Super Rat Machine Works Design
One of the best things about working in the creative industry is the luxury of being surrounded by amazingly passionate people. One of those people is Phil Wasson. I’ve known Phil for more than a decade now and his craftsmanship with all things metal is next to none. Over the years, I’ve collaborated with him on various projects including magazine articles, living situations, cooking recipes, you name it. A few years ago, he launched Super Rat Machine Works, a machine shop specializing in high-end, revolutionary BMX components.
This weekend, Phil and I sat down to rethink, redesign and reevaluate both the Super Rat website and the future business model of Super Rat’s online operation. If you ride BMX, or are at all interested in online business, you should keep tabs on Super Rat Machine Works in the coming months. Just yesterday, we launched the new website, which uses Wordpress as the CMS and a modified version of my Monochrome theme that I sell at Graph Paper Press. You can expect some innovative products from Super Rat Machine Works in the coming months.
Do It Yourself Lightbox
Professional product photography is one of the most overlooked aspects of running a successful online business. Bad photography can loose you sales. Good, clean product photography can increase sales. After all, your clients are basing their decision largely based on how the product looks in the photograph. This post is for all amateur photographers or online business owners looking for a professional product photography solution on a very tight budget.
Note: Some of the ideas in this post build off of light diffusion ideas available at Strobist.
What you need:
- Cardboard Box
- White cellophane (trash bags work too)
- 11 x 17 white office paper
- Clear tape
- Box cutters (the terrorist-free kind)
- Three 60 watt lamps
- Open the box
- Cut away windows from three side of the box
- Cut your white diffusion bag/cellophane/paper to fit the three windows
- Tape the diffusion onto the three sides
- Bend and tape the white paper to the bottom of the box, creating a seamless curve down onto the side of the box that was not cut.
- Set up the three lights, one on each side of the translucent white diffusion panels on the lightbox.
- Set your camera’s white balance on the incandescent setting (the light bulb).
- If shooting small products (lets say less than 6 inches tall), then set your camera on macro focus
- Start shooting
Total construction time: 15 minutes
This won’t win you the Pulitzer Prize, but it might earn you some sales.
