14 Easy to Implement Spring Flower Photography Tips

 

Despite today's snowstorm, tomorrow spring starts and soon flowers in all colors will be spreading the joy across New England and Boston. Temperatures will be on the rise and it is that time of the year that I look so much forward to during the cold long New England winters. It is exciting and inspiring to come across the first snowdrops; crocuses bloom shortly thereafter in flashing yellow, purple and white. It is this beautiful reawakening of nature when I get exited about and ready for outdoor photography. This blog post compiles 14 spring flower photography tips explaining how to photograph flowers in spring, summer, or all year round. The tips are easy to understand and implement, photos inspire for your own quest for those precious spring and floral moments around your house, garden, parks and arboretums ... Good luck and Happy Shooting!

Photo Tip #1: Don't stay inside because there is an overcast sky present. Cloudy skies are ideal for flower photography and provides the preferred soft lighting for exceptional flower photos.

Photo Tip #2: Get outside early ~ Make your way out of bed early, wind is less problematic in the early hours of the day. On the flip-side, don't be discouraged by wind later in the day and keep shooting for interesting abstract compositions where some blossoms may be in blurred motion while others may be in focus.


















Photo Tip #3: Add more interest ~ after rain showers or early in the morning when flowers are covered in raindrops or dew drops head out to explore your local botanical garden, park, or arboretum thereby adding more interest to a floral photography composition.

Photo Tip #4: Maximize image quality ~ Choose the lowest ISO settings like ISO25, 50, or 100 to capture maximum detail and minimize noise in the final floral image.


















Photo Tip #5: Simplify your composition ~ Shoot with large apertures (small f-stop numbers like f/2.8, f/5.6, or f/8) for a shallow Depth of Field and to simplify composition and solely steering the intention on the main subject within your flower photography picture.

Photo Tip #6: Increase color saturation ~ Use a Polarizing Filter to easily minimize glare and saturate colors.


















Photo Tip #7: Steady your camera ~ Use a Steady Tripod or fast shutter speeds to maximize image quality and minimize camera shake.

Photo Tip #8: Get in close ~ Ensure you are close enough to obtain a frame-filling capture of the blossom.

Photo Tip #9: Pin point your focus point ~ Switch to manual mode and use the camera magnification feature to precisely focus on the floral distinctive point of visual interest, e.g. petal, stamen, pistil, insect on flower.

Photo Tip #10: Be creative ~ Frame the main floral blossom with out-of-focus surrounding blossoms and flowers, thereby conveying a 3 Dimensional Feeling and pleasing composition.


















Photo Tip #11: Use your camera features to the fullest ~ Eliminate distracting elements in the background. Use your camera depth of field preview feature to ensure the background is blurred out and does not contain any distracting elements, consider a tighter composition, or re-frame the image.

Photo Tip #12: Lighten Up ~ Use white cardboard or reflectors to improve detail in shadowed and darker areas of the floral.

Photo Tip #13: Avoid blurriness in your pictures ~ Use the camera self timer, a cable release or remote release to trip the shutter. If not using live view use mirror lock up to minimize camera shake and blurry pictures.

Photo Tip #14: Get creative ~ Push the envelope by exploring Abstract Compositions and different, unusual perspectives, e.g. low camera angles, get in real close with a macro lens, or use a very shallow depth of field.




















 










Now it's your turn! Tell me what photography tip you liked best, which one you implemented or share your best flower photo tip with my readers. Feel free to share a link to your online galleries and I am happy to check them out ... if I really like them I might share them with my twitter community @NatureFineArt


More Reading and Photo Tips you may enjoy:

Jigsaw Puzzles and flowers? 

Favorite Flower and Gardening Quotes 

Painting with Light like Georgia O'Keeffe 

Springtime Quotes and Spring Entertainment