Arrrrggghhh!!!!

So Thursday, we had people come over who were affiliated with PG&E's "Care Program".  The good news?  They check your house for energy efficiency and replace any lighting or appliances that are not energy efficient (if our fridge had been two years older, we would have gotten a new fridge out of the deal).  They ended up replacing almost all of our lighting with fluorescent lights and pretty new fixtures.  Sounds great, right?  And honestly, I really am grateful.  Except for the fact that the new lighting has completely thrown off my photography skills in my doll room!!

I've worked for a long time to figure out how to take pics in there just right.  I don't like using flash because it's too harsh.  Sometimes my pics were a little dark, but for the most part I had a system that worked.

Now, the fluorescent lighting is way too bright and makes for unprofessional-looking pics.  I'm seriously tempted to be un-efficient and replace the bulbs with regular ones again! [Side note:  I talked to my hubby about this idea and it probably won't happen.  Apparently, these are special lights that are supposed to last for 13 years, so the light fixture is not the easiest to get into.]   I had a whole photo story planned out...Tess and Hailey's goodbye to Ella.  The pics looked okay on my little camera, but when I looked at them up-close today, they were pretty bad.  I guess that's what I get for not checking them on the computer Thursday night.  Now Ella is in a box on her way across the country, so I can't even retake them! :{

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!

Okay, forgive my rant.  I'm fine now.  I just finished the "Goodbye Post" on Tess and Maggie's blog, and the pics weren't quite as bad as I thought they'd be.  The lighting just looks weird to me.  They may not look as bad on the blog, but they sure look crummy on the full screen.  I'm definitely going to have to work on this.   

Okay, I just uploaded the above pic and it doesn't look nearly as bad as it did up close.  Maybe there's hope yet.  I'll just have to figure out something new for my headers and other big pics.