High Key and Low Key

A couple of days ago I walked past the Gladiolas blooming in the garden and I thought to myself. I 'd really like to photograph them. Early this evening Lenore and I went to harvest some greens for breakfast tomorrow. AsI walked past the glads I noticed that they are already starting to wilt. I knew it was now or never1 I clipped the freshest looking pink one that I could find. Tonight at home I set up a piece of white foamcore with the Gladiola directly in front of it. I placed an AlienBees 1600 Studio light with a small soft box right behind everything. I hand held another Alien Bee 1600 from slightly above and to the right from the front. I tried several exposure settings to get what I was looking for. I uploaded the image and I was blown away by the details of the flower from the light passing through it. then I took Badger the Wonder Dog for a walk. As we walked I thought of a set up to rephotograph the Gladiola on a black background. This time I used a piece of black foamcore with the flower in front of it. I used the same studio lights except I set up the softbox from the right side with a grid to stop any light spilling onto the background. Once again I handheld the other Alien bees light though this time it was from slightly behind and from the left. I was really happy with how the images came out. Both images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MKII camera and a Tamron 28-200mm lens. The camera settings used were M mode, ISO 100, F 5.0 and F 9.0 at 1/160th of a sec. lighting was provided by two Alien Bees 1600 Studio lights. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris