P.S. to previous 'Tech Talk Tuesday' post

In the last post, I realized there were a whole lot of words and no photos.  That is a disgrace for a photography blog!!  So I wanted to show those of you who are 'afraid of the flash' that it's easier than you think.  Here is the image, SOOTC that I took 5 minutes ago on my dining room table:

LIGHT READING or ENLIGHTENED READING?

I probably should have waited until evening to take this photo and show off the candle light effect better, but I was impatient.  So I closed the shutters in the dining room, but still had to contend with the light from huge windows in the great room on the other side that also light up the dining room.  Luckily it is a dark and overcast day.  I lit the candles and took some test shots, and saw that the light was too dark on the Bible, which is my main point of interest.  So I put my camera flash on a stand, and placed it to the right of where I was standing, and pointed it at the Bible.  The flash spilled over onto everything and made the whole image bright and boring while I was going for a more moody feel.  So considering my previous lighting post, I started thinking about how I could simply modify the light.  I needed to make it more directional, more like a spot light.  See photo below for my complicated light modifier:

I hope this doesn't ruin the impact of the first image, because there's not much mood or feeling to this shot!!  But I wanted to show you what I did in 5 minutes.  After I moved the dining room chairs out of the way, I experimented with different candles and compositions.  I took some test shots until I got the composition I wanted, remembering to emphasize the focal point of the image with a narrow depth of field.  Then I lit the candles and started fiddling with the light.  This photo shows my final set up.  One light, my camera flash unit, mounted on a stand!  That's it!  And that professional looking light modifier is three pieces of typing paper taped around the flash.  I could have used a fancy 'snoot' modifier or other type of spot if I'd had one,  but I think this high lights the words 'Holy Bible' very nicely.  Oh, I also experimented with the amount of flash as well.  See how simple this was?  There really is no excuse not to use off camera lighting when you are shooting indoors!!

I hope this little tutorial has been 'enlightening' and more importantly, I hope we all are 'enlightened' this season by welcoming the 'Light of Christ' into our lives.