Finding the Right Angle

[Julie Kenward]

Slowly but surely spring is making its appearance across North America. Pretty soon everyone will have flower fever and the macro/flora forum will be jumping again.

I picked my first batch of daffodils this weekend and made quite a few images. One thing I find as I look at floral images is most people tend to take the flower and do a head on photograph. I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone that flowers are a three-dimensional object and a good photographer will explore all the different sides, angles and lighting choices to get a really original one-of-a-kind floral photo.

Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Move around with your camera in hand and find the angles that really highlight the flower. If the flower had a personality, what would it be? What emotion are you trying to convey with it? Is it soft and light? Bold and saturated? Does it look better alone or in a large group?

This year be bold with your flower photos and try every angle, every type of lighting and feel free to highlight just a portion of the flower. Get in close with macro lenses and extension tubes. Try telephoto lenses and see how those compare to the macros. If all else fails, take a photo with a "normal" lens and then chop it up in post-production so you zero in on one part or a specific section of the flower.

Above all else, have fun with it! You never know when you're going to come away with that image of a flower that really makes you smile.

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
f4.5 @ 1/80th, ISO 400
Manual mode, Sunny WB, pattern metering
Natural light from outside for side and backlighting plus flash at -1
Processed in Adobe Camera Raw: used the white balance eyedropper to convert the BG to the highkey white.
Finished processing in CS4 where I did a small crop and a slight levels adjustment.

[Ed Vatza]

First off, I like this image Jules. To use the word again, it has a very ethereal feeling to it.

Second, good advice. It's alway fun and educational to try different things. Some work. Some don't. But you learn from both. Now if only the flowers would start popping through here in PA.

[denise ippolito]

Julie, I like the high-key BG. I like the experimentation and agree with you that we could all get OOTB a bit more-sometimes we let rules in design guide our way. Good Advice!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules good advice and challenge to everyone to try something different. Sometimes it doesn't always work out, but it's good to see different views. I like what you've done with this one. Like the lighting, color and DOF. I'm affraid I still have a few weeks to go before we see anything starting to pop out of the ground here.

[Joseph Martines]

Julie:

Thank you for the sage advice.

The great thing about the spring is that outdoor imaging allows for tripods - a necessity to macro photography.

I'm inspired to do a better job on tulips and daffodils this spring.

[Christopher Miller]

Good advice, Julie. I've tended to shoot insects a lot more often than flowers, but after reading this I think I'll try doing more flower photography. Now if only spring would hurry up and come! :D

[massimomossi]

This is very elegant--and a very inviting image. Lovely colors, delicate but intense, and your point about seeing the multi-dimensional aspect of the flower is very well taken.

Wish it were one of mine!

Massimo

[Anita Bower]

Thanks for your reminder about trying many angles of view! And, good image to make your point.