A photographer friend recently pointed me at the work of Mandy Disher, and I was inspired to buy a light pad and try some high-key photos of my own. I’m still experimenting with the most effective way to take these photos, but I find that an aperture of f/22 allows maximum depth of field without too much diffraction softening, and +2 stops of exposure is usually enough for a high-key result with plenty of detail. With a shallow flower a single shot may be enough; for deeper ones I take multiple frames and focus stack them. If the bloom is dense I may need to take frames at +2 and +3 stops and make an HDR composite; and/or sometimes adding diffused top lighting can be helpful. This project is very much a work in progress!