Learning to Work with Light

My husband gave me a bouquet of flowers, which is where these flowers came from ... a nice bright spot in the middle of winter. I'm glad he likes to surprise me.

 I thought I would try taking some pictures of them using a DIY lightbox I made a short time ago.  I found the directions for making one on the internet, and made a small one. Mine looks a bit different than the one on the internet but I believe it can work, so I tried it with some of the flowers. I found that it was difficult to get the background pure white - I believe my lights are not strong enough. I'll have to look for some different lights. Always something to learn.

But in the meantime,  I decided that since I didn't have a completely white background, I would have some fun and use a couple of the LED flashlights that I have (plus my external flash) to play with the light on the flowers. You can see some of the results of my experimenting below.

Finally, I took one of the pictures that I liked the best, and added a reflection during the post-production part. I used Photoshop Elements, which walks you through the process of adding a reflection. The other photos were not touched or changed except to work a bit with the levels.

When I've worked hard all week, I enjoy coming home and having a change while I learn more about photography. It's also good to take time to enjoy God and His creation. His creation or Handiwork is there for us to enjoy ... enjoy ... but not to worship.  His creation is wonderful to look at, but we need to remember that the most important thing about it is that it can point us to Him. We have a great, big, wonderful God who has created us.

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.Psalm 107:1