I think the fundamental problem you are describing is to do with the "auto-exposure" the camera carries out. White flowers usually end up with a lot of their detail washed out by the exposure reaching the maximum digital value recordable. The only solution is to over-ride the camera's exposure and "under-expose". This is particularly the case when it is sunny but even in overcast conditions cameras will often expose for what seems to the dumb electronics to be the bulk of the scene. Under-exposing will render the background less well defined but this often isn't a problem with flower pictures. Assuming your camera allows this over-ride though you may need to "post-process" the picture in Photoshop or suchlike to get the image "right". In summary flower pictures can be hard ! With my camera (Nikon D70) it is yellow flowers I have greatest difficulty with - it seems to regard over-exposure in the red channel as being quite acceptable ! One simple thing though that will help a lot with most digital cameras - the more of the frame you fill with the flower the more likely it is to get it right - as it will average its exposure mostly over the actual flower. Reply / forward from John Crellin -----Original Message----- From: Jim McKenney [mailto:jimmckenney@starpower.net]