Photography:
What do you need?
1. camera
2. tripod
3. pieces of white (colored) background
4. light
If I have time, I use my DSLR for taking pics. But my compact camera is usually closer at hand, and I can start shooting much faste, because with my DSLR I have to get it out of the shelves, change lens, check battery, get my strobe from another bag, check batteries again, get my Flash Remote triggers, and check batteries and working again... anyhow.
I like to have a white background for my pics. Originally I got myself 3 white plastic boards and put 1 down on a stable horizontal surface.
I try to put this in the corner of a room, so I can use the other 2 boards for standing against the wall.
but it depends on the time of day.. if its still bright outside, you can probably use daylight, especially bouncing of a large white surface (cloth/plastic board etc)
For my DSLR; I usually use my flash for bouncing of the ceiling, so it has a widely spread, and pretty diffuse style of lighting.
For my compact camera; I take the tripod and set it about 30-50 cm from the object. I then change the shutter speed so that it takes a long exposure, and not changing the Aperture, so a lot of light comes into the lens, which would give enough light to over expose the white background, so there are no visible imperfections, and it doesnt turn gray, like it would with a Auto exposure.
For taking pictures, light is the most important factor.
For some pictures where I didnt want to use my DSLR because too time consuming, and I my room lights werent bright enough, I used my SRK and put it tailstanding, not too far away from the flashlight I wanted to photograph.
The camera should be on a tripod, or something stable.
I then use one of the white boards, and bounce the light onto the flashlight. This way it takes away harsh black shadows, and still enough light to take a good picture.
any other thoughts?