Flower photography - how to get great pictures of flowers
Flower photography should be so easy -
beautiful flowers, a camera, and a photographer. All the
elements required for stunning pictures of flowers.
And yet, sometimes those flowers just don't seem to
have the same magic in print as they did in the
field.
Here I show you how you can make your flower
photography really do justice to those wonderful blooms!
The slideshow above is of some
daffodils. I deliberately took photos of the same flowers, but
in three different ways, to illustrate how the way you take
the photo
matters.
Starting point for flower photosAs a
starting point it makes sense to get properly prepared to
take flower photographs.
Things you will need:
- Some flowers
- A camera
- Sunshine
- Clothes you don't mind getting dirty
Ok, so a few
of those sound a bit obvious, but let me
elaborate.
Some flowers - a flower picture
without any flowers is a bit pointless, but think just for a
moment.
Are the flowers you are aiming to photograph in
full bloom yet? If not, wait a few days. Are the flowers
looking past their prime? If so, buy some more, or
photograph some others.
A
camera - but not just any camera. Your
flower pictures will benefit from a camera that allows you to
control the aperture.
Click to read more about controlling a camera's aperture. Also have a
look at how the aperture can be used to control depth of
field.
Sunshine - Not trying to be
funny, but everything tends to look better in sunshine! Time
your flower photography to a sunny point in the day if
possible.
Clothes - for great flower
photos you will have to get down and dirty with the
flowers. You'll be perfectly safe, as luckily they don't
bite!
Back to the
Daffs . . .
As I said before, I wanted to photograph the same flowers in three different ways, to illustrate some flower photography techniques.
Using depth of field
In this picture I wanted to focus on one bloom only, and blur the background.
This makes that
one bloom the thing the viewer focuses on, and makes a more
powerful flower photograph.
In order to
achieve this you need to be able to control the aperture (and
consequently the depth of field) on your camera.
For
more detail on how this picture was taken (including how it
was processed using software),
click
here .
Using
creative angles
In this picture I wanted to have an
unusual angle.
This is the photo where you need to get
down and dirty with the flowers!
The
important thing here is to train your eye.
Take the
time to look at the world from unusual angles, and you will
begin to see many creative opportunities.
For
more detail on how this picture was taken (including how it
was processed using software),
click
here .
Capture the whole
scene
Finally, with flower photography, it's
good to sometimes capture a whole field of flowers.
I
wanted to emphasise the extent of the field of
daffodils.
This is another time to get down and
dirty with the flowers!
To really capture the extent
of the flowers you need to get down low to give a greater
feeling of depth to the photo.
For
more detail on how this picture was taken (including how it
was processed using software),
click
here .
Return from flower photography tips to digital-photography-tips.net home
|
|
