Everyone likes flowers right? Someone said flowers were nature’s way of laughing. Beautiful, colorful and varied, flowers make a great photo subject.
But the other side of the coin is everyone takes photos of flowers, so how to make your flowers photographs stand out from the crowd?
Here are some tips, ideas and tricks for photographing flowers.
A single flower, isolated against a simple background can highlight the graphical nature of the flower. “Red Peony Flower Back” by Edward FieldingFlowers can also be isolated by throwing the background into a blur using a shallow depth of field. “Flowers San Diego California” by Edward Fielding.Another way to simplify a scene is by shooting up at the flowers so that the background becomes sky rather than say a busy street scene or having some other distracting elements. “Bea Balm” by Edward FieldingIn drawing classes, art students are taught that an interesting background should not be neglected. Think of textured, interesting yet neutral backgrounds for your floral photographs. Backgrounds can be interesting in their own way without distracting from the natural, and colorful beauty of the flower. “Three Tulips” by Edward Fielding.Careful thought, planning, lighting and attention to composition was well as collecting interesting props can create flower photographs that the old masters would appreciate. Use old still life paintings as an inspiration. Study the lighting and compositions of the old masters. “Spring Daffodil Flowers” by Edward Fielding.Using flowers as an accent. In this photograph celebrating the Spring season, the crabapple flowers take on a supporting role to the main star of the scene, the Robin’s egg. “Robin’s Nest” by Edward Fielding.In this photograph, the tulip becomes the main actor in the story. Think of concepts in which flowers tell a story. “Music Lover” by Edward Fielding.When thinking about a still-life, create a balance between elements. Ying and yang, light and dark, soft and hard – in this still life the main flower is offset by the discarded flowers creating triangles which move the viewer’s eyes around the scene. The white of the flowers is contrasted by the dark background. The softness of the petals contrasted with the hard edge of the glass. “Rememberance“ by Edward Fielding.
