Here are two shots of a giftwrap job I did recently, one with available light, the other with a flash mounted on a tripod.

I've had this beautiful paper for decades, and somehow it's managed not to get moldy in my damp basement; the person for whom the gift was intended was certainly special enough, so I decided to use it, especially as it fit the season perfectly. As it happens all of the decorations save the gold crepe paper were bundled into a bag, probably leftover from xmas (instead of being properly sorted into their various storage drawers)—the basement, like all my other studios, is currently in transition and very messy.

giftwrap featuring autumn leaf wrapping paper, crepe paper, assorted ribbons, silk flowers and leaves; 29nov2025; photographed 30nov25, sony A7c, sony 90mm macro, natural light; f/2.8; 1/100s, ISO 320, ev +1.0, WB: cloudy; light levels adjusted, cropped and scaled in gimp.

This gift is really too big to be photographed with my photography studio setup, which is sized for beads, or at most, necklaces, so I set it up on a little wooden table in the living room—for both shots, actually.

sony A7c, sony 90mm macro, godox TT600 flash (with matching trigger) f/2.8, 1/160s ISO 50; scaled to 4000 pixels in gimp

The floral wallpaper is a bit busy, but I actually prefer this shot to the one where I hung ivory fabric; and to be honest, I like the natural window shot better than the flash-fill (for which I used my diffusing umbrella, go me;) though I had to create three layers in gimp for the window shot, editing two of them to retain enough contrast to be interesting, while still lightening the front face of the gift to read well.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.