Image of Christina Peters fine art photographer in her studio with two prints behind her

About Christina

I've always been in awe of how our food grows and how beautiful it can be out in the fields. Many foods actually start as flowers so the relationship of food and flowers is a very close one and I find so many similarities between food and flowers when photographing them.

I've been a commercial food and floral photographer for more than 30 years. Being from Delaware, I moved to CA after my 1st photography degree from Cecil College. Then I got my second photography degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and then opened my first studio business in Glendale California. In 1995 I moved studios to Marina Del Rey, CA for over 20 years. I've flown all over the country shooting for all sorts of brands, big and small while also doing my fine art work on the side. 

I moved back to Delaware with my husband in 2020 and have my studio there to this day.

I've also been very active with photography education and have been teaching since 1993 by guest lecturing and running workshops.

Close-up of several hydrangea flower stems with green leaves, individually wrapped in clear plastic inside a cardboard box, showcasing white, pale purple, and blue blossoms.

My Process

I go out of my way to make these images look effortless, but the reality is, they are far from that.

I'm planning my images months in advance and some images are a few years in the making.

I obviously have to time the shoot around the flowers' bloom cycles. Then I have to figure out all the props, backgrounds and surfaces to be used in the shot and get them if I don't have them already. One prop (a window frame) took me over a year to find.

Next I receive my flowers, process them, which means, clean their stems of excess leaves, cut their stems, give them flower food and let them rest for about 24 hours.

Once the flowers have been refreshed, they start to open up.

Now it's time to start building the arrangement.

Woman with long wavy gray and purple hair holding blue hydrangea flowers, standing in a bright room with photography equipment and a white pitcher on a table nearby.

The Arrangement

I get asked all the time where I get my arrangements from. I build them on my photography set as I am taking pictures. This is the only way to build an arrangement that will look perfect on camera.

I learned this over 25 years ago when I was photographing flowers regularly for a high end grocery store in Los Angeles. We built every arrangement on set and through the eye of the camera.

Each stem is cut then placed in the container as I am taking pictures each step of the way.

The Dreaming of Something Blue framed print, featuring blue hydrangeas in a white vase, hangs on a blue wall. Below it, a wooden cabinet displays decorative items such as vases and dried plants. Mat and frame not included.

The Final Image

I've been creating these floral portraits for several years now and I get asked the same questions quite often so I'm going to address those here.

These are photographs, not paintings. I am emulating the paintings of the Dutch masters that go back to the 1600's by using traditional design and composition.

I am using artificial light to emulate the natural lighting in the Dutch masters' paintings as well.

I am not using any filters or doing any kind of digital, AI manipulation on these images at all. The only digital work I do is clean up minor imperfections on petals and distracting blemishes on their antique containers.

Seriously, I hate doing digital work on the computer so I try to get as much done through the camera as I can.

I am shooting digitally using a Canon R5 camera with an incredibly sharp Canon TS90mm lens, and that's it.

There are no shenanigans here! What you see is what is on my set in my studio.

Behind The Scenes - Photos By Jim Coarse of Moonloop Photography in Delaware

  • Woman with long curly hair arranging pink flowers in a green vase on a small round table with pink books, next to photography lighting equipment.

    Building The Arrangement

    I build my arrangement one stem at a time.

  • Woman with long curly hair wearing glasses and a floral-patterned blouse smiling while adjusting a professional camera mounted on equipment in a warmly lit indoor room.

    Shooting

    After almost every stem placed I take a picture to see how it looks on camera

  • Christina Peters wearing a floral blouse and purple pants is standing and smiling while working on a desktop computer in a well-lit room with photography lighting equipment nearby.

    At The Computer

    I'm shooting tethered and that means as I take pictures they show up instantly in my computer

  • Daisy Daydreams wall art with pink, orange, and cream daisies in a green vase on books

    Finished Result

    Once I clean up slight blemishes on the petals and any weird, distracting nicks or scratches on the vessel, the image is ready for print.

Christina Peters Fine Art