As the saying goes, “You may travel east, you may travel west, but in your heart you know home is best!” In the past two months, I have traveled east (Vietnam), and I have traveled west (France and Malta)—although arguably since the earth is a globe every place is west of California. Or east.

In any case, it is good to be home, particularly when spring and the flowers are so much in bloom as they are in Berkeley, California. I was home in time for Katie Rose’s birthday, and am enjoying spending some time with Phyllis and the kids, and recharging my batteries.

In this image, the gladiolas are from Trader Joe’s and the bellflowers (campanulas) from our garden. I used seven exposures with my D810 and Zeiss Otus 55mm/1.4 on a tripod over a light box. The exposures were all at ISO 64 and f/16, and ranged from 1/30 of a second to 4 seconds. I combined the exposures in Photoshop, and added them to a scanned background, using techniques that I explain in my workshops.

Enthusiastic about flower photography? You might want to consider joining us here in Berkeley, Ca next month for a joyous flower photography time where I will share my secret sauce techniques for transparent flower photography and beyond (we still have a few spaces left)!

Also note that I will be teaching related flower photography techniques this year at Maine Media Workshops the first week in August.