It is not a complicated or technically difficult picture. The hardest part was finding a fresh, interesting composition. The end result is not where I began. I actually started standing on a chair shooting down and had one, gridded, Canon 580EX II flash aimed directly at the flowers from about two feet above. I played with that position for quite a while. I would climb up on the chair, take a few shots, climb down, load the shots on my computer, evaluate them and repeat. I did this several times but found the pictures less than inspiring.
Continuing on I added another light to try and get the vase in the game too. Up until that point, shooting from above the flowers, the vase was barely visible at all. With the second light in place I tried various gobos and reflectors to modify the look. After a few variations and a few up-and-downs from the chair nothing was grabbing me so I stayed on the floor and with one hand on the second strobe and one hand on the camera I began to fire off some shots while repositioning the second flash. I reviewed the pictures and voila! I think I was on to something.
I had my new perspective. We typically are always looking at flowers from above so even though I had thrown some unique lighting on my subjects, it was the same old ho-hum look. But just the slight change of altitude and the flowers instantly looked unique and interesting. I played with the lights a bit more until I got a result I was pleased with.
Although it was not where I started, where I ended was a much more interesting place. I remember a scene from the movie Dead Poets Society where the teacher, played by Robin Wiliams, had all the students climb on their chairs just to get a fresh perspective. Heck if it can work in the movies, it can work in real life too!
Try a new perspective and keep shooting pictures.
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