Tips for Flower Photography | Sarah Morgan Photography

Get outside!

Being from New England, I have always loved and appreciated spring.  Every year I would anxiously await the first flowers, usually crocus popping through the last of the snow, signaling that spring had arrived, even if the thermometer had not been told.  I still look forward to the flowers of spring and capturing their beauty with my camera.  Since moving to San Diego, I love finding new and visiting old places to photograph.  This past weekend I grabbed my camera and hopped the Amtrak to take a ride up the coast to the San Juan Capistrano Mission.  It had been years since I’d been there, but remembered it as being so very beautiful with lots of gorgeous flowers.  The train ride was AWESOME, I’m definitely hooked! The weather couldn’t have been better and the Mission didn’t disappoint. I decided to challenge myself and only bring one lens.  I packed my Canon Compact-Macro 50mm.  I’m so in love this lens, as you can see.

How to photograph flowers

Here are a few helpful tips for photographing flowers…

  • Before you even get out your camera, keep an on your garden to see when the light is the best. Decide whether you want images with high contrast or even lighting and shoot during that type of lighting.  The gray days of May provide even, flat lighting such as the photo at the top of this newsletter.  Bright sunny days will provide that contrast you might want.
  • It is best to select one flower to highlight in your photo.  To do this be sure to set your camera to a wide open aperture such as 4 or 5.6.  This will cause the background to blur so your one bloom stands out.
  • Try different angles, get down low, shoot from above, shoot from the side, even from underneath.  Flowers are amazing from every angle.
  • Get in close!  The insides of flowers are just as amazing as the entire flower.

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San Diego, California ~ 858.414.9646 Sarah@SarahMorganPhotography.com