Haha ya, was only thing I could find with intense/bright color as a backdrop (orange top, wood side). For the white shot used an envelope. I like the way the shadows highlight the bud structure, but they are probably too intense. I think the diffuse lighting suggestion a few comments back may be worth trying to address this issue.
I should get a lightbox probably but feel like the background colors available would get repetitive fast. I’ll try natural outside no flash lighting next opportunity but every time I omit flash the pictures look flat and almost monochromatic. I don’t seem to get the range of colors that I get with a flash.