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Earlier in the week I had the chance to sit down with a photographer whose specialty is photographing flowers. As I tend to do with pro photographers – picked his brain as we chatted and took as many notes as I could. Here’s what I gleaned from him and his flower photography experience:
By the way – he also recommended two flower photography books – Photographing Flowers: InspirationEquipmentTechnique by Sue Bishop and Field Guide To Photographing Flowers by Rokach
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Preparation is key
Getting your gear together and in working order, choosing the right lens, having a tripod set up and then preparing to take the image. Pause and examine your subject before pressing the shutter. Some questions to ask:
*how to crop it – get in close or take a wider angle shot?
*what is the focal point/point of interest? Insect, stem, colour, texture, shape etc?
*what angle will you shoot from to get the best perspective?
*how much depth of field do you want?
*how is the subject lit?
*which flower is the best specimen for your photo?
*what distractions are there in the background and foreground?
*which is the best format to shoot in? (horizontal or vertical)
Highlighting subjects
One of the questions above is worth a little extra consideration – ‘what distractions are there in the background and foreground?’
Gardens are filled with all kinds of potential distractions. They might be the tool shed, a fence, other flowers, the clothes line etc. A decision needs to be made whether you want to include these elements or remove them from your shot. Either option is legitimate but in most cases you’ll probably want to remove them unless they in some way enhance your shot. There are a number of options open to you if you want to remove distractive elements
