Improving your flower photography does not necessarily buying the last camera, purchasing a better lens etc etc. Below are listed 3 simple hints to help improve your flower photography. None of then require any money to be spent - they are all free. Just simple ideas to help improve the quality of your flower photography.
1) Avoid bright sunshine if you can.
Try not to take pictures in bright sunlight! Bright sun light is harsh and 'unforgiving' and doesn’t really lend itself very well to flower photography.
Bright but over cast days are perfect, as are the first couple of hours first thing in the morning and the hour or so just before sunset when the sun is low in the sky and the light is less intense.
The soft and diffuse light on an overcast day is just great for taking images of flowers. This type of light produces no nasty harsh shadows or over exposed bright spots. Just a nice soft, even exposure - perfect for flower photography.
If you are out in bright sunshine see if you can take your photographs with the flower in the shade. Use something to shield the flower from the sun if you can or stand in the way yourself. By doing this you will noticeably improve the quality of your final image.
2) Try a different angle.
Try not to take pictures from the 'usual' angle ie standing near the flower and looking down on it from an angle. This is how the vast majority of flower photographs are taken.
Sure, you may well get a nice enough image but often these pictures end up looking somewhat dull and 'ordinary' as everyone else has exactly the same sort of picture. You need to think about different angles, different perspectives if you are wanting to improve your photography.
Try standing directly over them, or getting down to their level or perhaps even lower ie lying on the ground shooing up at them. Try shooing from a totally different angle, experiment and have fun! Your images will be so much better for it!
3) Try not to cut flowers in half!
By this I mean any flowers that are in your shot should, if at all possible, be whole flowers – its looks "wrong" if one of them is cut in half by the edge of the image. (I am not necessarily referring to flowers that have been cut exactly i'n half', but you know what I mean - the appearance isn't so good if a flower does not appear whole!)
Clearly, if you are taking an image of loads of flowers, a field full of flowers for example, this won't be possible, but then with loads of flowers cut one or two of them off does not really matter. But if your picture is of just a couple flowers then it definitely does matter (see the examples below) – try and avoid doing it !
These are simple, free things that you can try today. Use soft light wherever possible and experiment with different angles. Trying these simple things will definitely help improve your flower photography.
Have fun out there!
