Moody Lighting - WOW! Do I have a new appreciation for those that do this kind of thing everyday....now!
I'm sure they would have refined tools to accomplish these tasks, and have completed the learning curve, but all the same KUDOS to those of you who get the job done, day in and day out.
My second entry for this contest, Klingon Dagger - Crystal Ball #1 is my attempt to comply with my impression of the "lit" aspect of the Moody Lighting Challenge as opposed to using a scene lit by natural or existing ambient sources where there is little or no control by the photographer other than those that are related to camera settings, filters, compositional choice or editing.
I used items I have or could borrow from a friend in making this image: a black satin sheet, a small bowl covered with a piece of black fabric, a wine box, a couple of sheets of styrofoam 1'x4'x1", clothes pins, wine bottles and cans and jars for weights,a couple of construction lasers and a laser pointer (handheld), 3 tripods, a light stand with Nikon Speedlight with rolled piece of black construction paper for a snoot, remote trigger and receiver, a 16" round centerpiece mirror, a rock slab for a backdrop, photographer's crystal ball, and the Klingon Dagger. A slab of dry ice is the only item purchased for under $25. I used additional bowls of varying sizes and tried cold and hot water to make the fog/smoke - hot works better. I assembled and shot this on our kitchen table.
The image was edited in Capture One 23 with additional processing with On1 NoNoise AI 2024 free trial version . It is a HDR Merge of two images from the 138 images I took. Working with the dry ice was extremely difficult for me, as it is heavier than air and sinks. I tried a small fan but found just blowing it myself to be more effective.
Nikon Z6 ii, Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 @130mm, f/13, 1 sec., ISO 100.