Photographing your finished products

For a while, I was just snapping pictures with my cell phone to upload to Facebook, which was fine as far as that went, but the picture quality was really only good enough for small-ish pictures viewed on a screen. They look pretty bad on paper or when enlarged. I finally took out my camera, which gets better quality pictures, has zoom function, etc. I even used a tripod the last couple of days because by the time I'm done making a bunch of truffles, I'm usually tired and shaking enough to affect the picture quality. Then there's lighting--Depending on the time of day I get done, the lighting in my kitchen will be different. This morning, I actually ended up opening the blinds to approximate the level of light I got the previous time I took pictures, which was in the afternoon. Still, the angle of the light was different. I'm curious to hear any tips or tricks anyone has for getting good consistent shots, or whether you've ever had professional pictures of your creations taken and whether you felt it was worth the expense.