Spring Treasure

by Tanya Vincent
(Nova Scotia, Canada)

I came upon a patch of these Siberian squill while on a walk with my daughter.

They're very pretty, but much more so when you look at them from underneath. I picked one of the tiny flowers and held it up against a spruce trunk for a different perspective.

I'm just getting started with photography, and I would love some opinions on this shot!


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If you're in the right spot, and at the right time of year (early spring is best) then you might stumble across a Siberian squill, as Tanya did.

And if you've stuck to our first rule of photography (which is carry a camera with you whenever you can) then you too could photograph this little spring flower too.

Flowers are one of those subjects that everyone has had a go at photographing at some point. But they can be a little disappointing; and there's a feeling of 'been there and got the tee-shirt' about Tanya's photo.

There's nothing terribly wrong with this photo, it's just that there is nothing that generates much interest either.

So what could be done to improve this?

Well, one thing springs (sorry!) instantly to mind – the shooting angle. Tanya says that these flowers look wonderful when viewed from underneath. So why pick one and take a photo of it side on?

It would have been good to have set the self timer on her camera, then placed the camera on its back in a cluster of these flowers, with the lens pointing towards the sky.

Once the shutter had fired Tanya would have her shot of the flowers, from a worms' eye perspective – and wouldn't that be just a little more interesting that the standard shot? Click to read more about using different shooting angles to improve your photography.

I also think that by using this technique the flower(s) would be set against the sky, and this would help to focus the viewers' eyes on the flowers. In Tanya's photo I get distracted by the tree bark.

I would also post process this photo. Boost the saturation a little to bring out the colours a bit more, and add a touch of sharpening to make the flower stand out.

I don't want to get too down about this. It's a reasonable effort, I just think there is much more that could be done with these flowers.

Ed.
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Read a hands on review here