Flower Photography

Taking close up flower pictures has trained me to really enjoy the beauty of nature.  I now see all the marvelous ways that Mother Nature has of attracting pollinators to flowers. Certainly, “She” has captured me too.

While I do try to make large prints from some of my photographs, today the main way of saving and sharing photography is electronically.  So my comments will look towards the goal of showing them on a monitor, not on your wall.

The first thing to realize is that high definition screens (TV or computer) only have 2 megabytes (pixels) of information. And to keep the internet times acceptable at today's speeds (2009) most of my pictures are presented with only 100 thousand pixels. Any digital camera today has much more capacity than can be used for electronic display so the megapixel race is not important to you.  The really important equipment to have is:

1. A good macro lens that allows you to focus close.
2. A spot focus option that allows you to focus exactly on a point.

With these two requirements only, you can get a good to great flower shots.

The art of taking a wildflower picture comes mainly from practice and having an "good eye".  The following are important for taking a wildflower picture:

1. Find a flower that looks good.  Flowers have many moods and transition from buds to ripe flowers to fading beauties.  You would like to find a “ripe” flower in the middle of its reproductive cycle undamaged by bugs, wind, and the like.
2. Focus just right.  Generally you want the flower to be sharp and the rest to be blurry.  So fix your focus “spot” on a precise point of the flower with the knowledge that one third of the “in focus” area will be in front of that spot and the other two thirds behind the spot.  Many times the whole area of focus will be an inch or two deep depending on your lens and how close to the subject you are.
3. A faster shutter speed will “stop” wind motion or your own motion if you do not use a tripod.  I do not carry a tripod but do try to brace myself on some object in the area – most commonly my elbows and belly.  This earthy habit also lets me get “different” angles for the picture which is often very interesting like shooting up at a flower that everyone else sees looking down.
4. Underexpose your shots by 1 stop or a little less.  I find that this helps with color saturation and makes fixing the pictures a little easier.
5. Hope for good light.  This is a tough one since typically the best light is at sunrise or sunset – and I do not hike in the dark.  So take advantage of the terrain to find spots that have softer light or some shades of shadow that are not too harsh.  This is the hardest part of flower photography and I shoot no matter what kind of light I am in.

Finally there is processing in Photoshop or a similar program.  I use Photoshop Elements which is much more than I need.  And I typically do only a few adjustments.  Taking a good picture is a much preferred approach to making a good picture.

The few steps I use in Photoshop are:

1. Crop the picture.  I do not worry about framing while shooting since I crop every picture to 8X10 dimensions (hope springs eternal) and to eliminate extraneous elements
2. Adjust Lighting.  Normally I have some light areas that need to be “calmed down”.  So I normally dim the highlights.
3. Add saturation.  This can easily be overdone and it looks artificial.  Add saturation only when the picture really needs it.
4. Sharpen.  I always end with some sharpening using the “unsharp mask” or similar tool.

That is pretty much all I "focus on":).  To be specific about equipment, I use a Cannon SLR camera (originally the first Digital Rebel, then the 40D and now the 5D body).  My macro lens is a 50mm made by Cannon.  It is small and light which I appreciate on the trail.  However, you must be able to get very close to the flower subject, which is typically not a problem around Lake Tahoe.  If you need to shoot from a distance you need a longer lens (100mm which I have recently purchased) and, probably, a tripod L.

Finally I must say that I do not let photography totally consume my time and attention on the trail.  I usually hike with others who do not want to tarry in one place too long.  So I shoot fairly quickly and frequently.  And I experiment often.  It is so nice to see your mistakes disappear with the push of a button and at no cost.  So enjoy.