You would not believe how many hours, and how many photos were shot, for me to get this Chocolate Ranunculus and Tea series just the way I wanted it! Whew! It was quite the production and I’ll tell you why … but first … the story behind my finds.

This week, I was on my own for a couple of days while hubby was away on business.

But just before he left, we stopped at Trader Joe’s because … well … really, do you honestly need a reason to stop at Trader Joe’s?

I’m just looking, I said …

… but he was on to me … and, as a matter of fact, hubby was the one who spied the ranunculus and was more than happy to lead me to them. I tell you, I nearly fell over (really). I turned a bit quickly and stumbled ever so slightly.

I’ve been dying to get my hands on some after since seeing so many gorgeous images on Instagram … every time I saw one I was filled with longing (drama queen here).

I ended up buying four bunches, three brightly coloured, and one white because at $4.99/bunch I did not feel one bit bad about it. In fact if I get the chance I’m going back for more.

But today I’m sharing only my white ranunculus. When I started arranging them on this sweet teacup (which I also found this week) I was swept up and way (more drama).

When I applied Kim’s kk_chocolate preset I was stunned. That preset tends to blow out whites in photos but oh.my.good.heavens … when my heart starts pounding, that’s when I know I’m on to something.

I spent almost a whole day taking shots and as I was posting them on Instagram, I noticed an old problem of mine. I had used different white backgrounds and shot my images in different lighting. Well, that’s OK for IG I thought, but I’m going to fix this because I wanted a good cohesive series. So  the next day, I redid the whole shoot using the exact same setup for each one and I also shot them all within an hour, beside an east-facing window …

… because I wanted this …

… a collage with matching tones.

I learned so much by doing this shoot, even more than I’m going to share, so as not to bore you to tears … oh, hello? … are you still with me? If so, thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful Friday!