You’ve heard the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention”? Well, sometimes irritation is also the mother of invention. In both cases, that can be a good thing.
Being creative often leads to a less costly solution. Sometimes it even leads to a better solution than the first thing that comes to mind. More importantly, being forced to invent a new solution helps us learn that there are alternatives to automatically spending money whenever we encounter a problem.
When the first thought that pops into your head when something breaks stops being “I need a new one!” and becomes “What are some other ways I could solve this?” or even “Is this something that needs solving?”, your financial life usually ends up looking much better.
It can also be fun to come up with a solution of your own, which was the case for me yesterday.
I needed to take photos of some book covers. Unfortunately, these were books with shiny silver lettering embossed on plain covers. Have you ever tried to take photos of reflective surfaces? It’s not fun, especially if you want a bunch of silver text to stand out crisply with no reflections showing.
I left one side untaped so I could slide a gray card and the book inside. Then I stuck my camera and head through the neck of the shirt and my arms through the sleeves, and shot the book cover.
To show you the difference this makes, a shot of the item in all its reflective glory taken outside the makeshift light box is on the left. The version shot inside it is on the right, and it looks much more true-to-life.
In this instance I actually like the reflective version better, but if I were going for realism — or, you know, shooting silver text that needed to be legible — the one without all the reflections is the way to go.
Simple or inexpensive solutions are out there if we spend a moment to think about it.
Brilliant how you came up with a simple solution.
I’m a big fan McGyvering. And duct tape.