I figured my chess set would make a great subject for some still-life photos.  I actually really like how these turned out!

This is the first time that I went with the black background approach.  In the background, I actually have a white backdrop. By keeping the shutter speed high and the strobe angled so it didn’t hit the backdrop, it actually appears to be black.  I haven’t done this trick outdoors yet, but from my understanding you can actually do this in the middle of the daytime.