twhitewood

These are very first shots ever done in my brand new black box I built today. I refuse to call it a product box, because....I just do. But it is essentially a product box. I want it to have the qualities of a product box. But I won't be placing products in it for commerce's sake.

So this is the very first test....and I don't like the outcome. It may be I'm not used to it, maybe it really isn't that bad. But I can see a few things wrong with it and I know a few reasons that caused them. However, if anyone's had any experience with a black box or product box, I'd really appreciate your comments.

First of all, the dof is probably too narrow. And maybe 50mm isn't the right lens for this. Will try with other lenses later.
Second, aperture priority might not be the best option for this.
Third, the quality of light / light source. I used a floor lamp for the above and two torches for the sides. One of them l.e.d. torch as you can see, coming from the left. It was all I had at hand then, I just wanted to see if the set up could work. But that's gonna be a problem - I just don't have that many lights.
Fourth, not so sure I built the box itself right. Especially unsure about the quality of tracing paper I used - might have been a little bit too thick, uneven and yellow. And in some photos you can see the line where the two black papers meet. Didn't do that good a job gluing the paper down. In fact, I didn't use glue, I seem to have misplaced glue altogether. But that line shouldn't be wavy like that should it?

In any case, am I placing too great demands on the box itself? Perhaps the box is fine and the main problem is the light? Is there anything more I can do in-camera?
Please don't suggest Photoshop - I've already gone as far as I can with what I have. In any case, that's a different topic altogether. And on these photos I didn't use much or any post-tinkering.

In the Ozark home where the "Little House on the Prairie" books were written. The reed organ dating to the 1890s, the record player and buffet are all preserved as Laura Ingalls Wilder arranged them in her home on Rocky Ridge Farm. The 1917 portrait depicts Rose Wilder Lane in San Francisco.

Photo by Leslie A. Kelly, 1991.