So far we've discussed various ways to improve our images through simple presentation techniques and software adjustments. So, where do we go from here?

Let's start by taking a critical look at our results so far. Looks pretty good, huh?

Not bad at all. But there is still room for improvement for those who want to go further.

One area for improvement is that "hot spot" from our flash. Looks pretty ugly in the middle of our piece, huh? Another "improvement opportunity" is that jumbled-up mix of shadows under the piece. Hmmm... too much light in one area and not enough in another.

Before we take a look at fixing those issues, a brief digression into the properties of light would be worth our time.

After all, photography is the art of "painting with light".

The topic of lighting and its application to photography is extensive. Hundreds, if not thousands, of books have been written on the subject. Dozens of training courses have been developed. A full discussion of the topic is beyond the scope of this tutorial (and my own knowledge) but we can attempt to touch on enough of the basics for our purposes.

For photographic purposes light can broken down into two important aspects: color and brightness. Let's briefly discuss each in sequence.

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