Every once in a while, I get a little hint that my photography skills have moved forward, even if it’s just a bit. The success of this photo is one of those hints.

You see, I’ve tried photographing this piece of glass candy before, and it’s never worked out. I haven’t been able to capture the light properly, to get the texture of the wrapper ends. Or manually focus well enough that the pattern on the candy appears sharp. Or find an angle that that presents the candy in a way that I’m happy with.

This time, though, everything just seemed to click (no pun intended), and I wound up with a picture I’m really quite happy with. I love the way the light glides smoothly from the piece of candy down to the end of the wrapper.

Sure, it may not be perfect yet–it didn’t fill the frame in quite the way I wanted it to–but it still turned out better than I expected. And that’s really all I could have asked for.