How to Photograph Flowers

You don't have to travel very far from your front porch or city streets to take beautiful flower pictures. Be creative and shoot pictures of parts of a flower, single flowers or a landscape of colorful blooms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Film
• Camera Filters
• Light Meter
• Cameras
• Cameras
• Camera Bags
• Wide-angle Lens
• telephoto or "long lens"
• Camera Lenses
• SLR Camera
• Camera Flashes
• Camera Tripod
• Colored Paper
• Slide Film
• Camera Polarizer Filters
• Camera Macro Lenses

1. Choose lenses that will give you the picture you desire. A macro lens will allow you to take a picture of the smallest part of a flower. You can capture a landscape of flowers with a wide-angle lens. But don't forget your telephoto lens to capture the fleeting butterfly or bee as it flutters from flower to flower.

2. Use a color-saturated type of print or slide film. A film with an ISO of 50, 64, or 100 will give you bright colors. You will need to use a tripod to prevent any motion when shooting this film speed.

3. Try using a filter such as an enhancer or warming filter to really make the colors "pop."

4. Mount your camera on a tripod. This will allow you to slow your shutter speed down to capture light and color.

5. Choose your subject such as the stamen of a single flower, a single flower or a field of flowers. When shooting a field of flowers, choose a point of interest so that your eye will be drawn to it in the final picture. Having no point of interest will allow your eyes to wander all over the photograph.

6. Walk around your subject and look for the best lighting and angle. Use backlighting to highlight the transparency of the petals.

7. Decide on the background. If you want a muted background, shoot with a wide aperture or a low f-stop number. You can also add your own background by sliding a piece of colored seamless paper behind your subject.

8. Use your flash to fill any shadows that maybe lurking around your subject.

9. Shoot the flower from different angles such as above, below or from the side to capture interesting views of the same flower.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch for wind movement. To prevent motion blur, especially if you are using a macro lens, you may have to wait until it is a calm day, or you may have to block the wind from your flower.
• Use a light meter to get the correct exposure settings.
• Add water droplets to the petal of your flower to give it that early-morning, dewy look, or get up early and let Mother Nature add it for you.
• You can add extension tubes to your telephoto lens. This will allow you to fill more of the picture frame with the subject.

on 3/29/2006 If you are not satisfied with your pictures, try zooming all the way out and moving your camera closer the flower. If you have a close up setting turn it on before taking a picture. This will help you get a clearer picture when shooting close up. When shooting flowers I highly recommend close-ups.