Its now May, so its flower time...
The Trillium Cross
Aranac Co. Michigan
The magic and Majesty of flowers has fascinated artist and man in general since the garden of Eden. It was easy back when painting was the only way to capture the true beauty of the flowers you could just paint out the flaws, or in some cases design your own flowers. Now with cameras we can do so much more.
My aunt's flowers at her Saginaw Bay farm.
Bay Co. MI
The art of shooting flowers is very individualistic like much of art. There are many ways to shoot flowers...groups, single blooms, in settings and too many others to truly elaborate on here. I plan on hitting on the foundations of all of them...Singles, groupings and settings. Ok theses are pretty much the basis of 95% of all pictures...so pay attention.
A single bloom at the Rush & Son Greenhouse (w/cell phone)
Romulus, MI
A wild configuration of Trillium's at Heaven on Earth
Rifle River Valley in Aranac Co. Michigan
Tree blooms along Oak St
Wyandotte, MI
There are a few basic ways to shoot flowers. Single bloom, small groups and in-mass.
A Wyandotte MI corn flower
Another Trillium at Heaven on Earth
Rifle River Valley Aranac Co MI
Another Wyandotte MI Bloom
In Memorial 10/2001
Vietnam Memorial Washington, DC
Cell Phone Sunflower
Monroe Co. MI
A Pine Cone and tree along Oak St
Wyandotte, MI
The single bloom pictures tend to be very popular. The key to a single bloom is the arrangement of the bloom in the picture compared to the background and the location in the picture. You usually want to center the flower in the frame, but when the back ground has interest too, then you may want to play it off to another part of the frame. When you do this, please remember the basics of composition...the rules of 3's and triangulation...see previous blogs about this. I also try not to be fooled by the "close-up" flower mode on the settings of your camera. I prefer the portrait mode, if Iam choosing. The reason is that with most flowers have a good amount of depth to the bloom, and need the extra depth of field that comes with the portrait mode compared to the close up.
Another thing I like to do is shoot into a dark(er) back ground, but I DO NOT use a flash when I do this. I want the flower to be the star of the show, so I make sure I have enough light to see the flower clearly, at a 1/60 or so setting with the camera. This gives me the deep, near black back ground without it exposing the background that a flash would expose...and can still a "texture" to the background.
fence flowers
Woodhaven, MI
pair of trillium's
Aranac Co. MI
flower shop flowers
Kent, OH
Fence end
Wyandotte, MI
Fence Gate
Sutton's Bay, MI
When shooting small groups of flowers I like to involve the background into the shot. By adding the background into the picture you bring more interest to the picture, and can bring the location of the shot into the "story" of the picture. So don't be afraid to use the flowers to create the interest in the background, or using the background to enhance the Flowers.
Cindie's garden
Trenton, MI
Blossoms along Oak St.
Wyandotte, MI
Hanging basket at the Rush & Son Greenhouse (w/cell phone)
Romulus, MI
The Bellagio Ceiling
Las Vegas, NV 6/2001
Thanksgiving grasses
Lake Erie Metro Park Gibraltar, MI
Field of wild flowers
Ogemawa, Co. MI
Mass groupings of lowers I like to set up into the frame in one of 3 ways.
The first way of the 3 is as a key part of a composition, but not the entirety, like the picture of the post ending. The flowers were/are used to both center the photo and at the same time give a depth of field. The flowers are used like the sea in a picture of a lighthouse or a boat.
The second is as a full frame grouping that fills the frame. This, unlike the small grouping full frame...flower shop picture...is that its the mass and not just 1 or 2 blooms that are intended to be the focus of the photo. The mass is the subject, not the the individual(s).
The last of the three is using a mass of blooms as just part of the subject in the picture. Using the mass of flowers to balance out the entire picture...an anchor to the composition.
Cobo Hall electric bloom (w/cell Phone)
Detroit, MI
The3rd stage Trillium
Aranac Co. MI (Mid May 2011)
Square flowers
Woodhaven, MI
cell phone
