How to Photograph Flowers

Introduction

We all know that flowers have the ability to make any area come to life and that they are a common sight in our gardens, parks and homes, but photographing them in the right fashion to show off their true beauty does take a couple steps and we will cover all of them in this article.

Most of them revolve around getting out at the right time of day, being mindful of your depth of field and, most importantly, doing all you can to preserve those wonderful colors that are the major part of their appeal. 

Photographing flowers in itself isn’t a very complicated process, but as is the case with all types of photography, some additional knowledge and information will always separate good photos from great ones and there’s no reason to try to be the best you can.

List of 300 Flower Names A-Z with Images

Which camera body and lens should you use?

Since photographing flowers is the type of activity that will be performed during daylight and doesn’t require quick reactions and responsiveness from either the camera itself or its user, any modern mirrorless camera or DSLR, regardless of their sensor size, will be capable enough for that job. 

Which lens you decide to mount on your camera will have a much bigger effect on the look of your flower images than the sensor itself. Depending on the perspective you are trying to achieve, you can shoot with a wide angle lens, a standard 50mm or even a short telephoto.. 

No matter their focal length or aperture, they should have the ability to achieve close up focus on smaller subjects. Now, if you wish to come really close to the flower and focus on more specific parts like the stigma or a particular part of the stamen, you’ll need a macro lens, with at least a 1:2 magnification ability. 

A lens with a bright maximum aperture of f/2 or brighter will be useful for creating creamy out of focus backgrounds behind bigger flowers like sunflowers, magnolias or dahlias, but won’t be necessary for achieving the same effect for smaller ones, since you’ll be focusing closer to them anyways.

The effects of light and the weather on flower photos

While the flowers certainly look most beautiful to our eyes during sunny days, when all of their colors come alive and stand out even more from gray streets or even the grass and ground they arise from, our cameras actually capture them more easily in overcast weather.

The overly strong colors, bright whites and harsh shadows make the camera sensors work overtime to adjust the exposure and color intensity to match what we see in real life. When the sun is subdued, it will be easier to achieve a balanced exposure without losing any details in highlights and shadows and pumping up the colors later in editing.

If you do intend to shoot on sunny days, position yourself in a way so that the sunlight illuminates the back of the flowers, which will give them an interesting glow effect. Also, if you can, avoid photographing flowers on windy days. 

Your camera will be able to handle a slight breeze if you increase your shutter speed, but stronger winds will leave you with blurry images that are out of focus and also make it harder to stabilize your setup without the help of a tripod.

Getting the right composition and depth of field

As we’ve already mentioned, photographing flowers opens up a lot of creative potential, so you’ll have a ton of options when it comes to framing your images. First, you’ll need to decide if you want to focus on a group of flowers, a single one or some of their tiny details. 

If you want to shoot multiple flowers, be well aware of your surroundings, since they will surely be a part of your photos. If you can, avoid busy ones, especially if you don’t own a lens with a bright enough aperture to blur your background and make the flowers stand out as they should. 

You can also use other flowers as your background, especially if they are of a different color than the ones you are focused on. This can be especially effective for single flower photos if you close the aperture on your lens a little to allow for some depth of field. 

Also, try to include other details in your backgrounds like sparkling water, tree branches and leaves with sun poking through them and also, some of the scenery like buildings, monuments, statues and more. Give a context to your flower photos and let them tell a story, rather than just being in those photos for the sake of their beauty.

So, refrain from shooting open wide all of the time, despite the extreme background blur that can be achieved. Try to close down the aperture and reveal more of the world. Shooting with a darker aperture will also allow you to get more of the flower in the focus, which is especially useful for those occasions when you get very close to them.

Which exposure settings should you use?

Since you’ll be shooting in the day, no matter if it’s sunny or cloudy, your shutter speeds should always be high enough to allow blur free images unaffected by hand shake. You could actually stay in the Aperture Priority mode and leave it to the camera to set the shutter speed automatically, if you want to simplify your photography.

Your ISO value should remain at 100 or 200 at all times, so you can avoid any unwanted noise creeping in, which can be especially evident in photos of flowers because of their often large and uniformly colored surfaces. Also, don’t forget to shoot in RAW to give yourself more control over color corrections and sharpening afterwards.

Since you’ll be shooting in the day, no matter if it’s sunny or cloudy, your shutter speeds should always be high enough to allow blur free images unaffected by hand shake. You could actually stay in the Aperture Priority mode and leave it to the camera to set the shutter speed automatically, if you want to simplify your photography.

Your ISO value should remain at 100 or 200 at all times, so you can avoid any unwanted noise creeping in, which can be especially evident in photos of flowers because of their often large and uniformly colored surfaces. Also, don’t forget to shoot in RAW to give yourself more control over color corrections and sharpening afterwards.

Choosing the right aperture won’t be as straightforward and will depend on how big a flower is, how close you decide to focus on it, what kind of effect you are trying to achieve and if the flower itself is covered in shadows and will require more light to come through your lens.

Setting your aperture at f/4 or f/5.6 will be fine for most types of shots, giving you enough depth of field to keep most of the parts of the flower in focus, but also enough background separation. It’s up to you to adapt to different situations and close down the aperture to get an even deeper depth of field or open it up to blur the background even more. 

Choosing the right aperture won’t be as straightforward and will depend on how big a flower is, how close you decide to focus on it, what kind of effect you are trying to achieve and if the flower itself is covered in shadows and will require more light to come through your lens.

Setting your aperture at f/4 or f/5.6 will be fine for most types of shots, giving you enough depth of field to keep most of the parts of the flower in focus, but also enough background separation. It’s up to you to adapt to different situations and close down the aperture to get an even deeper depth of field or open it up to blur the background even more. 

Editing, color corrections and other things 

The first thing you should take care of after you sit behind your computer screen and transfer your flower photos is to make sure that their colors look as close as they do in real life. You can always increase the color intensity, but make sure that the color temperature itself is as natural as possible.

If you decide to turn up the saturation, make sure that all the different colors on a flower can still be easily distinguished. Sometimes, colors like red and pink or blue and purple can merge into one another if you’re not careful while adjusting colors, so keep that in mind and adjust them separately instead of all the colors in the image at once.

Also, try not to add excessive sharpening and contrast to the photo. Flowers often look striking enough without the need for extra detail being added after the initial capture. Your goal should be to showcase their colors but while also producing a warm and calming effect at the same time.

Conclusion

As we’ve already mentioned before in this article, photographing flowers can be a very straightforward, but also a relaxing and enjoyable experience, as long as you’re familiar with a few guidelines to follow in terms of framing, exposure and color preservation.

Anyone can point a camera in the direction of flowers and capture them, but taking time to find the right angle, adjusting the brightness and even better, using the information in the background to your advantage will elevate your flower photos from simple snapshots to those that will intrigue your viewers and attract their attention.