As I was saying . . .

It's light that makes a photo.



Your camera determines there is not enough light, so it uses flash. Yuk!


Turn off the flash, fire up your studio light and place it to your left. Yuk!

Soften that harsh studio light with a diffuser of some sort. Maybe a scrim. Now we're getting somewhere.

Add a second light to the right of the image, and adjust the distances of the two lights from the subject, observing the shadows as you do this. (These days you won't have to worry much about exposure; it's all automatic.)

It's looking pretty good now. So take the picture. By the way, if you don't have two lights, try using a piece of white cardstock to reflect light from the first light into the shadows.

(A cheap 4' x 4' reflector might be more important to good photos than an expensive camera. If you can't take good pictures with a good cheap digital camera, buying a more expensive camera might just be a waste of money.)

For more information like this, take a look at these two web pages:

GRANT'S SET-UP

DOUG'S SET-UP

Here are two images that may help explain what's being discussed here:

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