Lots of us folk have gardens that produce gorgeous flowers during the year and we would like to capture their beauty and share with others.  Here are a few tips:

Explore a garden first, looking for interesting lines and curves of flower beds. A shot with curving lines leads your viewer’s eye into the photograph. The goal is to not only tell a story, but to invite my viewers into the photos.

Start with overall images of garden areas, then move closer in to capture the details of individual’s plants, flowers and insects.

Harness the sunlight by capturing images that are backlit.

Try putting your subject off-center. Be sure the other two-thirds of your photo have visual impact as well.

Focus on the subject. A large aperture ensures that the background will be out of focus, allowing the subject to shine.

Patience, steady hands and a wide aperture can capture an image when you can’t use a tripod.

The best lighting is a bright overcast condition, this will afford you the best capture of the flower’s detail.  Fill the frame of your camera and imagine the flower hanging on your wall with minimal cropping.  When you’re viewing the flower and it doesn’t have any highlights, that is, no light areas providing detail, add some light with a piece of white board, or white cloth bouncing the light onto or behind the flower.  This will give your image some form and give you the illusion of being a 3D object even though it’s printed on paper with only two dimensions.

The gardens provide the stress relief that we all need.  Enjoy the summer! If you have any questions about photographing flowers, give me a call.