Flower photography composition and lighting

Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could help me with flower composition in a studioesque setting. I will be taking the shots in a soft box so lighting will be fairly controlled and the camera will probably be on a tripod. I have several incandescent lights I can use as well as my 580EX II(with an off camera cord) so lighting has a lot of options. Any tips on light placement and general flower composition?

Oh, and if there is a better section for this question, feel free to move it admins.

Thanks for the help.

Flower Images, How to make them better

What gear for photographing flowers?

Best advice I can give you that works for me is to try to isolate a few flowers, get down to their level & get in close. Try some at a wider aperture to isolate it from the background. When you find an arrangement that you like, then adjust the lighting to make it stand out.

This might be worth a look for thoughts on composition; you might also try a search for "flower arranging":
http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/ikeba​na.shtml

Best flower shots I've seen were at a local fine arts fair. The flowers were against a black background, so, you can imagine, all there was was the color and greenery of the flower with just inky blackness for a background. It was very stunning. I asked the photographer how she did them. She said in a studio. I didn't ask more specifically. What I was getting at was if she had removed/blackened the BG in PP. Maybe she took her studio shots and further darkened the BG. Sorry if that's not much help but my main point was the black BG made the photos exceptional.

I've actually shot flowers indoors in front of a window with white drapes before, as well in front of different colored backgrounds, pretty much anything that gives a good color or tonal contrast for separation works great.
When shooting outdoors I try to achieve much the same effect by shooting from a bright area, or lighting the flower/plant which is front of a shady or darker BG, like on a timber line, shooting toward the trees.
For out door shooting a single strobe and a piece of white paper can do wonders. Also if your flowers are warm colored try the "Sports Illustraed" trick of using a CTO filter on flash and setting your WB to tungsten, it'll throw your BG into the cool blue range, and make your flower(s) really POP!

I suggested one way of slightly darkening the background here:
Negative Lighting – a simple technique that makes a big difference!

And don't forget backlighting. It can be a nice change from the usual "normal" shots.

Thanks for all the great tips. I've been messing around a bit and here's the first of what I've come up with:

For me, f/11 might have been a better choice than 5.6

Yup... You could use a little more depth of field.
I would skip the incandescent lights and play with your 580 and a reflector or natural light and a reflector. You can get ideal shots outside with natural light if you wait for the right time... no wind, right light etc.
Your shot above is also a bit underexposed. Use a digital gray card (you can buy one here) to assure white balance.
How is this? I sharpened and set white gray and black points. I did not change the color in any way.

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PhotosGuy wrote in post #9053775
And don't forget backlighting. It can be a nice change from the usual "normal" shots.

I like this. Very nice.