Carrot Cake Lighting

I know the title sounds strange, weird, and silly, but, please, don't let this article keep you from proceeding with all the other "earth-shattering" tips to follow. But now let me tell you about "Carrot Cake" lighting. Or better said - lighting the carrot cake. As you know, my "gig" is directional light on just about any subject, so when we were served the monstrously sized piece of carrot cake last night - my gosh - one piece was enough or all 5 of us - I had to get a picture.

All I had was my 40D with it's little pop up flash - not good enough for the prime piece of cake. How could I get the light coming from an off-camera direction. No problem, place a saucer at a 45 degree angle to the pop-up flash and in front of it and be sure it's blocking (read acting as a gobo) any direct light from reaching the carrot cake. OK - we have the light bouncing over to the side - how to get it to return to illuminate the cake? No problem, LaDawn held up her nice, clean white napkin to the left of the cake. Those little photons bounced right off her napkin and gave a nice direction of light to the cake - hence, "Carrot Cake" lighting. This technique brings a whole new level of lighting mastery to our profession :~)