I’ve been kvetching about how I need a lightbox for quite some time, now.  Just as I figured out how to take really great pictures with my crappy old digital camera, I decided to treat myself to a new, much nicer point-and-click.

The new camera takes much better pictures… of everything but miniatures.  I’ve attributed this to really terrible lighting conditions when I take those pictures… something a light box should be able to remedy.

I finally got around to ordering one of these off of eBay.  It showed up in record time; I’d played around with it a bit but hadn’t really had the chance to use it to actually take pictures until this weekend.

The results are decidedly better.  I’m quite certain that there’s some room for improvement (I think another light & diffuser would help, as would some additional camera configuration), but we’re looking at Much Better.

Before I get into the actual pictures, it’s important to note: I run all of this stuff through Picasa.  My process is to take 3-5 versions of each picture I want and then keep the one that looks the best. Then, I open it up in Picasa, click “I’m Feeling Lucky,” and maybe crop things so the composition is a bit better.  Commit the changes and call it a day.  That’s how I did it before the lightbox and it appears that that’s how I’m going to have to continue doing it afterwards.

Here’s a Vampire Priest to show why I do this.  The one of the left is before Picasa, the one of the right is after:

See why I do that?

Anyway, here are some comparisons of photos I took before and after the lightbox.  Before’s on the left.  After’s on the right.

In each case, the photographs’ much clearer and brighter.  It does a better job of showing off the miniature.

Here are some more photos of older stuff I took in the lightbox:

So, I definitely think this has been worth it.  What do y’all think?

On a related note, since I’m talking about photography… I’ve started trying to mix up the sort of pictures I take.  While I’m continuing to take the pictures that showcase the overall miniature, I’ve tried talking pictures that are better composed: more dynamic pictures that objectively work better as pictures as opposed to the neutral presentation ones.  The last two above, as well as the first picture in the post, are examples of this.  Do y’all think these work?