Get creative
Drew’s pro tips will help you squeeze more out of spring with your Canon EOS camera
Use a tripod
PLANTS ARE mostly found in poorly lit areas and usually affected by the slightest breezes, so higher shutter speeds will be essential to ensure your images are super sharp. Always use a sturdy tripod when shooting plants and flowers, preferably one that has short legs or that allows you to position your camera low to the ground. Smaller wrap-around pods or tabletop tripods can be perfect for this, but not good on uneven ground so take the right gear for your locations. Using a cable release, remote or a self-timer will keep the camera untouched when using slower shutter speeds, helping to reduce any unwanted camera shake leading to blurry subjects.
Out early, back late
JUST LIKE with landscape images, the light is the best when the sun is low in the sky. After sunrise or before sunset can be a stunning time to photograph plants, insects or animals and really helps to boost an image. Either aim for a warm glow across your subject, perhaps placing it against a dark background to make it stand out more or position the subject between you and the sun and shoot for a backlit image. Or you could under expose the subject to create an attractive silhouette.
Starry skies
SPRING IS also the best time to head out to photograph the Milky Way! The galactic core is the most appealing part to photograph, and this area is revealed above the horizon between March through to September. Around a new moon is the best time for dark skies. A full-frame EOS camera with good high ISO performance is best for night, while for lenses, go wide as they’ll fit more sky into your shots, and the faster the better; a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster will really help you gather light at night! Focus on the stars and you will almost certainly be shooting long exposures of around 20-30 secs, so use a tripod.
What weather?
IT’S GOOD to get out whatever the weather as, in most cases, you’ll find the best light before or after any weather fronts. Dramatic-looking clouds in your images can provide impact and create a moody feel. Either side of any downpour you can expect shapely cloud formations, filling the skies or even backlit or silhouetted downpours on the horizon; especially if you’re on the coast shooting out to sea. Images like this can really sum up a season, especially spring which is famed for its heavy squalls and showers, so always be on the lookout before and after the rain reaches you, for dramatic skies bathed in sunshine!
Use a circular polarizer filter
A CIRCULAR polarizing (CPL) filter can reduce the reflected glare from wet rocks, water, shiny leaves and highlights to ultimately increase colour saturation – perfect for capturing vivid, green spring leaves. They can also act like a neutral density filter, blocking the incoming light by 1- to 2-stops, increasing shutter speeds to blur any water movement in your scenes. Another use for them is to boost the appearance of rainbows among the April showers.