Well, the 12 Days of Christmas Cactus are behind us (and the cactus blooms are done, too). Time to switch gears.
Bought myself some minimal studio lighting gear as a Christmas present. Two light stands with umbrellas (they'll hold my SB800 speedlights), some gel filters, a filter holder, an economy backdrop support and some seamless paper backdrops. This together with two Lowes hardware clamp reflectors outfitted with daylight corrected bulbs make up my studio. My goal between now and spring is to learn basic lighting (and avoid going outdoors and freezing to death like I did *every day* the past two winters). Have never done artificial light photography; lots to learn.
Nothing great here; just tried to get everything to fire and produce an image. Put a red filter on one light - just for the heck of it. Tried several different settings and tried using the umbrellas both as reflectors and as diffusers. Learned a little bit, I guess. Found that the umbrella as a diffuser (as in this shot) provides a much softer shadow. Duh?
You'd never guess that the wife & I decided to not exchange gifts. Several of these are for family including 3 grandsons but *most* are gifts from folks who attended our (no gifts please) holiday open house. (and doesn't include about a dozen bottles of wine we moved to the kitchen)