For this set, I took the flower out on the patio.

Here, I set it on the railing, to the left, facing the sun.




















In this shot, I set the vase on the right end of the railing, with the sun directly behind it.

Here, I moved the vase a little to the left, so that the sun is behind and to the right. This lets the sunlight filtering through the petal light up the core of the flower for a more even exposure.


This is the one of this set I will probably work on and eventually submit.

All these pictures (including the first set) were taken only a minute or two apart. Taking just a little time to think about and look over your available lighting can make a big difference in your photo.

All of the pictures in this tutorial were taken somewhere in this scene. I used the light exactly as you see it here. Not even reflectors. The changes in lighting were all done by simply moving my subject around.








Here is the "snapshot" version of the subject. A peace lily in a glass. (I know it's out of focus, this is about the lighting)

















The only editing I have done in the following pictures is to crop them to similar scale, and paint the backgrounds black. I have done no other editing.

Here is the lily where it was sitting in the first picture.



















Here it is rotated 90 degrees, and moved a few inches. this puts it under one of the little spotlights on the underside of the cabinets.

















Here, I have rotated it another 90 degrees, and moved it two feet closer to the wall. Here, it is not only under a spotlight, it is getting some sunlight from the patio door.
















Any of these could be improved with editing, but the last one is starting from a better place. It has a crisper focus because there was more light on the subject. The color is closer to correct, and the lighting is more even.

The second picture could be made nice, as well. The shadows are more interesting than in the third picture. But, it would be tricky to get the contrast adjusted well without bringing out the grain.

The first picture is hopeless, and not worth spending time doing further editing on. Adjusting the contrast for a lively appearance would produce grain, and the shallow depth of field would make it unacceptable for many stock sites.


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