How to Photograph Mountain Laurel

Pink Mountain Laurel

Flowers are fun to photograph. They don't move much, talk back or ask a lot of questions. They stand still and pose for hours and always have great color. That is except for mountain laurel. Their color is fine white or pale pink or an elusive red. They look beautiful in full sun, but the color photos usually look washed out and not quite the same. After years of failure, I finally figured out how to photograph mountain laurel. Read on to learn the secrets.

Things You'll Need

• Camera with 200mm Lens or Close up Lens.
• Tripod
• Patience

Instructions

1. 

   Photograph them on cloudy days to minimize shadows and burnout in the highlights. You also have to get them when they are in full bloom and before there has been heavy rains. They are delicate flowers and small blooms, so you want to photograph them before the rain beats them up. This photo was taken at F5.6 and 1/250th of a second without a tripod. Notice there is some blur from camera shake and flower movement, even at this high shutter speed. Always use a tripod to photograph this elusive plant.

2. 

   Even in the same area you will find mountain laurel of different colors. I am not sure why; maybe there are different varieties or they differ depending on soil conditions. In any case, while most of them have white flowers with pink inside, some like this one also have pink petals. This was shot at F5.6 at 1/400th of a second and I am pretty pleased with the result.

3. 

   Depth of field has a great impact in floral photography. This was shot at F4.8 at 1/250th of a second. The depth of field is too shallow. While the narrow depth of field helps to separate the blooms from the background in this case, it is too narrow, and a lot of the blooms are out of focus causing an eye flow distraction.

4. 

   Finally, I have a good picture of mountain laurel. This was taken on a gray day at F11 at a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. Most of the blooms are intact; the whites are perfect and not burned out. You can see the detail and delicate pinks in each bloom, and even though it is at F11 you can still see separation from the background due to the long focal length (200mm) lens.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't get frustrated if your first shots are not what you want; the color is difficult to capture.