Sometimes it is the simplest of things which elevate our photography. Below are two photos which I took within minutes of each other. The anemones sat in a vase on my desk with the sunlight pouring through the window. The quality of light was great for my shutter speed which was super fast but the light was way too harsh and caused unpleasant shadows as illustrated in this first photo.
For the second photograph I used some packing material from a recent delivery I had received and I held it above the flowers, diffusing the light. The result is a gentle, even wash of light on the anemone producing, what I am sure you will agree is, a much softer image. As I said, I used packing material, but you could equally use a sheet of white paper, a small circular diffuser (super inexpensive) or a square of white linen. Don’t use coloured fabrics or papers because they will alter the colour of the subject. And of course defusing the light in this way works both indoors and outdoors.
Incidentally the photos were taken using a Lensbaby Edge 50 lens.
Have fun experimenting.