Today I made a little light tent, for closeup photography. I needed it for a client’s product photo — usually our clients have their own product images, and when they don’t I’m more than happy to refer them to a professional photographer in the area. But this was such a simple little job, and we needed it in a rush.

Plus, I was itching to try out the DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio I’d seen on Lifehacker — they’d initially mentioned it years back, and again recently. And goodness knows I need a better solution for shooting little things for this site, like cocktails and whatnot.

The project was simple. The box I used is a basic U-Haul cube (from my last move, nearly 10 years ago, still sitting in the garage with unused ski clothes mouldering in it). It’s perfect for most small items. For lights, I used some old lamps that previous owners had left in the house when I bought it. I bought the tissue paper at Target (since everything I had on hand was red or green for holiday gifts).

The product photos are clear and nice, and while the light color wasn’t
ideal — due to my using those incandescent lamps — Photoshop heped me
fix the colors and brightness easily.

I was so pleased I decided to celebrate with a Bijou cocktail.

Here’s my fab, oh-so-cheap-and-good macro photo setup:

Expect more and better closeup photos in future.

VisitPittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers are sponsoring a video contest: Create the best Steelers cheer, to cheer the team during the playoff!

Details from VisitPittsburgh:

It’s time to rally around our Pittsburgh Steelers as they head to the playoffs in January 2009 and VisitPittsburgh wants to see and hear your best Steelers cheer! We want the funniest, wackiest and most creative Steelers cheers our fans have in them. Send a video of you and your favorite fans performing your Steelers fight song to steelerscontest@visitpittsburgh.com. Contestants will be judged in five categories: wardrobe, performance, content, musicality and originality. The winner will receive a Steelers Jersey and an Official Wilson Super Bowl XL Game Football.
 
Send video, along with name, email, and phone number to steelerscontest@visitpittsburgh.com. All submissions must be entered by midnight Thursday, January 8.  While videos can be tacky and wild, they must be tasteful and legal! VisitPittsburgh will select a winner at on Friday, January 9, 4 p.m., EST. Employees and immediate families of VisitPittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers are not eligible to win. 
 
No studio videography will be considered. Contestants warrant that the video submission is original and that they are the sole owner and creator of the piece. Entries may not have been copyrighted or published previously in any media including books, magazines, newspapers, postcards, web sites, calendars or advertising/marketing materials. While contestant retains copyright and ownership of his/her original work, it is understood that all submissions become the property of VisitPittsburgh which has the legal right to use, publish, reproduce, alter and give legal consent to others to use the photograph.

(Emphasis mine.)

Through

I Let My Fists Do the Talking

, I found xtranormal, which lets one make animated movies by making scripts with camera cues, dialogue, sounds, etc.

Here’s yesterday’s blog post, rendered in LEGO-like animation.

I was aiming for a "The Show with Ze Frank" editing style, and I think that aspect came out OK. The voice is the weak point. Also, what is she wearing?

I love the fire and piano though.

I often start resolutions at off times. In the middle of December I started to focus on exercising regularly, eating a healthier diet, and waking up earlier in the mornings.

December is a challenging time to start such a program, what with the fancy foods and strange holiday schedules, and not surprisingly I failed to keep my new commitments. But succeeding is less about being perfect than it is about recovering from setbacks, so I consider it a win that I’ve gotten back on track.

A resolution that tempts me is to play piano every day. I’d also like to write a blog post every day though, and to play with my cats a little each day, and to get back in touch with friends. To draw every day. To clean a bit of my house and garage each day. I can think of another few daily resolutions that appeal to me too.

If I try to do them all, I can’t succeed. More than that, I don’t believe I can even keep picking myself up and trying anew on all of them.

So my real resolution for 2009 is to keep myself from taking on so much. Fewer, better.

I am going to do that blogging every day thing though.

Here’s to a simpler and more wonderful 2009 for us all.

(Photo credit: To the horizon, originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey.)

So far, each day in December 2008 has been a little stranger than the last.

As a result, I’m definitely looking forward to a relatively quiet and peaceful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I don’t know that they’ll actually be quiet, but I can hope.

I wish you a happy holiday too.