Blogging Essentials worth Investing in - Lighting!

When I was asked by the amazing people at Joebloggers "What are the things worth investing in" as part of a Legal and General campaign, I took some time to think about it. It was quite a gloomy day and I had been attempting to take some blog photos for hours, the light being horrid, I downed my camera and quickly had a strop, grunted and sighed alot - then the answer came to me - Lighting!

So having made my decision I did a bit of research, read a few blogs that gave hints and tips and decided that a portable Camera Photo Studio Box Light Lighting Cube Tent Kit with Tripod would be brilliant and the kit I had seen came with four backdrops at a cost of £35.  Now to some people, this might not seem like a lot, but I have little room to spread myself about, I live in a one bed flat, affectionately referred to as 'the shoebox' and there are three cats who also live here and like to be actively involved in everthing, so this for me is the perfect solution.

When my package arrived, I was far too excited, the box was huge and I momentarily forgot what it was, then came a squeal of delight.  Inside my box I had the following:

• Studio box size: 50x50x50cm
• Double warm white LED spot light
• Light cable length: 150m (each)
• Backdrop color: Black, Blue, White, Red
• Tripod and stand

Now to be, this is the best bit of kit, besides my Canon EOS1000D camera that I own and it most definitely makes taking pictures a lot easier, especially when it is dark outside!

Described as being a complete photo studio kit, I was delighted to find that it folds away into a neat carry case which takes up absolutely no room at all and I can put it neatly away in my wardrobe or under the bed out of the way. Setting the whole thing up was also incredibly easy too, much more so than I thought it would be and everything is fully adjustable, the tripod which fits my camera perfectly, allows for me to take a really nice close up without getting my hands, camera strap and anything else in the way. Once set up, it is made of both aluminium and steel and is really sturdy, the height is fully adjustable as well going from 25cm to 45cm, though I am yet to change it from the original settings.

The box itself is made is 100% pure white nylon fabric with a stainless steel frame photographic light tent and given it's size, everything that I need to photograph, including any of the cats, fits in there nicely. If I decide to change the background to either blue, red, or black, I can easily do so and each one fits snugly using a velcro fastening.

The final important item within the box are the two LED Lights/Lamps which also fold away and again you can adjust the light angle using a simple click of a button.

I am chuffed to bits with this piece of kit and whilst I am still getting to grips with how it works properly, I hope some of you will begin to notice the changes to my photographs.

If this sounds like something you fancy trying out, you can find it HERE.

Do you use lighting to take photos? is there something you would recommend?

Purrfect Box!

When asked if I would like to review a subscription box, I was all excited, I then continued reading to find the email was infact meant for one of my cats and not for me. If you read my blog or my Hubby's blog, you will know that we have three cats, all male tabby's and often mentioned with the moniker #furkids attached to them and they often make appearances on Instagram.

The Purrfect box** is a brand new UK subscription service which allows you to treat your cat, or your dog each month you will receive each month treats, toys, accessories, hygiene and personal care products customized and based on the cat's age, size, weight, fur type and preferences. Each month has a different theme so you get different goodies each month. The cost is £19.50 per month or £15.50 if you subscribe yearly and this was what was in my first box.

As you can see, there was some excitement as to what was in the box.  My boys love boxes and paper bags, especially Primark bags, so as soon as they see one, they want to be in it.

So in the box there are five different items, all nicely packaged ready to get your cats attention. So in my box we had:

Hills Cat Shrimp Snacks - These are heart-shaped biscuits which most definitely remind me of shrimp paste, you know the stuff that you used to get in sandwiches from your Nan, and as soon as the packet was open, all three of mine wanted to know what they were.

Trixie Multivitamin Paste - I wasn't too sure how this would be recieved, but unsurprisingly, all three of them loved it as soon as I squirted some onto the pink box they had been fighting over just moments ago.  The description says it will add shine and lustre to their coats, so I intend to add some to their food each morning to see if there is a notable difference.

A Spot Laser Toy - Always guaranteed to have hours of fun with this, as soon as the batteries are in and the red light appears, off they go zooming around trying in vain to catch the red spot.

As you can see by the noisy video below, Dexter was trying as hard as he could to catch the red spot.

The Wasabycat Scratching Post - This caused the most amount of interest in my box, infact I couldn't;t get near it for a good hour whilst the three of them fought over it, rubbed themselves over it and generally became a dribbling wreck.  The post itself, is more of a box which has little vents in it to shove the accompanying catnip into.  It has a scratching mat on the top and out of the three of mine, Asbo scratches the most and Dude tries to chew it.

The final item is a 4Cats Valerian Heart Toy and again, this was fought over too, possibly because it had been next to the catnip in the box and the scent had clearly rubbed off.  This is a favourite of Dude and he had a great time playing with it, as did Asbo when he could get near it and Dexter just sat back and watched everyone generally looking a bit daft.

To see the look on the faces of my three boys as soon as I opened the box was amazing, they loved each and every item within the box, which you can see from the photos and even now, a few weeks after getting the box, all of the items are still played with, rolled over chewed, dribbled on and fought over, so for me, this is great value for money and is definitely something I would think of subscribing too.

What do you think to this box? Have you got it, would you buy it?