Camera College
Follow the tutorials on shooting flowers, then enter our challenge
The secret to good flower photography is timing. If you’re photographing flowers in the wild or in a garden setting, you’ll only get a limited period of weeks, or even days, when the subjects will look their finest. The time of day can also make a big difference. While some flowers open and close with the rhythm of the sun, it’s the wind that’s more of a problem for photographers. As the day warms and things start to move, attempting a sharp shot of a flower outdoors can be a lesson in frustration. The slightest puff of air can send tall flowers knocking like a metronome, Sometimes there’s nothing for it but to make an early start in (relatively) still air.
Flower photography can take on many forms, from scientific close-up studies to sweeping floral scenics. As a result, you can put any lens to good use. A standard zoom gives you plenty of creative options – even more so if it reaches beyond 100mm. Longer focal lengths are easier to compose with, as they enable you to be more selective with the background. A dedicated macro lens is perfect, too, as you’ll have the option of focusing much closer for flower details.
Although a lightweight, imagestabilised standard zoom or 100mm macro lens can be a great choice when you’re paying a visit to a formal garden, in many situations a tripod is still unbeatable. For a start, it frees up both your hands for holding reflectors, flashguns and other accessories in place, and
it allows you to manually focus with repeatable precision. It also allows you to keep the camera locked on a subject while you wait for the breeze to die down.
Sometimes tripods can be impossible to position correctly for a shot of a subject in the middle of a flower bed, and not all tripods allow you to get the camera low enough. Getting eye-to-stamen with a flower can lead to much more interesting pictures, as everyone is used to seeing flowers from head height – although this depends entirely on the subject. Some flowers suit a top-down view, as that’s where the interesting features are visible.
The choice of aperture makes a big difference to how many of these features are recorded in your picture. The depth of field can be paper-thin when you’re using a macro lens close to a flower, even when you’re using a narrow aperture. With a wide aperture, however, you can exaggerate the blur to the point where only the smallest detail is sharply rendered. Try focusing on the tips of petals, stigma or stamens, and let the rest of the flower fall into a dreamy, colourful fog.
When it comes to focusing, there are several options you can choose. If you’re shooting from a tripod, you can
Getting eye-to-stamen with a flower can lead to much more interesting photos
set the lens to manual focus and position the focus on a precise detail, with the help of the magnified Live View image. If you’re shooting handheld, you can still use manual focusing, but it’s much easier to do this with a mirrorless camera, where you can take advantage of the electronic viewfinder. Alternatively, switch to either one-shot or continuous AF and manually set an AF point that corresponds with the most important feature of the flower. Continuous autofocus will cope with flower movements (or your own) between shots, although it can be hard to keep the focus point over the correct detail. Regardless of the focusing mode you choose, set the camera to continuous drive so you can fire short bursts of shots in quick succession.
Bright, pale petals that fill the frame can cause the camera to underexpose the image. If you’re shooting in one of the semi-automatic modes such as Aperture Priority, you can use positive exposure compensation to correct this. If you’re shooting in Manual mode, you’ll need to use a wider aperture or a slower shutter speed, or increase the ISO. Choosing a slower shutter speed may not be an option if you’re shooting handheld, if it increases the risk of blur from camera shake.
Bright, pale flower petals that fill the frame can cause the camera to underexpose the image
Use the histogram to gauge the exposure – and be prepared to activate the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) histogram if you’re shooting colourful flowers. The standard histogram tends to mirror the shape of the green histogram, so if your flower is predominantly red or blue, this won’t be reflected in the standard histogram. With the RGB histogram displaying the red and blue values, you’ll be able to tell if these colours are over-saturated.
Vibrant flowers can also cause white balance problems. If you’ve set Auto White Balance, there’s a chance your camera will try to cool down yellow and orange blooms, and warm up blue and purple ones. Choose a manual white balance preset that matches the lighting conditions.
If you shoot raw, you’ll be able to do that when you process your images in a raw editor such as Affinity Photo.
Finally, take time to find the best specimen, as this will reduce the amount of touching up you’ll need to do later. Review your images while you’re still set up, and zoom in to check for blemishes, damaged petals or even tiny insects you might have missed when you lined up the shot.
Check for blemishes, damaged petals or even tiny insects you might have missed