Lights... Camera... Cat?

Light boxes, according to people over at the MLP Arena, are awesome tools for getting the best photographs of ponies or items in general.  I was intrigued by the ideas presented in this post. Good lighting in photos. Hm. 

I love the idea of a light box, but have never built one because of the room it would take up.  Sure, I have the space for 800 ponies, but certainly not for a gigantic box to take photos in!  Besides, any box left laying around here instantly becomes a cat bed.

This idea popped into my head in the birthplace of most ideas, the shower. Why not make a three sided lightbox that can be propped up and flattened for storage? I quickly scribbled down the idea before leaving for work and purchased my supplies on the way home.

Supplies needed:

Ruler/Yard stick
Tape
Xacto Knife
Pencil
Paper
Foam Board (whatever size you want.  I got the largest Kroger had available)

Using your handy dandy graphite marking tool and ruler, measure the foam board into thirds.

 

After you have your board neatly divided, measure measure 1" in from the sides. You need to make windows for the light to get through, so you want to mark what will be cut out on each panel.

 Carefully cut out each window panel. It's best to do this before the next step, or else the board will be too flimsy to hold up when you cut the sides.  Be careful you don't cut yourself! If you're afraid of the knife, allow your feline assistant to help you.

 

Now, carefully cut along the lines dividing the panel into thirds.  You don't want to cut all the way through the foam board, just through the first paper layer and the foam layer.  This will allow the board to bend, but stay together.

 

 Your light box is almost ready to use! It should be able to stand up on its own. 

 

 Now, all you have to do is tape the paper to the openings.  This will diffuse the light and soften shadows.

Your light box is now ready to use!  If it's too short, you can easily prop it up with whatever you have laying around.  I use the green magnetic strips above the art desk to hang fabric from for my backdrops. A lamp was placed at each of the openings to even out the lighting.  Be sure to inspect the inside for any trace of cat treats before photographing ponies!

 

 And, to show an example of how useful a light box is, the following picture was taken without the lightbox, but with the same three-lamp setup. Notice the shadows between Pinkie's eyes, the sharp shadow on her neck, and the dark shadow under her?  It's not a bad photo, but it can certainly be better.

 

 This photo was taken with the light box.  The camera settings and light setup are exactly the same. I really should have taken the time to iron my fabric and crop out the light box edges, but those aren't the main focus of the photo.  See how Pinkie is now an even color and almost glows?  This is the difference a light box can make.

 There is a lot more information out there on post-processing your photos and on various lightbox setups.  In fact, I have some nice resources for you!

 When you're done with your photo shoot, the light box can be flattened and placed behind the art desk or wherever you choose to store it. No massive thing to take up precious pony space, but all the benefit!  What more could you ask for?  Chocolate, maybe, but you'll just have to buy that for yourself ;)




Additional lightbox and photo resources:

Taking Professional Looking Photos Without a Professional
Pictures of Ponies and how to take them

Happy Valentine's Day!

What better way to celebrate a made-up holiday than with the official pink party pony?

Have an orange and enjoy your day, be it Single's Awareness Day, Hearts and Hooves Day, or just plain old Tuesday =)

MLP Arena

The Arena is back!  And it's even more amazing than ever =)  This had to be the hardest week ever, not visiting the Arena and getting my daily multi-hour dose of ponies.

Priming the Stable- AKA Covering Myself in Paint

Now that the barn is all clean, it’s ready to be primed. Because of all the discoloration and difference in textures from where the stickers were, I want to be sure the paint will stick and go on smoothly. So, a primer is necessary.

I bought Model Master Custom Spray Enamel. It’s specially formulated for polystyrene plastic (model cars), so it should work just fine for a pony play set.  This primer came from Hobby Lobby and I used a 40% off coupon, so it came out to about $3.50. In my area, Hobby Lobby has the best selection of model car paints and supplies.

The roof of the Show Stable is purple and I don’t want to paint it.  It’s already the perfect color for Sweet Apple Acres, so that’s a bit of work I can save myself. But, since I don’t want to paint the roof, I have to cover it up.  Kitty Litter Box Liner to the rescue! I got an awesome deal on litter box liners ($0.50 a box!) and snatched up half of the stores stock, which was about a years supply.  Got home to discover they don’t fit the litter box, so they have sat in the drawer for months until I could figure out what to do with them. This is the perfect situation to use up a couple of those liners.

I gathered all of the supplies I would need to mask off the roof: masking tape, scissors I've had since 1st grade, and the litter box liner.  A plastic bag would probably work just as well.

The tape was cut to size and placed under the eves of the roof.  I then put the plastic over the tape, folded the tape upwards with the plastic on it, and taped it securely into place.  The pictures probably describe this a little better than I can.  The gap between the eves and side of the building is very small, so I used the scissors to make sure the tape was firmly attached underneath. The same process was followed for the coupe la.

 


This thing took up a ton of tape!  But, it’s neatly wrapped up and the parts that don’t need primer on them are safe.  Time to head outside into the sunshine and get messy.

Another litter box liner was cut open and weighted down with rocks to hold it in place.  I started spraying a nice, even layer and things were going along swimmingly, despite the light breeze that kept depositing white flecks on my arms and legs. When I was finished with the outside walls, I moved to the inside, and then tried to do the floor.  Oops!  One can of paint, while sufficient for multiple model cars, is not enough to cover an entire pony stable. Well, it needed three hours between coats, so I had time to run back to Hobby Lobby! 

One more can of paint later and I was finished with the fun step of priming. Now I just have to wait 48 hours before sanding.

Cleaning the Show Stable

This part of prep-work for the future Sweet Apple Acres Cat House was done a while ago, but it's important none-the-less!  Besides, these tips can be used for any pony playset with the intent to restore or customize.

When I got the stable, it was covered in a weird white powder. You could tell it had been stored in someones garage.  Now, the stickrs on this were very odd.  Normally, when I get a playset, the stickers are falling off, but not on this one! The stickers seem to have fused with the plastic.

As with any restoration/cleaning process, I start with the least chemical-laden method possible. These stickers are just paper, right?  Soak them in water! I filled the tub and let the whole playset soak.  Later, I realized I forgot the door, so it got to chill out in the sink while I scrubbed the playset with Spic'n'Span and a Magic Eraser.

Soaking only removed the top layer, which turned into a papery mess.  But, at least that was off! Time to scrub.

Scrubbing started out with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser...

Didn't work. Neither did the scrub brush. A search online suggested WD40 for removing the adhesive.  After nearly passing out from the fumes and letting it set in the garage overnight, I discovered that WD40 does nothing for dried adhesive other than turn the playset into a slimy mess that needed to be washed yet again. By the way, it takes some serious grease cutting power to get WD40 off, so use at your own risk.

Now, it was time to get serious on removing that adhesive residue!

Sand paper!  I used a sand paper block that was 650 grit.  This did the trick on smoothing out the walls.  The whole playset had to sit in the tub again to get all of the sandpaper dust and adhesive powder off. 

I think the adhesive discolored the plastic under it. In fact, if you look in the corners, you can see yellowed glue from where the walls were put together. Hey, it's smooth and it'll be painted over anyway.


Finally, I have a clean base, ready for priming!

Smile!

Sometimes, you just need to cram yourself into a tiny basket and reach for what you love

Inspiration for my next project!

Well, October was certainly full of changes for me. I got a job!  Yay!  And, the best part is, it's part time.  That means I still have time to spend online. Well, now that I have a schedule figured out, that is.

Hopefully now that all the insanity of October is over, I can focus on projects. I have about a dozen things I'm working on right now, but really want to focus on this one.

My current project is one that will certainly take a while, but should be quite rewarding. About three months ago, my wonderful father found a bunch of ponies at a garage sale.  About 20 ponies were crammed into the Show Stable and the whole lot was only $10! Awesome!  I was thrilled about getting so many ponies so cheaply, but at a loss for what to do with the stable.  The stable was horribly yellowed, missing three of the five doors, the weathervane was bent and ready to fall off... In short, I couldn't sell this thing for $5 in that condition.  It got stuck out in the garage for the past few months until inspiration struck.

Spinky69er posted this picture in a thread at the MLP Arena:

Isn't her cat adorable?  He fits in that Paradise Estate so perfectly and looks quite at home.  But, there are clearly accessories there to get in his way and it doesn't look very comfortable. I think he needs a special cat house to live in.  Well, maybe not this cat in particular, but some cat needs a pony house!

I ran out to the garage, grabbed my stable, and tracked down my faithful assistant Mist Luin (Misty).  Is the Show Stable large enough for a cat to fit inside comfortably?

I think that's a yes. Now to start the customization process!