 cents on a piece of black construction paper.

As you can see on the photo I have put the construction paper on top of a bookcase that is right next to my window. The window gives me some light coming from outside. My desk lamp is also on the bookcase but I don't use it because it gives you a weird balance between the natural lights from the window.   I am lucky that I have a shelf place not too far from when the paper ends. All I do is place some art tape that comes off very easily on the shelf and on the bookcase when I need to use the backdrop. Here is an example of some photos that I took with the construction paper as the background. 

Now I know this is not real professional way of taking photos. But you know  what ?  It works for what I want to do.  

You may ask yourself how Photoshop was involved in the photos ?

Honestly and not much All I do his play with the lighting a bit re size them for the web. Add a watermark and so people don't steal my photos  and then post them on some other side that is about it.

Thanks for the great tip Hannah.

Sunshine is beautiful. Sun is life giving. So is Vitamin D. Vitamin D is beautiful. Vitamin D is life giving. You can become beautiful at a cellular level if you Take your daily Vitamin D3 supplement. Why? Because Your body and its cells cannot get what the amount truly needed for optimal cellular health. Neither the sun, food, nor dairy products contribute the full amount on behalf of the body's hunger for daily Vitamin D. Read ON.

You probably know almost nothing about VITAMIN D.

So....YOU can read about/spend time reading MORE about FASCINATING and current Vitamin D research, ....aGO TO the VITAMIN D COUNCIL web site....

VITAMIN D..............is an ESSENTIAL cell NUTRIENT, .....VITAMIN D...

and reading about the human's body ABSOLUTE NEED FOR HIGHer LEVELS OF Vitamin D......at each and every age and stage of life.........pregnancy, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, elder age;...

AND in reading, you'll read more in detail about the human body's consequences and its responses possibly occurring to it's deterioration that happens when the human body and our cells and human physiology Does NOT receive its evolutionary NEED for generous daily high levels of AMOUNTS of vitamin D3.

It's been estimated that about 40 to 70 percent of the children, women and men in the entire world are Vitamin D deficient. Pandemic health crisis. New York Times newspaper article called it a pandemic epidemic of shortage of Vitamin D levels in the bodies of people across the entire world.

To read about Vitamin D, here is an authoritative reference to an excellent site........go to the web site title of "Vitamin D Council".........DO Read sections of the many topics related to Vitamin D......READ the Council's current online newsletter....or CLICK on and READ its ARTICLE links................please, do some reading. And........you must have a look at its link that identifies the names of the researchers people professionals on the Vitamin D Council. Smart smart people.

This Blog has been Given this title because as I continue to read more, more ---- about the URGENT human physiological NEED for ALL PEOPLE of all AGES of all racial backgrounds --- to GET more more more more VITAMIN D on a regular daily basis, ----at doses MUCH HIGHER than previously suggested by 'the official RDA standards', ------------

THE time has arrived for every parent, pregnant woman, adult male, female, high schooler, elderly senior, children, toddlers, ..........physician, health care staff....the time has arrived for each adult to educate ourselves WISELY and PROMPTLY on significant health possible by answering to the evolutionary need of the human body for high levels of Vitamin D.

ALERT: Why am I fascinated with this topic? Because........there is a great deal of human suffering that could be lessened.... physical pain, autoimmune conditions, arthritis, depression, multiple sclerosis, asthma, autism, chronic bain, ............

I began listening carefully to the health announcements made during the national evening news. Since Jan 1, 2008, I'd estimated that twice a week, I've heard something on the evening news about the need for people to increase Vitamin D by taking supplements daily. I started taking it in March 2008 to see if I'd feel better from the complex symptoms of winter's seasonal affective disorder. Then, I researched, and came across the Vitamin D Council web site. Then I located several books recently written on the topic. Then I began reviewing magazine articles. The consistent thread of Vitamin D as a beautiful, life giving nutrient repeated itself like a ray of sunny hope. It works.

.......I witness the truth..........I am SO grateful for the Vitamin D Council site and its excellent information. It was my first reading introduction to the topic.

ALERT: WE cannot and do not get enough sunshine to get the D our bodies truly require.

ALERT: WE cannot and do not get enough Vitamin D through the food we eat.

ALERT: WE cannot and do not get what we need from fortified Milk or dairy products.

And .. guess what........It is just around the corner, ........as autumn darkens and swings into what can be the cold icy damp or bitter cold of winter..........including........depression and physiological stress and depressive seasonal affective disorder, insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, low energy, arthritis pain, inflammation, weight gain, physiological responses to cold weather...........etc. ..

Here's the truth..........once you have read several short articles on Vitamin D, you'll wonder how quickly you'll be able to get to the store to Purchase Vitamin D3 in its bottle. Or,.. maybe you'll want to wait until it gets put on sale.

HOW TO BUY VITAMIN D: When you look at the bottle, ...it will say Vitamin D3...or...MAKE sure it does say D3...........You MUST look at the units per tablet. It's rather a waste of money to purchase the size of 400 I.U.'s per tablet........Your best buy is purchasing the I.U. of 2000 per tablet. Many stores, like Walgreen's, often has a buy one, get one free sale, different brands. Look at the bottle to see that it is the D3 type of vitamin D. Your calcium tablets sometimes contain 400 I.U. ... but 400 is not an adequate dosage daily, per the opinion of the smart expert researchers.

THIS iPURCHASE is an excellent investment in treating and preventing many long and short term degenerative and chronic conditions, diseases, pain, circumstances, ..............including depression, seasonal affective disorder, pain from arthritis, etc...........A bottle of 100 at the 2000 I.U. units in Minnesota is about 11 dollars. If you buy on sale at buy one, get one free, that's a great deal.

The time for winter is upon us; the days get short, the sun is low, the curtains get drawn....Within a short time after the chill of autumn sets in, our Vitamin D levels, maybe raised because of summer's sun, begin to drop...and drop...decreases.....until, at the end of winter, Vitamin D levels in the typical labratory drawn human blood test will read at at least half of what it would have read in September. In other words, once September arrives, we fall and fall and fall into the slippery slope of spiralling Vitamin D deficiency in our body.

I continue to be amazed at how misinformed,  how uneducated, how ignorant, how incorrect, HOW LACKING IN INFORMATION we ALL are on 'how' seriously important it is THAT our body GETS the VITAMIN D it needs............

What we've been told about "how" we get Vitamin D......What we've been told has been half-truths, misinformation, wrong information.........even people in Florida and Arizona, the sunshine states are Vitamin D deficient because the heat of the sun or humidity keeps people out of the sun.

One article I read said that if the sun were to be used as a source for Vitamin D, ... it would mean being outdoors 3 times a week, for 20 to 30 minutes WITH 30 percent of your body skin exposed........But in more than half the United States, only the summer sun would do so if you lived in high sun, southern location states.

OF COURSE.., the farther north any of us live in the United States, the weaker the sun, so the 'rule' of 'how to get Vitamin D from the sun" Simply does NOT work effectively in northern climates.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble substance that actually is more hormone like in its cellular behavior, wisdom, activity, and healing/preventive qualities. It cannot be stored in the body during long winter months. That is why taking it daily, or in large doses several times a week is needed.

More later.

The tags related to this article represent only a small portion of the medical conditions mentioned in articles and writings done by Vitamin D researchers. .........medical conditions related to either Vitamin D defiency, and/or, medical conditions that can be improved upon WITH proper Vitamin D supplements taken daily.

"What can I being doing while I wait for LolliShops to open?"

There are a lot of answers to this:
Join the Forums
Enjoy the swimming at the Flickr Pool
Keep stocking up your inventory so that you can open with a full & exciting shop!

But I think the most important and helpful answer for your business's growth and success is:

Work on those photos!

I can say, without a doubt in my mind, that the photos are the biggest help or hindrance to your shop. It took me a long time to learn this and I didn't even think of this on my own!
A sweet person sent me a private message on Flickr one day and basically told me that my Betsy Ornaments are so cute and gorgeous but my photos are awful! After looking at them today, I can't believe anyone bought them from me! Here's a sample:

I was seriously photographing them in my bathroom! Look at how yellow and dark it is! I remember thinking it gave it some antique charm but my goodness... it was just awful.
The sweet person that was honest with me also gave me some tips--like photographing the Betsy Girls in natural lighting. So I have been ever since:

Well, photographing outside is all well and good for the summertime, but what about when it's grey and cloudy?
The Homemade Light Box is the answer!
Here is the link for a great tutorial I found:
Light Box Tutorial

I admit, I haven't made one of these yet but I'm going to. I encourage all of us to get moving on this and get it done before Fall & Winter creep up on us.
By the way, you don't have to stick with the all white background. I find that Cottage Style, Whimsical, Romantic items look better and sell more when the items are set into a Theme. You can still do this with the light box. You can make a little "set" inside the box with a cute, patterned backdrop, some throw pillows, bits of lace or pearls...
You're not locked into the "white out".
If anyone gets going on their light box right away, take some photos of it and email them to me and we'll all learn from your experience!
I hope this motivated everyone, I know it was inspiring for me!
~Sadie Lou

((sorry about the poor quality, but I don't own a scanner.))

Picture number 8 is the one that Toni and I did together when I went over to her house a few weeks ago.

Number 6 is one that I made for Toni. Whenever you ask her how she is she responds "I am blessed and highly favoured, my sister!" So I made her a drawing

The use of bright light therapy in depression has been a common practice for more than 20 years.

Light therapy treatment was made available to Parkinson’s sufferers since depression is a common problem in these patients. Bright light has the added feature of reducing melatonin secretion from the pineal gland, similar to that achieved with our new drug. Light was administered from a commercial light source just prior to retiring and the effects on depression, sleeplessness and the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease were assessed on a regular basis. We then adjusted medication accordingly.

Not only was a significant beneficial effect seen in most patients with Parkinsonian symptoms like the bradykinaesia and rigidity. We found the use of Light therapy is so effective that in some patients their medication can be reduced by 50% without the loss of therapeutic efficacy. This reduces the psychiatric side effects and involuntary movement caused by dopamine replacement.

Dr Greg Willis Bronowski Insitute Kynton Victoria Australia

“We find light therapy is often useful with depression. We use it with people on anti-depressants. But we all have patients who are sensitive to medication or they want to try something else first. We have patients who show improvements on light therapy alone.”

Dr. Carol Tavani, Neuropsychiatrist

"Light is as effective as drugs, perhaps more so."

Anna Wirz-Justice

"Beginning to See the Light. October, 1998, Archives of General Psych.

"Light appears to produce faster anti-depressant benefits than psycho-pharmacologic treatment."

1998 Elsevier Science B.V

"Light may lift moods in persons who are clinically depressed within one week,"

Michael Smolensky

The Body Clock Guide to Better Health

“Bright light augments the anti-depressant effects of medication and wake therapy"

Depression and Anxiety 16:1–3 (2002)

"It appears that bright light combined with wake therapy and medication might produce a much better antidepressant response much more rapidly than our available antidepressant drugs."

Daniel Kripke - Journal of Affective Disorders, 1998

"Further, some evidence suggest the amphetamine-like neurochemical dopamine may play a role, evidence certainly consistent with light's well-known energizing and activating effects."

Michael Norden, M.D.

Beyond Prozac

"
Sufficient evidence is now available to offer bright light treatment routinely to patients suffering from major depressions"

Light treatment for nonseasonal depression

Journal of Affective Disorders,1998

"Light therapy is one of the most successful and practical results of basic research in biological rhythms,"

Thomas Wehr, MD - chief of the Section on Biological Rhythms

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

"In unipolar (major) depression, several clinical features suggest a chronobiological basis of the mood disturbances."

Chronobiology International, vol 20,2,2003

"Advanced and delayed sleep phase disorders, and the hypersomnia have been treated successfully by appropriately timed artificial bright light exposure.

Light treatment for sleep disorders:
consensus report. IV.

Sleep phase and duration disturbances.
J Biol Rhythms 1995 Jun;10(2):135-47

"Some people who complain of insomnia may have nothing wrong with their sleep at all. It may be the timing of their sleep that is off, a mismatch between their body clock and the world's clock."

Michael Smolensky

The Body Clock Guide to Better Health

"These results support the concept that the light-dark cycle is the most important synchronizer of the human circadian system. These data indicate that interventions designed to phase shift human circadian rhythms for adjustment to time zone changes or altered work schedules should focus on properly timed light exposure."

Phase-shifting human circadian rhythms:

Influence of sleep timing, social contact and light exposure.
J Physiol 1996 Aug 15;495 ( Pt 1):289-97

“Light is a promising non-drug intervention for treating Sleep Maintenance Insomnia in the elderly”

Raymond Lam, MD

Seasonal Affective Disorder and Beyond

"Exposure to bright light resulted in substantial changes in sleep quality. Waking time within sleep was reduced by an hour, and sleep efficiency improved from 77.5% to 90%, without altering time spent in bed. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of timed exposure to bright light in the treatment of age-related sleep maintenance insomnia. "

Alleviation of sleep maintenance insomnia with timed exposure to bright light.

J Am Geriatr Soc 1993 Aug;41(8):829-36

"Bright light treatment promises to improve sleep. Particular situations call for more specific timing of light, however. If you have trouble falling asleep, avoid light in the later part of the day because it tends to stimulate...If you have trouble rising, try a strong dose of light early on to rekey your waking problem."

Michael Norden, MD, Beyond Prozac

"When our body clock is out of sync, it will produce the wrong signals at the wrong time of day. Thus sleeping pills aren't as effective, because our body clock is constantly fighting the medication."

Vital Times February 2001

"
In controlled studies, dawn simulators have been shown to help people feel less groggy on a dreary winter's morning, as well as more energetic and less depressed all day long."

Norman Rosenthal, MD.

The Emotional Revolution

"The Suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN or Body Clock) have connections with other parts of the brain to control the body's temperature, hormone release, and many other functions. A pathway runs from the eye to the SCN, and light seems to play the largest role in setting the circadian clock."

Circadian Rhythms; A Wellness Booklet,
American Sleep Disorders Association

"Environmental light is the primary stimulus for regulating circadian rhythms, seasonal cycles, and neuroendocrine responses in humans.Twenty years of clinical studies have confirmed that light therapy is effective for treating winter depression…

]]> http://weesandy.wordpress.com/?p=34 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:04:45 +0000 weesandy http://weesandy.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/inexpensive-light-box/ Here's a great tutorial by DPS Digital Photography School on how to make a very inexpensive, easy light box for photographing your little treasures!

Click the link called "DPS Light Box" to see the tutorial.

Thanks to Planet June for posting the link on her craft blog! http://www.planetjune.com/blog/

Besides charging us three times the phone quote, the guy at the camera shop starts putting this thing together and tells us to "stand back." For a minute, I thought we were in trouble.

Bad news is, we still have two more of these things to put together without skewering ourselves.

but ,, i'm starting now to draw The Other Face , coz it's in 8 pages and i want to finish the less one too the long one .. <3

as you can see i'm not like real magaka, the real one who draw with pen and have other stuff !! i really want to have those stuff from the paper to the light box !! soooooo much things i want to buy,, but .. hehehe ,, i don;t the money .. >->

it's just dream, but one day my dream will come true, or i'll live like other girls in UAE !

Building a light box yourself will save you about half the cost of buying a new one and you can easily build it any size. It takes less than a few hours depending on where you get the materials from and how you put it together. You will need someone to do the wiring for the lights, do not attempt it unless you know what you are doing.

What you need:
Milky white translucent perspex, about 4.5-5mm thick
16-18mm thick Melamine chip board to create the box
Beading or small amounts of wood to create a ledge for the perspex to sit on
Two fluorescent battens
A bunch of screws and nails
Power cord
Drill and screwdriver

Putting it together:
Cut the wood to size and put the box together.

Add the beading or rebate.

Drill a hole for the power cord.

Mount the lights and wire them.

Place the perspex inside.

Affix desired poster or image and you are finished.

You can also place a switch on the outside if you desire, but I chose not to which means you have to unplug the box to turn it off.

Needless to say I just had to get stuck in immediately to some felting.  I decided to use one of the sari loom ends and a sari ribbon to create a beautiful long wall hanging in nuno felt.  This is really a piece that needs to be lit from behind to fully appreciate the textures and I think that I need to experiment with a simple light box and see how this works for me.  I promise to post a picture on this blog as soon as I have mastered the concept! 

We haven't posted stuff for the loft in a long while, so its time to bring it back. These nice light displays were made to honor the animals lost in space research from 1949 to 1990.
These would look nice in my office.

Check it
Orbit Oblique Expo
ORBIT OBLIQUE TYPOGRAPHIC LIGHT UNITS

So, the box didn't turn out perfectly, but with the right amount of tweeks on the next model (i.e. better fibrous paper, brighter lights, better tri-pod) I think it could come in handy.

Here's what I got.

This scary lil mo fo was a gift from little sister L. She bought a curio cabinet from a lady friend of hers, and the lady friend included tons of clown curios. I picked this one from the lot.

-Bonsai In Training

This is a Fukien Tea Tree and is one of the first trees I bought. I have had it for about 5 years. She's pretty. However I find the 'light box' doesn't work as well with larger items.

Mystery Plant.

I'm not sure what this plant is. It has read leaves, and dark barkish stems, and occasionally blooms with tiny yellow flowers. It must be cut back at times to get a flourish of growth. The pot I picked up at Houseworks (a 'junk' (and when I say junk I mean treasure) store) in Iowa City.

A Big Purple Rock.

Purple quartz. I'm Six Sigma sure. This I bought at one of those cheesy rock shops in South Dakota. OMG I love cheesy rock shops so very very much. I believe this one was from Wall Drug.

.

Photoshop Much?

This is the mystery plant shoved haphazardly through Photshop, like hamburger through a hand crank grinder. But still..."neat."

Well, that's it. Those photos are the end result of the project. It was fun, but not perfect. Ahhh, just like my life.

Um, what? .... sigh.

 amanda ∞

light box 'Rose'

(Materials used acrylic, timber frame, wadding)

Designer: Helen Amy Murray

Helen Amy Murray, a young designer based in London has innovated surface relief with fabric manipulation!

silk Bowater skyline

This architectural piece has been created from silk crepe satin!

Using innovative techniques on luxury fabrics and materials including leather and suede, lightweight and heavyweight woven fabrics including silk; she creates stunning designs and patterns.

Danish tub peacock chair (Material: novasuede)

Her unique handcrafted creations in surface relief was motivated by carvings in wood and marble in India! She translates similar effects in textiles.

Photo credits Marcos Bevilacqua

Groups of animators are called up to the drawing area, 5 at a time. Each animator receives 8 blank note cards, as well as the last card from the animator that drew before them. They have exactly 10 minutes (that's 75 seconds per card) to continue the animation on each card. At the end of that 10 minutes, all of the animators are kicked out of their seats (no lollygagging now!) and a new batch is called to the table.

Event sponsored by the Cascade Siggraph group. Find the completed results here: http://www.cascadesiggraph.org/events.html

Here's a view of the table, with local scribblers hard at work:

In 2005, we spent about $2600 on eating out. In 2006, it went up to about $4400. In 2007? We spent nearly $7200 on eating out. Seriously. Just us. We ordered pizza, we walked up and got subs from John's, we went to chain restaurants, blah blah blah. I remember 2007! It wasn't exactly filled with new and exciting eating experiences that would justify us spending seven thousand dollars! Not once did I eat a dessert topped with solid gold, dammit! And we still spent the same amount on groceries, and threw away food that went bad because we left it sitting in the fridge waiting to be cooked while we ordered in or ate mediocre food out. This has got to change.

Last night we almost gave in. We hadn't planned anything for dinner, and we'd just spent way too much time at the laundromat, doing about a month's worth of laundry because we STILL don't have a washer and dryer at home. I asked Don what he felt like doing for dinner, and got the usual apathetic shrug. Then, he gathered enough energy to raise his head from his computer screen and ask, "What do you want to eat?"

"I really want a burger," I blurted. I hadn't realized it until that second, but I was so craving a burger.

He heaved a sigh. "Well, I really don't feel like going out to a sit-down place like Red Robin. Should we run up the street to Hardee's or McDonald's?"

And then I had an epiphany. If I were more Victorian and romantic, I would have sat straight up in bed, scattering papers and books every which way and maybe even spilling an inkwell, but I was patting the cat and pretty comfy, so it wasn't nearly so dramatic. "I could -- I could just cook some burgers!" I said wonderingly. We've always got frozen patties kicking around, and there were buns on top of the microwave.

"So you could," he said, totally oblivious to my total change in life perspective. "Sounds good."

So I did.

Plain frozen patties cooked on the Foreman grill, topped with sliced cheese and nothing more than pickles and ketchup, on plain old Martin's potato bread buns. But I made them at home, instead of going out for no good reason. And it wasn't all that much effort, and it didn't take all that much time, and best of all it didn't cost any extra money. Awesome.

On photography: This is the first food picture I've taken in the new light box. I like it. When I went to edit the image, I tried to adjust the white balance manually and for some reason it was always much too bright. On a whim I hit 'auto levels' and bam! Perfect. Thanks Photoshop! I still need to set up a custom white balance setting in the camera itself so that I don't have to do as much editing, though.

We just finished a small project for Iceland Express. It is called "Photo of the week", which basically wraps around a collaboration between photographic genius and web sensation Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir and Iceland Express.

Our job was to create a frame that would fit within the Iceland Express web, holding true to their visual style and web template. The frame also needed to allow the photos to really shine but, at the same time, we needed to fit additional information "along the edges" - so to speak... and that's basically what we did.

We created a little navigational "slider" control, which allows users to really soak up each "photo of the week" while they can still reach additional information easily (and pleasantly). We also used LightBox (javascript) to layer the photo over the whole screen - when clicked on. We think the final result looks pretty cool!

J#

The setup is mostly for product photography for Anapurna -- beads, pendants, that sort of thing.  I tend to prefer a more natural-looking background for food photography, so I've been using countertops, cutting boards, tables, whatever.  I may use the light box to play around with artsy produce photos, though.  All in all I'm pretty pleased with my purchase -- it only cost me 25 dollars with shipping included, and it seems like it's going be really fun to play with.