How to Take Flower Photos

Taking flower photos can be a challenge. Here are some tips to make flower pictures fun to take.

Flowers are attractive to almost everyone, including many other species. They are also perfect candidates for photographs as they tend to stand still, and never tire of having their photos taken. But though they are seemingly an easy subject, flowers will require some technical examination as well as some forethought before photographing

Step 1: Consider the Lighting in Taking Flower Photos

The first consideration is the lighting. Flowers do not generally photograph well in the uninterrupted light of midday – though they may appear absolutely lovely to the human eye under such conditions. The finer details of petals, stamen and leaf textures will be washed out and eliminated from the photograph by such brightness.

If a photo session in the early morning or early evening is impossible then a filter of some sort will need to be used to diffuse the sunlight over the flower. The perfect time to photograph flowers are on overcast or cloudy days, but if a sunny day is the only option, alternative methods of capturing the beauty of flowers in a photograph can be used.

Step 2: Consider the Background of Your Flower Photos

Background should always be taken into consideration when photographing flowers, since they are generally small items that can easily get lost in a large backdrop.

If the subject is an entire field of flowers, the photographer will need to take the foreground, sky and focal point of the image into consideration, perhaps focusing on a single feature or flower with the rest of the field out of sharp focus in the background.

Step 3: Consider the Focal Point of Flower Photos

When shooting flower photos, you are typically focused on the blossom itself. However, there are other parts of that flower to consider, such as the stamen, pistil, petal or another component of the blossom. You also want to decide whether or not you're going to get an extreme close-up and whether or not you should set your camera for macro mode.

Sometimes the focal point almost picks itself when you a shooting flower photos. This beautiful mini iris is growing in a park garden just up the street from where I live. Up close it is hard to believe it is a mini iris, isn't it?

Step 4: Get the right Angle in Flower Photos

Flowers are gorgeous to look at and fun to capture on film and professional as well as amateur photographers are always encouraged to experiment with different angles. You can shoot straight at the flower itself on a parallel plain or you can shoot from a bird's eye view. Consider the flower itself and decide which angle would best represent that particular flower.