Looking for a little help

[johnboyjjb]

Airhead has been nice enough to help me get pictures to the decent level. I do not want to monopolize his time and so I am asking the multitude that is cmon:

How can I improve my pics?
I purchased a pair of lamps with reveal bulbs that sit over my lightcube. My camera sits right outside on its tripod. And when all is done, I pull up a convenient little article in the Photography forum and run my pics through photoshop. In the end I am left with this (which isn\'t a great representation of my work but is much better then before):

 

[airhead]

I set the lamps right against the light cube on the sides. Let the halo effect of the fabric diffuse it around the mini.

I often worry about melting a hole in my cube as I put the lights right up to the side of the cube.

Second, are you using the macro settings on your camera?

Do you have light metering options to only measure the mini instead of including the background? If not, go to a 30% gray or darker background.