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linneaphoto

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I've been offline from dA for quite a while now but I've really missed it and decided to come back and be part of the community again, and to show you all of my unpublished work. But then I found out about Eclipse and I'm totally bummed out. It ruins everything I love about dA and makes the experience really awful, not to mention that I won't be able to showcase my work in a way that I like anymore.. So yeah, I might just not spend that much time on dA, after all I don't want to have wasted my time if Eclipse goes live, which is a shame as I already spent a couple of days sorting out my gallery and profile.
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AnimalsPlantsNature
Your Home for APN Photography


Many associate flower photography with macro equipment, including myself. However, there are many creative ways of photographing flowers without the use of specialist equipment. This tutorial will give you ideas of how you can use ordinary lenses that you already own to get stunning shots of even the smallest flowers! It's meant to give both beginner photographers encouragement as well as providing inspiration for more experienced photographers to try something new. I have divided the tutorial into three types of focal lengths, wide angle, normal, and telephoto and I'll show you some examples as well as a few guidelines to help you try these techniques on your own. This tutorial won't go into technical depth, but rather look at the visual and creative aspects of photography. Cameras of any quality will work, but cameras with interchangeable lenses such as DSLRs are to prefer.

Wide angle lenses

When I first tried out wide angle photography for flowers I was a bit skeptical and thought that it wasn't for me. However, after coming back to this technique for the sake of this tutorial, I have realized that there is so much potential to create something truly unique, and the wider the focal length of the lens, the better really!

What you'll need

For this technique you'll need a wide angle lens. It doesn't matter if you're using a full frame sensor camera or a crop sensor but bear in mind that the same focal length will be wider on a full frame than it will be on a crop sensor. A zoom lens would be to prefer as it will give you some flexibility to decide how wide you want your photographs to be, but prime lenses work just as well. I was using the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon 70D for my photographs. There's no need for a tripod if you're working in daylight with fast shutter speeds.

Technique

With any wide angle photography, paying attention to your background is really important as you will include a much wider area behind your subject. This can be tricky if you're working in a busy environment, but also this is where the fun lies! By fine tuning where you place your camera in relation to your subject, the background will change and there's no right or wrong here, let your creativity flow. How I approached these flowers in the examples below is that I moved my camera as close to the subject as the focusing on the lens would allow me. Wide angle lenses normally has quite a short minimum focusing distance and you can use this to your advantage! If you feel like you're not getting close enough, try zooming in a bit. I also placed the camera on the ground, facing in an upward angle, so that the flowers would fill the bottom of the frame with the background folding out nicely behind the flowers. I used a wide aperture for my photographs as I wanted to draw the attention to the flowers by blurring out the background, but this is also a matter of taste and depends on what you prefer in your own photographs. To help compose and focus my photographs I use live view, a really handy function on many cameras these days. If your camera doesn't have live view, you might find yourself slightly more uncomfortable looking through the viewfinder, or you can invest in a right angle viewfinder which might improve your comfort when working with the camera on the ground. If you're including the sky in the photograph and it's either overcast or with white clouds, be careful with your exposure so that you don't overexpose the highlights. It might be worth underexposing your subject by a stop if this ensures that the details in the background are preserved.

Untitled by linneaphoto Untitled by linneaphoto Untitled by linneaphoto
Left: f/2.8 | 1/800 | ISO400 | 17mm
Middle: f/5 | 1/800 | ISO400 | 17mm
Right: f/5 | 1/2000 | ISO400 | 23mm

Wide angle lenses summarized

- Use a lens with a wide focal length, preferably zoom. 17-50mm, 18-55mm or 24-70mm are some ideas.
- No need for a tripod unless you want to use one.
- Pay careful attention to your background.
- Choose an aperture that suits your creative preferences, a wide aperture will blur out the background.
- Use live view for composing and focusing your photograph if your camera has this feature.
- Get down low on the ground and shoot at an upward angle for dramatic compositions.
- Get as close as you can to your subject to make them more dominant in the frame.
- Be careful with your exposure so that the sky doesn't get overexposed.

Normal lenses

With normal lenses you don't get much extreme effects in your photographs such as distorted proportions as in wide angle photography or compressed background as with telephoto lenses. So with these focal length you can get some really nice portraits of the flowers as well as presenting them in their habitats.

What you'll need

I would say that "normal" focal lengths begin at perhaps 50/70mm depending on what type of sensor your camera has, and goes up to 150/200mm in my opinion with flower photography. If you were shooting a larger subject, 200mm would be more telephoto, but with smaller flowers I personally feel that at this focal length you don't isolate the subject as much, and the effects would be closer to the effects of normal focal lengths. I used two different lenses, the longer focal lengths of my wide angle lens as well as the shorter focal lengths of my Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 mkII but any lenses that fall into this mid-range of focal lengths work just fine. I'm not using a tripod as I tend to work in daylight with fast shutter speeds.

Technique

As mentioned, the effects with these focal lengths are not as extreme as the wider or longer focal lengths and thus, it could seem a bit dull to do this type of photography. However, this could give you a good opportunity to photograph some nice portraits of the flowers or showing them in the context of their habitat. I've used both these contexts for the sake of this tutorial. To photograph a portrait of a flower I used the maximum focal length of my wide angle lens. As mentioned, this type of lenses allows you to get really short focusing distances, and by zooming in fully, you can get quite close to your subject, almost as if you had a macro lens. By combining this focal length and the short distance from the flower you're able to include the whole flower in the frame, while still achieving some compression in the background, creating a clean portrait without any distractions in either background or foreground. By choosing a longer focal length you can focus all the attention of the photograph on the flowers and their direct habitat. To avoid having to deal with backgrounds, which in my honest opinion could be quite dull at mid-range focal lengths, shooting down on your subject could provide an interesting angle. By allowing some space around your subject, you'll be able to show the direct surroundings to your flowers and give a sense of habitat. One thing I've noticed is that photographing yellow flowers like this can be difficult, as bright sunlight often makes the yellow colours overexposed and it is sometimes difficult to notice, so paying extra attention to exposure and your histogram is important.

Untitled by linneaphoto Untitled by linneaphoto
Left: f/5 | 1/1000 | ISO400 | 50mm
Right: f/9 | 1/500 | ISO400 | 148mm

Normal lenses summarized

- Any lenses that fall into the focal lengths between 50/700mm to 150/200mm would give you these effects.
- You don't need a tripod unless you want to use one.
- The effects are not as extreme, thus focusing on portraying the flowers as they are or in their habitat is a good idea.
- The upper range of a wide angle lens is perfect for flower portraits.
- Choosing wider apertures would isolate the subject, but choosing a smaller aperture would show the context of habitat.
- Shooting down on your subject eliminates backgrounds and shows the direct surroundings in a different way.
- Be careful when photographing yellow flowers, they sometimes overexpose in bright sunlight.

Telephoto lenses

My personal favourite type of photography equipment are telephoto lenses, the longer the better! I did a whole project on springflowers in my second year of university and the main technique I used was telephoto lenses. With long focal lengths you can create beautifully soft photographs with the flowers isolated against both the background and foreground and it's a really fun technique to practice.

What you'll need

You will need a lens with a long focal length, at least 300mm. The longer the focal length you've got, the more you'll be able to isolate your subject. However, I tried using a 600mm lens once and it wasn't particularly successful. This is due to the minimum focusing distance, which was too long on that lens. Therefore, I personally recommend that you stick to focal lengths around 300-400mm and lenses that are able to focus on short distances, and combine these with teleconverters if you wish to increase it. I used a 300mm f/2.8 lens, sometimes with a 2x converter, although this is quite expensive equipment. Telephoto zoom lenses work just as well. I personally don't use tripods with these lenses either, however if you're new to this equipment, which can be heavy, a tripod could come in handy.

Technique

There is one main technique which I use when photographing flowers with telephoto lenses, and it's the technique when you get down on "eye-level" with the flowers to be able to isolate them against the background and the foreground. There are a few sure-fire elements to this technique, which you then can change slightly to achieve different results and find your own personal style. Step one is to scout out a flower. I often like to go for flowers which are growing alone, but using a particularly nice flower among a group of others is of course also possible. It all depends on the result you want to achieve. When you find your perfect flower you also need to pay attention to background and light. I would advice to choose a background that's darker than your subject and without any distracting elements. Step two is to find the perfect distance between yourself and the flower, and this is determined by the minimum focusing distance on your lens. I like to be around this distance, but you can of course be further away, but bear in mind this will make your flower appear smaller in the frame. Then you need to get down low so that you're on the same level as the flower as this will help you blur out the background and make the flower stand out. I like to shoot on a wide aperture to really emphasize this effect, although bear in mind that if you're shooting wide open, the sharpness of the photograph could be compromised. To really bring this effect to the extreme, the advanced extra element to this technique is to find something in the foreground to obstruct the path between the camera and the subject. The closer this is to you, the more blurred out it will be. Choosing something of the same sort of colours as the rest of your photographs is preferable. By combining these elements, you can achieve different results by choosing how much of the foreground you blur out or how many flowers you include in your photograph. It is a really fun and rewarding technique to use.

Untitled by linneaphoto Wood Anemone by linneaphoto Lone Snowdrop by linneaphoto
Left: f/2.8 | 1/800 | ISO800 | 300mm
Middle: f/2.8 | 1/6400 | ISO400 | 300mm
Right: f/5.6 | 1/1600 | ISO800 | 600mm

Telephoto lenses summarized

- A minimum focal length of 300mm is recommended, and the shorter the minimum focusing distance on your lens the better.
- Use a tripod if you're new to handling heavy equipment like this.
- Scout out a good flower to photograph, and align yourself according to light and background.
- Work at the lens' minimum focusing distance if you want the flower to be as dominant as possible within the frame.
- Use wide apertures to isolate the subject against foreground and background.
- Use vegetation to obstruct the lens, this will create a soft effect in the foreground.
- Experiment with different angles, flowers, light etc and find your own personal preferences.

Flower photography in the community

I'd like to finish off this tutorial by sharing some gorgeous flower photographs from the community!
spring by secret-mirror drops by Bagirushka Prelude... by Ikonokl4st
238 by Drems20 RGBW by Hubert11
Morning Glory by SamanthaElisa
 fire cosmos. by simoendli beautiful pink tulips. by by-sannee
HEART by Zi0oTo Magical flowers by ajkabajka Lily Flower by mattTIDBALL
the end of summer I by Finvara ... by BaxiaArt
 Glory by realityDream

Is there any special technique you use in flower photography? We would love to see your photographs or favourites! Please share your favourite flower photographs in the comments below!

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Photo by The-Panic
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Hoad Sunrise by Capturing-the-Light
...misurina V... by roblfc1892
...laghi di fusine I... by roblfc1892
winter wonderland by MartinAmm
Alone against all darkness by borda
Winter Forest by JoniNiemela
We can make it thunder by JustinDeRosa
Respiratus by CaveCanem42
Somewhere in Iceland by Stridsberg
Don't go out there! by topperGfx
In Wonderland by BrunoCHATARD


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lonely boy by augenweide
None Becoming by NicolasAlexanderOtto

Fairyland by jacekson
Revival by Aquilapse
i c y  b e a c h  19099 by pesterle
Jokulsarlon Sunset by cwaddell
Red Panda Patrol by KrisVlad
Wailua Sunrise by StevenDavisPhoto
Isolated by Kapr0s
nature love by MehmetKrc
The Point by A2Matos

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Untitled by MehmetKrc
Brody by KiwiTakeFlight
Red Fox on the Hunt by thrumyeye
autumn leaves by lindahabiba

The Death Falls by Inebriantia
Barn owl Chloe by Irentoys
Love Bite by thrumyeye

Calm and Vibrant Midwinter Tahoe Evening. by sellsworth
Drosera and Co by albatros1


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