Tip #68: Shooting Flowers

Some say, buy a pretty flower, bring it home, arrange it just so, shoot it against a black background, shoot it against a white background, or some other "recipe"; but I prefer to shoot flowers in their natural state. I do have to put up with wind and bugs and somewhat trying conditions to get the best angle, but I think it is worth the trouble.

I look for nice color contrasts, and I usually shoot with a telephoto lens. I try to capture images up close and with an unusual angle to be different. Just like shooting children, I try to get on the same level as the flower. This shot was captured near sundown. The setting sun was illuminating the flower, while the blue sky was providing a rich backdrop. The sunflower called to me.



For this shot my settings on a Nikon D40X with 55-200mm F/4-5.6G lens were 122mm, F/5, 1/250s, ISO 200.




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