DIY Macro Photo Studio

Last Monday, when I was surfing the internet I find out about macro photo studio from viNcee in Low Yat forum. At first, I have no idea what it was but after a few reading, I realized that I already built it before but the set up was much simpler than at strobist.

A few years ago, I was selling some items on lelong.com.my. To attract buyers I had to take picture of all of my items. So, this was my first time experiencing macro photography. But with small budget, I only  used point and shoot (PnS) camera, a Canon Power A610.

The set up was so simple. I use 2 boxes and a few sheets of A3 paper. I use room light and camera flash as the lighting. The outcome was acceptable but because the source of light was minimum, I had very tough time to get a clear picture. Most picture were dark. Even with photoshop, I couldn't correct them.

When I read the guide in the Strobist and also some posts by forumers in Canon Digital Photography Forum, I found that their pictures are superb with their own design of Mini Studio. There are a lot of design. If I'm not mistaking, the price of those light box can easily reach thousand hundred ringgit base on the material and also the size. However, in strobist blogspot, they claimed that the cost of their macro mini studio are no more than $10. Is it true?

So I forked out my RM20 and go to the nearest stationary shop. I will not use "used box" because I will try to make my own box from scratch.

Part 6 - Installing PHPMyadmin

6.0 Installing and configuring PHPMyadmin

1. Extract the downloaded file into E:\ server\.
2. Change the folder name from phpMyAdmin-2.6.2-pl1 to phpmyadmin or any other name you like.
3. If you had followed step by step from the tutorial, your E:\server directory will look like this.
   E:\server
   +Apache2
   +mysql
   +php
   +phpmyadmin
   +www --> default directory
4. Because phpmyadmin folder is outside of our default directory, we cannot display or get any files or information from this folder when we typed http://localhost/phpmyadmin.
5. Now, open httpd.conf file.
6. Add this line:
   Alias /phpmyadmin "E:/server/phpmyadmin/"
   
   Order deny,allow
   Deny from all
   Allow from 127.0.0.1
   
7. The first line is to point /phpmyadmin as E:/server/phpmyadmin/, so every time we type http://localhost/phpmyadmin, we will be point to E:/server/phpmyadmin.
8. Line in is for security reason. Phpmyadmin can only be open by localhost which have IP 127.0.0.1. (This IP if I’m not mistaken is especially for localhost, so other computer cannot open this directory).
9. Restart your Apache2.
10. Open your browser and type http://localhost/phpmyadmin, http://127.0.0.1/phpmyadmin, http://***.***.***.***/phpmyadmin (type your ip address).
11. Previously, we had assign a password for our MySQL database. We cannot connect phpmyadmin to our database because by default phpmyadmin assume our administrator user ‘root’ has no password.
12. Now we need to edit config.inc.php located in phpmyadmin folder, again by using our powerful notepad. If you can’t find this file, try to search config.sammple.inc.php and change to config.inc.php.
13. Make these changes:
    

    From	To
    $cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ' '; Only if you type auth_type=cookie	$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = '(type anything, ex. jhgjhUAsAGjJS)'

14. Log in using your mysql username and password.

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Note : This guide is only a strip down version (no picture). For a complete guide please download this file. Only for personal webserver.

How to install Apache, MySQL PHP (Windows XP)

Part 5 - Editing httpd.conf

5.0 Editing httpd.conf

1. You can open httpd.conf in two ways.
   • Start Menu --> Programs --> Apache HTTP Server --> Configure Apache Server --> Edit the Apache httpd.conf
   • Open folder [Drive]:\server\Apache\conf\httpd.conf

Running PHP 5 as an Apache Module

1. Add following line in the file (can copy and paste to the end of httpd.conf):
   LoadModule php5_module "e:/server/php/php5apache2_2.dll"
   AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
   AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

Configuring the Default Index Page

1. Find DirectoryIndex. And add index.php.
   From -->DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var
   To -->DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var index.php
   This line tells Apache which file names to use when it looks for the default page for a given directory.
2. Save your file and restart Apache by click Start --> All Programs -- > Apache HTTP Server 2.2 --> Control Apache Server --> Restart or by right-click the icon in the system tray and select restart.
3. If all is well, Apache will start up again without any error.
4. If Apache cannot start, try Start Menu--> Apache HTTP Server --> Configure Apache Server --> Review Error Log and see what are the problem.

Configuring Document Root

1. I prefer to set my Directory Root other than default htdocs in Apache folder.
2. Find DocumentRoot "E:/server/Apache/htdocs" and change to other folder. I pick e:\server\www\.
   From --> DocumentRoot "E:/server/Apache/htdocs"
   To --> DocumentRoot "E:/server/www"
3. Do the same for,

Testing the PHP.

1. Make a new file named phpinfo.php by using any text editor.
2. Type this in the file.
   
3. Put the file in the E:\server\www\ (--> because previously we had assigned this directory as default).
4. Open your favorite web browser and type http://localhost/phpinfo.php.

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Note : This guide is only a strip down version (no picture). For a complete guide please download this file. Only for personal webserver.

How to install Apache, MySQL PHP (Windows XP)

Part 4 - Installing PHP

4.0 Installing and configuring PHP

1. Extract the zip file (php-5.2.6-Win32.zip) to [Drive]:\server\php.
2. Find the files called php.ini-recommended and rename it to php.ini.
3. Open php.ini with text editor. (I prefer to use Notepad ++)
4. Find ;extension=php_mysql.dll and delete “;”.
5. Find ;extension=php_mcrypt.dll and delete “;”.
6. Find extension_dir = "./" change to extension_dir = "./ext"
7. Right click My Computer --> Properties --> Advance Tab --> Environment Variable. In system variables select Path and press edit. Add your php folder in the list e.g. E:\server\php. (optional)

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Note : This guide is only a strip down version (no picture). For a complete guide please download this file. Only for personal webserver.

How to install Apache, MySQL PHP (Windows XP)

Part 3 - Installing MySQL

3.0 Installing and configuring MySQL

1. Unzip the downloaded file and run the setup.exe file.
2. Click --> Next.
3. Because we want to install in different folder, select Custom setup. Click --> Next.
4. In the next windows, select MySQL Server and click Change…
5. Change folder to [Drive]:\server\mysql. Click OK.
6. Click --> Next.
7. We are ready to install. Click --> Install.
8. After finish installing, some MySQL.com advertisement will come out. Click Next and Next. And in the next dialog box, tick Configure the MySQL Server now. Click Finish.
9. Click --> Next.
10. Select Standard Configuration for fresh installation. Click --> Next.
11. Check Install as Windows Service and Launch the MySQL Server automatically.
    Leave the Service Name as MySQL.
    Also check the Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH (optional).
    Click --> Next.
12. Write your root password.
    For security, your password should have mixed-case letters and alphanumeric.
    Check the Enable root access from remote machine.
    Click --> Next.
13. Click --> Execute.
14. Now we have finish using the wizard.
15. Click --> Finish.

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Note : This guide is only a strip down version (no picture). For a complete guide please download this file. Only for personal webserver.

How to install Apache, MySQL PHP (Windows XP)