Tips for Flower Photography

Tips for Flower Photography
Why Photograph Your Food? Why Not Photograph a Stranger’s Food?
The Challenge of Working with Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Photography Lighting

Posted: 06 May 2013 06:34 PM PDT

Quick Reminder: Only a few days left! in the deal on: Flower Photography Guide

You see them everywhere: flowers in full bloom. They are colorful and so easy to photograph. You can use them as art prints, backgrounds for images, Facebook cover images, or just for the joy of capturing the beauty of a flower. There are some tricks that can elevate your images beyond snapshot level, into images that really express a flower’s magic.

If you add only a handful of these approaches to your photography, you will be amazed at the results.

“Untitled” captured by Megan Marcinkus. (Click image to see more from Megan Marcinkus.)

Camera Tricks

Use a shallow depth of field. Set your f-stop or aperture to the lowest number you can. This gives you a sea of color while making one flower pop out.
Try a slow shutter speed like 1/30th, 1/15th or even 3 seconds, on a windy or breezy day. This creates a wonderfully pastel, emotional image.
Get close in. Use a macro lens if you can. You will capture unique detail, rarely seen, that will delight the viewer–especially if you print it very large.
Bring along some simple tools. Reflector cards open up shadows. Large cards can act as wind blocks. You can bring along a colored card or even a photo of a background to put behind the flower–have the background go out of focus for a believable transition.
Set your file size to as large as you can for prints and cropping options.

“Flower 14″ captured by Pablo J. Ramos. (Click image to see more from Pablo J. Ramos.)

Composition Tricks

Get down low, at “eye” level with the flower. Unique angles make flower shots more interesting.
Look for lines and shapes, like diagonals and S-shaped curves, to give the image a flow. Use them as foreground elements to frame your main subject.
Photograph flowers really early in the morning or just as the sun goes down for rich, soft lighting.
Spray water on flowers for that morning dew look at any time of day.
Place your “key” flower in a position that utilizes the rule of thirds grid for most impact.
Work with depth of field to isolate a single blossom or find one flower that is a different color than the rest. Find one flower that is somehow different than its surroundings.

Unique Uses

Use floral images as background elements to lay behind smaller images.
Create a larger image and put real flowers in front of them.
Use photographs of flowers as texture overlays for portraits.
Create your own greeting cards.
Add inspirational copy and print the photos or post them to mentally frame your day.

“Untitled” captured by Megan Marcinkus. (Click image captured by Megan Marcinkus.)

That old phrase, “stop and smell the roses” could also have you stopping to photograph the flowers. Blossoms don’t last long, but a well-planned photograph will enrich your life with a flower’s beauty forever.

About the Author:
Mark Laurie is a Master Photographer, international speaker, author and studio mentor (www.InnerSpiritPhoto.com). He teaches extensively in England and Canada. His Revealing Venus Nude & Glamour Photography Workshop is run in Italy. Mark has published 7 books. You can find information on his books, photography, and training on his website.

For Further Training, Deal Ending Soon!

As spring is here and flowers are blooming many have sent us requests for more flower photography help. The 2nd edition of this flower photography guide has been completely revamped. We reached out to the publisher who agreed to give our readers 25% off for the next few days.

Learn more here: Wildflower Photography Guide

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Why Photograph Your Food? Why Not Photograph a Stranger’s Food?

Posted: 06 May 2013 03:05 PM PDT

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. A food photography problem, that is. Instagram is riddled with pictures of photographers’ meals. Ranging from simple meals at home to extravagant fare at the fanciest of restaurants, the abundant photos of food make you wonder if the person behind the lens ever eats anything without documenting it first.

food-photography-prank

In this video, the food photography trend is taken a step further with a prank revolving around taking pictures of strangers’ meals (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here):

Though this video depicts only a prank, it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched. In fact, it’s reminiscent of a popular skill-building project amongst photographers, in which the photographer vows to create portraits of 100 Strangers. The assignment helps photographers become comfortable with approaching strangers while advancing their portraiture technique.

Choosing to improve photography with a subject-specific project may at times seem amusing and worthy of parody, but it can actually be quite beneficial. Practice makes perfect, after all. No matter how quirky your passion may be, it’s important to keep building your photography skills.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

The Challenge of Working with Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Photography Lighting

Posted: 06 May 2013 10:59 AM PDT

When shooting without flash, you try to use the light in your environment that works best. When shooting with flash, you often shoot inside and focus on altering the lights pointed at your subject. But often we forget that you can use the environment to help create a natural look with artificial light. In this tutorial, photographer Bruce Dorn shows how to use your environment to your advantage when using strobes (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here):

Though Dorn throws out a lot of photography jargon, his premise is simple: Don’t ignore your environment. In his first setup, he uses the sun shining through the windows as a strong backlight, and his strobes as a fill light. In his second setup, he uses a single flash to bounce off a large piece of unbleached muslin. While you may not have this same gear, Dorn says you can just as easily bounce the flash off the wall or use a bedsheet.

Balancing sunlight and strobe lights can give you great natural results

In his third setup, Dorn uses some cheap plastic hooks to attach his flashes to the wall and bounce the light off the ceiling. Placing one light on each wall, Dorn is able to have a great amount of control over the look of his photos.

Strobes hung on the wall pointing at the ceiling in the four cardinal directions gives Dorn a lot of control over the lighting

Again, you may not have four strobes to be able to replicate Dorn’s specific technique, but the point is to make the most out of your surrounding environment and use it to your advantage when shooting.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

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