I have a cozy, comfortable place decorated for the holidays. It seemed like a good time for a self-portrait as part of the 52 week meme. Little did I know.

As background, I generally prefer to shoot ambient light during daylight. I own two basic Adorama studio flashes which I've used a few times with some success, but because of my preference I do not own a Nikon or other handheld flash. So no smarflash.

I started by shooting straight ambient light, illuminated by two incandescent lamps in the room, and by the christmas tree lights. The second light was behind and to the right of the camera. I shot using the self-timer. At this wide-open aperture, there was no advantage to using the mirror up-auto-shoot approach. The shot above is the best I could achieve. Note that using the custom white balance I got some good color, but the lights were whitened until the room warmth disappeared. And of course I ended with deep shadows and blown light highlights. Drat, I'd have to use a flash.