Quote Originally Posted by IseektheTruth
I used a spiral note book,stuck the stem in one of the spiral holes made it easier to photograph.
Great idea, I've also played around with a bunch of different ways to get the buds to "pose" the way I want them to. I've found that my daughter's playdough is very useful. What I've found works best is this little piece of stiff, but very thin, wire that I've glued down to a small board. I can stick the wire up into the bud to hold it and because the wire is bendable I can move it around as much as I want. My goal is to get the side of the bud with the largest surface area as parallel as possible to the lens. Then, although I prefer t use it as little as possible, I can use photoshop to take the wire out of the shot.

I personally like your 2nd bud shot better than the first. I think having the foreground out of fucus is a bit distracting, unless there's a specific reason for it. Good detail in the in focus areas of both though.