 Faye Bishop |
How to shoot Flower Heads I have recently become addicted (temporarily) to photographing flowers. On the whole I can usually do a reasonably good job. What the heck - some of them are terrific. However, I have a problem when composing a flower that has a multiple flower head. For instance lillies. I usually shoot wide open (f5.6 in may case) to isolate the subject but in this case I can't. Other than breaking all but the best heads of the group off can you suggest anything. Also, because there are so many of the group, I can't seem to be able to compose them nicely. They just seem so 'busy'. Can any of you make any suggestions? Or am I not 'looking' enough? Faye
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Tony Sweet |
Hi Faye: The key to close up flower photography is isolation and subject selection, as you appear to know. Pick your main subject, especially at f/5.6, and let everything else go soft. As you say, avoid busy situations. What lens are you using and exactly what do you want to accomplish. If you widest aperature is 5.6, you may need a faster lens, f/2.8. Consider changing your compositional angle.
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Faye Bishop |
Thanks for your reply Tony. I think my biggest problem is that I don't have a fast enough lens. My camera is a Canon EOS 300v. I think in the States it is sold as a Rebel Ti. I have attached a Sigma 70mm - 300mm lens that converts to macro at the push of a button when set to 300mm. I realise that this is a 'consumable' lens, however, I am more than happy with the results (other than not being fast enough). The real problem is that these particular flower heads are very large and dense. Each single flower in the head is larger than the size of my fist. What I would like to accomplish is to isolate one particular flower from the whole. I can get close enough to isolate the flower but loose most of the subject. I guess what I would ideally like to do is isolate one flower with the others in soft focus, but not only do I not have a fast lens, but they are very compact. Perhaps I should try manipulating the individual flower and shoot from above (using a ladder) or from the ground using the sky as a background. Would that work considering how close they are too each other? And as they are in my own garden could I perhaps shred some of the flowers of the head off? Or is that going to extremes? HELP!
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