Look for the flower and something extra.

If you want to create a sense of interest and intrigue in your flower photography, look for that photo opportunity that captures a flower and something extra. What’s a something extra? Well, it could be anything; an insect, a twig or leaf, even a drop of water. Something extra can be fun, mysterious or artistic. There are limitless possibilities.

Getting that perfect picture can be quite frustrating. Often, you’ve got to have a great deal of patience; but if you wait long enough, that butterfly, bee or garden insect will come along and present that perfect picture opportunity for you.

If Mother Nature is not being cooperative, there’s always the opportunity for taking a little artistic license by creating your very own extra something. If you want to capture a shot of water droplets and there’s no rain in sight, grab a spray bottle and make your own droplets. Find a pinecone, garden decoration or kids’ toy as a prop. Between Mother Nature and your own creativity, there are infinite possibilities.

Grab your camera and go find your own something to capture that fun and memorable picture.

 

Written by Cliff Blackerby, July, 2019.

Learn to use shallow depth of field

In this part of the series, we are going to get more technical. Sorry, there’s no way around it. Shallow depth of field can be defined as when the foreground image is sharp, and the rest of the image is soft and out of focus.

To understand how to compose and capture shallow depth of field pictures, you must understand how to use your camera to create the effect. Shooting with shallow depth of field is a great way to create interest in your pictures. It sharply focuses your primary subject while blurring the background. It can be a great way to eliminate distracting elements in the picture. Shallow depth of field photography is often used in portrait photography but is very effective in flower photography as well.

Depth of field, simply defined, means how much of your picture is in focus. If you leave your camera on auto all the time, you’ll find that most everything is in focus. So, the first thing to do is learn to manually set the focus on your camera and get off auto mode. If you are an iPhone user an easy way to create a shallow depth of field shot is to use Portrait Mode. It will create a blurred effect if your subject is not right up against the background. If you use a traditional camera try a wide aperture setting such as f/2.8 or f/4, usually the lowest setting your camera will allow.

The easiest way to create a shallow depth of field photo is get close to your subject without making it a macro image. The closer you can get to your subject the more blurring you will get in the background. Professional photographers use this technique to reduce or eliminate distractions in the background, soften the look or mood of the picture and to emphasize the primary subject.

Once you master shallow depth of field techniques, you can reverse the process and capture long or deep depth of field photos. For deep depth of field photography, set the focus on a background subject and the foreground subject becomes blurred. Practice both techniques and you will become a better photographer, capture more memorable pictures and have more fun.

Grab your cameras and start shooting. Remember to manually set the focus, get close and take some test shots to get those shallow depth of field photos.

If you’ve missed any articles in the series you can find them by going to the MCMGA homepage, select MCMGA Blog link and look for the Photographing Flowers Series 1-5.

Written by Cliff Blackerby, July, 2019.

 

We immediately associate flowers with color; reds, yellows, whites and every color of an artist’s palette. The colors and delicate structures of flowers become natural photographic subjects for anyone interested in the beauty of nature. We try to establish a mood in our pictures of flowers; when we are successful in creating a sense of warmth, love or joy, it is usually through color.

Having commented on the importance of color in flower photography, I want to make a dramatic suggestion. Consider taking pictures of flowers in black and white. For any black and white pictures, you need to have high contrast between your subject and other objects or the background in the frame. It’s no different with flowers. Use black and white when it’s important to emphasize line, structure or form. Convert color pictures to black and white to eliminate distractions in your photo and direct the viewer’s attention to the primary subject in the picture.

It’s easy to take black and white photos if you are a smart phone user. In the iPhone, and I’m sure the Android as well, there are filters you can use that allow your native camera to take black and white pictures without any other edits. If you use a traditional camera, I’m sure there are filters you can buy or editing programs you can use to convert your color shots to black and white.

Black and white photography can create a delicacy and interest in your picture that captures the viewer’s attention. People are accustomed to seeing pictures of flowers in color, less so in black and white. For the dramatic impact black and white pictures have on a viewer, it is worth adding this technique to your photography skills.

Grab your phones and cameras and start looking for those special images that can be shot in black and white. You won’t regret it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the previous blogs on photographing flowers by going to the MCMGA Blog link and checking the archives for August-October.

Written by Cliff Blackerby, July, 2019.