Floral photography tips You won’t go wrong if you…
1 Check the background: As with portraits of people and animals, the background can make or break a flower shot. If details are far enough from the subject, you can throw them out of focus by using a relatively wide aperture, but watch out for strong changes in contrast or colour.
2 Magnify to manual focus: When you’re using a shallow depth of field, focusing errors will be obvious. So put your camera on a tripod and use the rear screen to magnify the most important detail so that you can focus on it with precision. It can be hard to see the screen in bright conditions, but a mirrorless camera allows you to magnify the image in the viewfinder.
3 Keep an eye on the small stuff:
Small blemishes, detritus and spider silk can draw attention in a close-up shot, although they can be hard to spot when you’re out shooting.
4 Make the most of calm days:
Wind makes flower photography a frustrating experience. Windless days will give you more flexibility when it comes to choosing a shutter speed, so set your alarm clock on these days to take advantage of it.
5 Fine-tune the colours later: Shoot raw files and use the tools in your editing software to adjust the white balance and overall vibrance, and even selectively tweak the hue and saturation of individual colours. Prefer your greens to look a bit more yellow? You can do that…