Grapes in an old glass bowl

 Sometimes I like to take an item to my small studio and play with the light to see what I can create. In this case grapes. We usually have grapes for consumption, but these red grapes had an interesting texture. A bit of matt and a bit of gloss and a wonderful color red. I wanted to create a still life that I would like to look at with some contrast and a nice way of lighting to add some "drama". 

At first I wanted to see the background and the grapes in the light so I used a single light with soft box. 

This was nice and the colors were complimenting the red grapes. However I wanted a bit of a darker looking image. So instead of the soft box, I opted for direct light and us "barn doors" to limit the light falling on the background. With "for me" a nicer result. Some more ambiance. You can still feel the background color but it is more intimate. I also added the highlight on the fold of the tablecloth by using a white piece of board to reflect the light.

I really liked what I saw now and thought I'd stop here. But maybe I should go one step further and change the light source once again... I opted for the "snoot", a cone which limits the amount of light on the subject and lose the background altogether. As it turns out, when I posted these images on Facebook and Instagram, the majority of reactions voted for this image. I however, remain loyal to my original idea which is the second version. I prefer the ambiance in that image to the dramatic lighting of the last version, which I do like a lot too.