I was so nervous about taking my own pictures and having to learn Photoshop when I first started.  I had a talented friend (Hi, Roxanne!) take the majority of the tiara photos and Joe did quite a few of the first jewelry ones, but I knew I had to get comfortable with this new, no-hammers-involved craft if I wanted to improve my online activity.

Many resources recommend always using natural light, but our house has only two rooms that are bright enough for long enough.  One is the bathroom, which is wonderfully lit almost all day, but not exactly a place I want to work.  The other, luckily, is my work room.  I have a bench seat in the window, so there is light streaming in most of the day and I can leave things mid-shoot without them being in the way.  However, it’s not always sunny and I’m not always able to take photos when the light is the best.

My new homemade light box set-up is helping a lot with getting control of when I can take pictures.  I crafted the box from the white plastic back of an old IKEA bookcase and use two direct light sources in addition to the decent daylight and regular overhead lights.

I took these photos on a semi-clear day in the middle of two really gray weeks.  I was tired of wishing for the rain to stop (which also goes against my desire for a drought-free summer) and just took a bunch of pics with the hope that the box diffused the harsh lamp light enough.  It did.  Does.

These photos look dark, but that’s where the magic of Photoshop comes in.  If there’s enough light to begin with, manipulating levels can brighten the pics pretty easily.  Not too shabby.