08 Tips and techniques for capturing exceptional flower shots

Just add a sprinkle of water to let your garden photo skills grow and blossom

Flowers are an excellent subject matter to photograph. Their complex structures, and the array of spectacular colours on offer, mean you can produce some incredible results even with common species such as roses and tulips.

When you’re shooting a subject from a close distance, it’s important to consider the aperture setting. You want to close it down to try to keep as much in the frame as sharp as possible. However, the closer you get to your subject, the shallower the depth of field becomes, even when using a narrow aperture, for example f/11. You also have the problem that past a certain aperture setting (usually f/16), you’ll notice diffraction causes image softening. This is caused by the light spreading once it passes through the narrow aperture. There’s no way around this so don’t increase your aperture setting beyond f/16. If this doesn’t create a large enough depth of field, there’s a clever trick you can use instead called focus stacking, which enables you to produce pin-sharp results from front to back. See page 50 for more on this.

When it comes to framing up and focusing, there are a number of techniques you can apply. If your camera is mounted onto a tripod, use Live View and the manual focus setting to get the most accurate results. Zoom in on the back screen and navigate over the stigma of the flower to make sure this part is pin-sharp. If you prefer to shoot handheld, you’ll need to make sure your shutter-speed setting reads at least 1/100 sec or faster, and switch back to the AF setting. Again, make sure your main focus point sits over the centre of the flower.

Another vital consideration when shooting flowers is the background. Flowers photograph best in isolation, so to get more professional-looking results, drop a plain background in behind. You’ll find the black or white side of your reflector will come in

handy for this job, or simply take some different coloured pieces of card along with you on your shoot. It can be useful to pack some pegs in your kit bag to remove any distracting elements creeping into the frame. It’s a small but important detail that can make the difference between a novice and professional finish.

Wet summer days are also perfect for photographing flowers. You’ll need to wait for your break in the rain, however. Just after a downpour, your garden will glisten, and the water drops on the flower heads and leaves add alternative focal points. But if we’re in a dry spell, then don’t worry because you can produce your own rain! An atomiser from a garden centre or discount store produces a fine, controllable mist. Just try not to overdo it!

“The closer you get, the shallower the depth of field becomes, even when using a narrow aperture”

In general you should focus on the stigma or stamens of the flower (the dangly bits in the middle) Watch Claire’s flower photo video lesson www.bit.ly/ dc155videos

Above Fine drops of rain add interest to flower macros. If the weather’s dry, make your own with an atomiser

Above Look for walls of flowers to create an intense coloured backdrop. In this image the yellow background sets off the purple flowers. The shallow depth of field removes all the detail from the background Above Isolating against black or white gives...