Tips for Taking Great Flower Photos

The best time to take photos is early morning while the dew is still on the flowers and early evening

Photographing Flowers

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One of the great photo opportunities of spring and summer is flowers. They're everywhere, they're colourful and boy can they be a challenge to photograph well. Here are a few tips that might help you take successful flower photos.

1) Use a Macro Lens. If your camera has a macro setting or you have a lens with macro capability - use it. Depending on your camera and lens set-up - you may be able to get as close as few inches away from the flower and still have everything in focus. If you don't have a macro setting, use whatever one lets you get the closest to your subject. Photos where the flower fills the frame can be very dramatic.

2) Use a shallow depth of field or large aperture (low f-stop number). By selecting a low aperture, and getting a shallow depth of field, you will be able to select exactly what parts of your image are in tight focus, and which are in a softer focus. This shallow depth of field throws all the clutter in the background out of focus, making it less distracting and drawing the eye to the part of the photo in sharp focus. Some of our best flower photos have only one flower in sharp focus - and the rest are image just hints at what is in the background. If the background is in sharp focus, it can really distract from the beauty of the flower.

3) Use a tripod. A tripod will allow you to keep you camera still. If you are using a shallow depth of field, any camera shake can really mess up your image.

4) Start early in the day. If possible, try to take your flower photos as early in the day as possible. The light is softer, and you can sometimes catch them with the morning dew still on the flowers.

5) Go to a public garden. Public gardens are a wonderful place to take photos. The beds are weeded. The plants are well cared for. And they're often labelled. If you are at a garden that labels the plants - be sure to take a photo of the sign so you know the name of the flower you just took that stunning photo of.

6) Have fun. Relax and enjoy yourself. Don't get so wrapped up in your photography that you forget to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy their beauty.

Courtesy Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence co-owners of Hankins-Lawrence Images LLC, a digital photography company based in Maryland.

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