Sandra Freeman photography and setup.

In January, 2008, I decided I wanted to learn to do photography. I asked Charlie Freeman, a professional photographer and instructor at the Art Institute of Dallas, to give me lessons in the basics. After the initial lessons, I was hooked. Because of my limitations of space and equipment, I chose to "shoot" flowers with natural light. My dining room table was put to use with a northeast window as my light source. Initially, I bought cut flowers. Soon I discovered many sources in my own yard.

I am easily bored. However, the changing of the light during the day and the natural evolution of almost any flower keeps me fascinated. No boredom there. I often shoot the same flower over a period of a week or more.

There are three elements to my photography:
—The first is finding some organic object that has movement (gesture) or texture that calls to me.
—The second element (and perhaps the most important) is a large, 88" x 59" window, that affords beautiful Northeastern light for most of the day.
—The third element is the simple setup that I use.

I use a 36" x 48" piece of white foam core with folds at 12" and 36".

The u-shaped foam core allows me to support a background cloth (usually my large back cashmere throw). The foam core holds the background and provides a definition for my working area on top of my dining room table.

The only other items I need are:
—my tripod
—a midlevel digital camera—Fuji S3 Pro with Nikon 60mm Micro lens
—an occasional reflective card to bounce fill light

I am not concerned with lighting ratios or sophisticated metering techniques. My camera is set on manual. I often have to shield my eyes from the window to see the light on my subject.

I have the advantage of the light changing subtly throughout the day. Some would consider this a limitation. However, I see this as an advantage. Since I use no electronic flash, long exposures and small apertures require a bit of patience.

Postprocess information
I usually shoot 30 to 35 frames, download the images, cull and process in RAW. My typical working method using Photoshop is to retouch the image, convert to black and white, choose a palette I like and then refine with curves.