Spring has arrived, and with that comes the beautiful blooms. Those blooms could be the wildflowers on the paths that we hike on or the many planted flowers in our gardens.
This week’s assignment is to share photos of these beautiful blooms. But before we unleash you with your camera in hand, we wanted to give you five tips that will help you create better photos of the flowers in your neck of the woods.
- Watch out for wind. When it comes to photographing flowers, the wind is your enemy. The easiest way to avoid it is to do your photography early in the morning when there is less chance of wind. Your other option is to bring a flower inside.
- Use a fast shutter speed. Movement from wind can be your enemy. Use a fast shutter speed to freeze the position of the flower or flowers. The best time for this is in the morning when there is less wind. Don’t forget if it’s not a wildflower, you can bring the flower inside and create your own environment.
- Photograph flowers on an overcast day. Not every day in spring is sunshine and blue skies. But that’s okay because cloudy days are perfect for photographing flowers. The soft, even light of an overcast day compliments the delicacy of the flowers, and there are no shadows and no harsh bright spots, which makes it easier to get a good exposure.
- Avoid a cluttered background. As with every photograph, the background can make or break the image. Try to change your position so that nothing is distracting behind your flower.
- Use a shallow depth of field. Shallow depth of field is when only part of the image is sharp and the rest is soft and out-of-focus. You can achieve this by using a wide aperture (low aperture number) such as f/4 or f/2.8. The effect is even more pronounced if you are using a telephoto lens with a wide aperture.
After you have created your images, upload your post on our Muench University Facebook page, we will be waiting to offer helpful commentary. We also encourage you to leave comments on each other’s images.
