Taking photos is all about light, using the available light, manipulating it, or creating it.  Some of the best learning I have done is to choose a type of light and photographing it.  Whether that light is front light, side light, or back light.  A technique that artists have used and we continue to use is called chiaroscuro.  It's the way an artist uses the strong contrast between light and shadow.  Think Cezanne, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Gerard van Honthorst.  This blog post by Pooky.com has a great explanation of it.  As a photographer I am a student of light and creating dramatic light is one thing I am striving to hone.  Since many of the Masters of Art painted still life and crated this dramatic effect, I can use their same technique only with a camera instead of a paint brush.  They didn't become experts in a day and there was trial and error.  They painted and repainted and learned.  Same for me.