High Key
1/5s (f2.8 ISO 100) - 50 mm lens

Low Key
1/30s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Front Lighting
1/13s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Side Lighting
1/15s (f2.8 ISO 100) - 50 mm lens

Backlighting
1/50s (f2.5 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Top Lighting
1/30s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Emphasis on Texture
1/50s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Concentrated Light
1/50s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Diffused Light
1/50s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

Light Painting
1/30s (f22 ISO 2)00 - 50 mm lens

I was quite happy with my efforts in focusing on the exposure triangle, and I switched fairly often between Manual, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority based on what I was trying to capture in each photo, and the settings I needed control over (or did not need).

My biggest struggle with this particular series was capturing the image itself—as it relates to composition and my overall happiness with each image. On one hand I was very surprised with each shot. There were a few that initially turned out blurry or with an exposure level I did not like. However, the more I progressed with retaking images and with capturing the required images in the series, the pickier I became with each shot. I found myself regularly reaching the Concentrated Light image portion, only to go back and reshoot all images again—either because I decided on a different composition, or I wanted to change the light I used for a particular image. Some images selected came from the first one or two attempts whereas others came from the tenth round! It’s probably easy to figure out which came from that later series, based on the disappearance of the red flowers which started to fall apart the more I fiddled with the arrangement—and switching out the backgrounds!

Generally I know when I am done, but this series was the most personally challenging in finding a stopping point—which also explains the date range for the caption!

The other struggle was dealing with the light. I shot in an area of my home where I can easily control the natural light with blackout panels in the windows. However, finding the right variation between the natural light needed in the assignment, versus the use of artificial light and various equipment served as an ongoing experiment. I do love how the light painting image made the flowers look purple, however this is another image I struggled with quite a bit. The smallest flashlight I could find had hue that was too blue. I played around with diffusers to compensate along with different camera settings. I tried different lanterns and flashlights and at one point had the diffuser panel balanced on my head and against the backdrop so I could simultaneously paint with the light. In the end, I found all tweaks I made still produced a similar looking image.

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