I've always wondered why my pictures never come out right..

.. I found out why over the weekend at aunt's place.

It's simply the lighting. 

You see, I stay in an apartment. I bake in the afternoons. I finish and take my photos at night. Is it any wonder my photos never "pop"???!!

Of course, I admit my photography, composition and styling skills are suspect .. and definitely WIP, work-in-progress (^^||)..

And the fact that I never "photoshopped" before .. and still exploring pixlr now..

But now that I have confirmed what I suspected (everyone talks about using natural lighting! but it's not something I can do much about).. it can only get better from here (^^)!

Anyways, the 3 pictures above were taken at aunt's with plenty of natural lighting.. but I "photoshopped" with HDR effect.

Now the pictures below, taken at the same place are originals.. no use of any effect. What do you think?

a pre-WWII teacup set belonging to my late grandfather

I say, what a lot of difference good lighting does to a picture! (^^)

And the best part, I took them all with just an iPhone 4S! So easy, just point to focus and brighten.. and the pix all turned out great! I know, I know.. it's the LIGHTING! (^^)

Now the 3 pictures above, I took with my compact at about 2pm by my apartment's balcony door.. natural lighting, no effects (photoshop) used. I think the pictures turned out really well (^^)!

I'm so glad for the short trip home.. not only did I find my "lighting".. I found lots of "treasures" amongst "junk" at aunt's place! I found a nice slab of wood, and lots of vintage plates, glasses, teapots and teacup sets.. some dating back to pre-war! What a find (^^)!

Happy! Happy! Happy is me! (^^) I love you, sei yee! I love you, tai yee!