As a Food Blogger, it's easy for me to get into the habit of a consistent light setup when streamlining content creation. However, also being a Freelance Photographer means I need the versatility to create any scenario for a client's vision. This exercise was a fun way to challenge myself to explore more possibilities of painting with light.

 

Diffused light is always flattering with food. This was the initial setup with some diffusion a foot to the left of the scene, then a Speedlight about 5-6 feet away.

 

Then I followed Tabitha's advice and positioned my holey object (cut up piece of cardboard) in place of the diffusion to let the light paint shadows. I really enjoyed how this changed the scene into a much richer narrative. I'm excited to play more with direct lighting to start using light and shadow more intentionally as compositional elements.