From my garden I cut some Papaver rhoeas, a single Papaver nudicaule, several varieties of Ranunculus, alstromeria in profusion, forget-me-nots, hardenbergia, a lupine, and a few Orlaya grandiflora “Minoan Lace” (an endangered wild flower originally from Crete).

I arranged these cut flowers on my large light box, and photographed straight down with my camera on a tripod using my 50mm Sigma f/2.8 macro lens.

This image was composed in Photoshop from six different exposures, each at f/10 and ISO 100. The range of shutter speed times was from 1/30 of a second (about what the light meter indicated) to 4 seconds (pinned to the right of the histogram as high-key).

I started layering this image, with the lightest exposure as the bottom layer, painting in the detail I wanted from each successively darker layer.

Platycodon and Jasminum, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is a photo-composite created using several captures of a Balloon flower (Platycodon) surrounded by Jasmine on a white background. My idea was to create an image that looked a little like an old-fashioned botannical illustration. To this end, I purposely used a white background that has a slight yellow tint.

I also used lighting that minimized the contrast range in the image. As you can see, there are hardly any shadows. In some contexts, this kind of lighting is called high-key lighting. The point is usually to create a lighting setup that will work without changes over a number of subjects. In this case, I used high-key lighting (of a sort) to create a flat, almost two-dimensional look (in keeping with the botannical print theme).

Finally, as I noted, this is a composite image created from a number of exposures. All the exposures are biased to the over-exposure side. Even the shortest exposure time I used (one second) read on my light meter as an over exposure. The point of over exposing was to increase apparent transparency.

Some related links: Harold Davis Flowers on White Flickr set; White Anemone; Thrice as Nice; Alstromeria.

[Nikon D300, Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro lens (75mm in 35mm terms), four captures at shutter speeds from one to 13 seconds; all captures at f32 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Petal, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is an extremely close up of a translucent alstromeria petal. It reminds me of soft stained glass.

Different alstromeria interpretations: Sunshine of the Flower Mind, Alstromeria.

[2oomm f/4 macro, 300mm in 35mm equivalent terms, extension tube plus stacked close-up filters, 2.2 seconds at f/40 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Sunshine of the Flower Mind, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

Here’s a very different take on Alstromeria.