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Picked up two new lights yesterday, early birthday presents (Thank you mum and dad) I took the home and checked them out, set all my kit up, all pucker until we had a power cut. After getting power back on one of the lights would not switch back on, nothing, dead as a door nail.

After a little creative shouting, I tried a different plug, success! simply the fuse had blown, the light was now working again.

Or so I thought, less than five minutes later smoke and the smell of best described as burnt chicken marinated in dust came wafting out of the light. A brown sticky residue dripped from the light, onto the floor to match my new puddle of tears.

The light has gone back today to been replaced, should be here tomorrow.

Any who, I still I have two lights, one old, un-PAT-tested and one and a brand new shiny one.

So I had a  small test run with my little cousin, the pictures came out pretty nice, I still have to tweak the colour and sharpness. This shot is a little too pink and a little too sharp, on close inspection on the print you can really notice it.

This was a two light setup, one from behind inside the backdrop and a softbox from the top right, the results are good, but would be a lot better if I had another light.

This is the effect I’m going for:

Which isn’t out of my reach,  just a little bit more practice and colour tweaking.

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Phase 1.9 – Method Preparation

Need to be done before 6th
Setup lights + back drop, take photos
Print photos, frame them on studio walls
Finish off ‘Coming Soon!’ poster – put up in shopping centre
Print up hand out price lists
Contact local paper, try and get them to run a story on ‘PhotoNOW!’
Make up a reprint order sheet.

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Alrighty then. I have my shopping list, I still need to do a little research on the backdrop. I know what I want, but I need a backdrop with some display area behind it and around it.

Kinda like these eight panel display stands, as I’m still not 100% sure how I’ll get it all to fit around this will now be my top priority, designing the studio layout!

I went to a few stores today to try and pick some Epson ink for my R1800 to test it out and make sure it was working OK, but could I find anywhere with some in stock? Now I have to wait a few days for the ink to come, very annoying.

Shopping List:
- Canon LBP5050 Laser – £132.25
- FotoSpeed Ink Flow System – £97.85 (If the printer is still working ok – she’s a few years old now)
- Various Frames from Kenro – about £50 worth
- A few custom made shirts – about £40 worth

Things I still need to look at:
- Back drop and display system
- Table and chair
-  Something to sit small children on

I’ve decided to ‘borrow’ some carrier bags and photo holders from my last job to save some money.

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Phase 1.5 – Method Preparation

I just need purchase remaining parts I need, then I really need to get a test run going!

Things to do:
Make a studio layout / floor plan.
Get ready for a test run.
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Other Stuff:

Feels like an unproductive day as I wasted far to long hunting down ink, but I did get my hands on a Kenro catalogue + trade price list, some really nice frames in there!

Also I started scribbling down floor plan ideas.

Trying to make myself feel better, when really I should just be working harder. I hate wasting time on poor planning, I should’ve phoned a few stores before heading out instead of assuming they have things instock.

Grrrrrr!