Wednesday, November 11, 2009

NOTD OPI Merry Midnight


I apologize for the quality of these photos. It seems that I am no longer home when the sun is out (I feel like a vampire!) and thus my photographing quality is suffering. If any of you have any advice about nighttime/indoor pics, let me know! I'm thinking about making a lightbox but I've heard it's very difficult to do.

Anyway, right now I am in the midst of a "nervous breakdown," as I keep calling it, though it is of course nowhere near that. Basically, I am starting to freak out about how much I have to do. Next week I have a 15 page research proposal due and in less than a month I have 3 20-page papers due. Although I have my topics picked out, I have yet to actually have any time to gather all of my research together. *sigh* All in the life of a graduate student.

So tomorrow is my birthday and I'm keeping my fingers for Lippmann Happy Birthday! If I get it I'll post pics of it asap! I also ordered my first Konad supplies this week and I should get my package later this week. I will post my most likely terrible Konad attempts as soon as I get to use it! :)

So here's my current NOTD OPI Merry Midnight. Um, seriously, I think I need about 46849835 backups!

This is 3 coats. It went on smoothly, dried fast, and this is the 3rd day of this mani. Can you believe it???!! It has worn like IRON!!


With flash so you can see my terrible application skills magnified (lol). Sorry for the weird angle!


Again, I'm really sorry for these awful pics. I'd love photographing tips from anyone!

Thanks for reading!

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11 comments:

flinty said...

Seriously, I'm kinda considering dishing out the money for one of those eBay mini-lightboxes. I absolutely have no daylight hours these days for swatching and it's totally depressing. I keep telling myself that in about one month, days will start getting longer again!

Paige said...

That polish is gorgeous!!!

polishedlyrics said...

It looks beautiful. Good luck with all the papers, and I think my school is hard sometims, you've got me beat by oh about 100 miles!

The Austrian said...

Tip from a photography student - I made my first home studio with a bunch of clamp on reflector lamps with 100 watt light bulbs from the hardware store. One should be enough for taking pictures of the nails. You know, the kind of lamps that people use in their workshops. It's really cheap and works ok. If you want to dim the light, you can just throw a white sheet over it.

Renie said...

I have thought about making this light box here (http://jyoseph.com/diy-light-box-for-product-photography/)

otherwise I use a lamp with reveal light bulbs and set the white balance with a tripod which seems to work just fine!

Unknown said...

I think I'm going to have to get Merry midnight at some point!
I am making a lightbox

Unknown said...

I hope you have a great birthday tomorrow!!!!
Good luck with all the school work you got at the moment. Just remember you can only do one thing at a time.
We are nail twins, I figured I should finally try Merry midnight, so I layered it over sexy divide which I put on last night.

The Glitterati said...

I've heard that you can make a pretty decent light box by using a large tupperware container (like those used for sweater storage) that's made of translucent plastic. Place it on it's side, so the opening is facing you and you are looking into the box, staring at what would normally be the bottom of the container.

Cut a piece of matte white bristol board the width of the box, and apx the length of the bottom + 1 side of the box. Secure one 'short' edge of the poster board to the top edge of the back of the box with some tape. Then, push the board in so that it curves against the back of the box, and secure the free short edge to the bottom front of the box. Basically, you'll end up with a box where the left, right, and top walls are uncovered by poster board, but the back and bottom of it are covered by the curving (i.e., seamless) white poster board. Then you position a bright desk lamp around the box as necessary, shining light into it through the box's walls.

I'm likely doing a very poor job of explaining this, but the idea is to let light diffuse softly through the sides or top of the box, with the curved poster board acting as an 'endless' blank background on which to position your hand or NP bottles for photos.

Anyway, it all sounds fantastic in theory, but naturally I am too lazy to try it out myself. :) The plus side is that it's relatively inexpensive, and when you're not using it as a lightbox, you can just use the tupperware to store things.

Lucy said...

You'll get everything together! Don't have any breakdowns. Happy Birthday to you. I hope you have a wonderful day. Merry Midnight is a gorgeous polish. I have to buy this one. I also want to get Happy Birthday. It's a party in the bottle. The more I see it the more I like it.

ReaderRita said...

If you don't feel comfortable throwing a sheet over a 100 watt bulb, the other thing you can do is aim the bright light at a reflector. Here is an inexpensive way to make a reflector- find one of those cheap folding car-window-sun-block things; but look for the kind that has metallic gold (which will reflect warm) on one side, and metallic silver (will reflect cool) on the other- I got mine at Target. Decide whether you want warm light or cool light, flip it to the corresponding side, and point it gently at what you are photographing (usually, just slant it toward your subject). Then take your light and aim it at the reflector. Adjust both things (lights/reflector) until you are satisfied, paying attention to what will be seen by the camera. You can also aim the reflector at your background. (curved posterboard as mentioned above works great) I've done this for years, and it works really well- brighter, yet not harsh. Yay!

beachgal said...

I finally popped for buying a bottle of this. I got it for $23 including postage, new so hope it is in good shape when it arrives!

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