Flower Photography – Getting Close

This year, the spring flowers are showing off dazzling displays of color and form.  Besides backyards, there are roadsides, parks, botanical centers, and even indoor events.  Many images of flower beds are taken for one reason or the other but what I especially like to photograph are the color contrasts, shapes, and shadows of blooms close up.

A bed of Blue Bells

The best time to take photographs of flowers is at dusk and dawn.  Skies with a light overcast during the day helps reduce overexposed highlights.  Under bright sunlight you could use a hand held reflector to direct light to lighten shadows or a screen to shade or tone down the brightness of the sunlight. 

Dark Screen for shading

The screen I used is a shade for rear windows in an automobile to filter the bright sunlight for your passengers.  It is hand held about a foot or so from the flower.

Using dark screen to shade flower

No screen used,. Over bright flower tips

When the dark screen hovers over the flower the brightness of the edges of the flower become reduced allowing detail of the flower edges to appear. These images are shot in Aperture mode. The ISO setting was automatically adjusted to compensate for the reduced light.

Close up to show detail of the brighter edges with the dark screen

Water was sprayed on the this tulip to

show interest in this side shot.

 Interesting interior on top of this flower 

There are plenty of images of flowers taken only on the top and centered.  Images with a lot of interest in color or shape exhibited within the top of the flower are ok for this approach.  Consider examining the entire flower, the sides, the bottom, or at an angle to show off the flower’s beauty. 

Another point of consideration is composition. Rule of thirds, Dynamic Symmetry, and balance play an important role when composing and cropping flower images just like all photographs should have. 

You can also take extreme close ups for abstraction, add textures, and other techniques in post processing.

The important thing is take your camera out of the closet and shoot some of your own fine art flower photography.

Snow Bells