Strobist Information: This was going to be a quick test shot for my new DIY large softbox but as is always the case with these things, it ended up taking much longer to get close to the picture in my head than I was expecting. I envisioned the cookies in the foreground with a bite taken out of one and a few crumbs scattered around and the milk in the background out of focus and very soft edged. Trying to get the milk to look the way I wanted proved to be somewhat of a challenge and the final image is not exactly what I had in mind but ended up as the best of the shots I took. My first problem was the table cloth. This had come straight from the cupboard all neatly folded up. When I put it on the table, all the creases proudly stood to attention and no amount of stretching and clamping would get rid of them. In the end I had to resort to an industrial steam press (doesn't every house have one?) to get it nice and smooth. This did the trick but took nearly half an hour to get up to pressure. With everything in place I took some test shots until I thought I had what I was after, however once I had them in lightroom it was quickly evident that I wasn't even close. With the lights set to 1/32nd power the whole scene was terribly over exposed so I had to go back and try again. I dropped all the lights to 1/64th and upped the aperture from 1.8 to 2.2. After another go, the exposure was better but the framing was a mess. I went back for one final try and got the picture I have uploaded here. Unfortunately, where the original looks clean and white on my monitor, there seems to be a nasty dark line up the left hand side of the uploaded version. I am not sure where this has come from, but when I have more time I might try doing some experiments to get rid of it. Picture here: Milk and Cookies Learn how to light: www.strobist.com