The ladybug's leaf

I set up a small tabletop studio in my garage last weekend to shoot some fall leaves under controlled lighting conditions. When I say "small studio," I mean just that. I bent a 30-inch sheet of white foam board into a "C" shape, taped it in place, picked up some leaves in my backyard and placed them in it. I hand-triggered an off-camera flash unit (an el-cheapo my dad bought for me about 20 years ago), reflecting it off the top and back panels to soften the light.

Oh, yeah, and since I don't have a synch cable, I had to trigger the flash by hand after I set the camera on self-timer for a half-second exposure. Talk about making do. Total cost to me to outfit my "studio:" about two bucks. I'm impressed by the level of detail that the small strobe reveals - we're getting into the individual crevasses and pores of the oak leaf in the center. Whoa.

After a couple of shots with oak leaves and water drops (applied with an eye dropper), this little lady stopped by to visit. She sat still just long enough to get a couple of shots. Orton effect and some localized color added in post-processing.

Exposure info: One-half second with strobe firing during exposure; f16, 200 ISO film. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 Jeams Jordan.