I have been trying to get relly good photos of Ginny's mom's roses. Up until today, I tried to shoot them all in the garden. I have TONS of frames which are reasonably decent, but they have highly variable backgrounds. If the background is too light, it really takes away from the rose. I experimented with holding a black background behind the roses, but that was very difficult to adjust and it made the process a two person exercise. I got a couple of good ones with a black background and they really highlight the rose. So, today I said the heck with it and set up a little studio on the porch and shot some cut flowers (with mom's permission, of course). It seemed to work out much better, and I could experiment with the light angles in a controlled environment. Still a lot to learn. Anyway, the photos are here: http://www.pbase.com/johncrossphotography/note_cards
This custom studio set-up wildly surpasses anything I have owned.
One bit of inside information I have picked up from surfing on PBase: shooting flowers damages them and causes a noise (depending on the weapon used) that can annoy neighbors. And it does not produce a visual record. Photographing flowers is much quieter, doesn't damage anything except egos, and produces a visual record. You must decide for yourself which path to follow. Please issue a follow-up report at an appropriate time.