flower and tree buds

[ZombiesniperJr]

this is my first time trying any to do this using the the 18 to 45mm canon lens please let me know how i did
1flower by Logan Baldwin, on Flickr
2buds on a tree by Logan Baldwin, on Flickr

 

[jcdeboever]

Good start Logan. I am no expert but I understand for the most part what I am doing with flowers in my vision.

Always try to have sun at your back. You want a single point focus, and spot metering. EC is your friend in these shots. Bright sun means you need to lower the -EC so you don't blow the highlights. Also, you can darken backgrounds and add dimension to the flower with faster shutter speeds. You can also darker backgrounds and isolate the flower ( in shade/poor lighting) with your pop up flash which you probably never use... If I use the pop up, I get the exposure right in camera with the flash up and ready and run shutter to max shutter speed of flash sync (mine is 200). Pretty powerful trick on the right occasion.

You have a good eye for composition but you should try to isolate the flower like you do with a bird or mammal in wildlife. If there is a lot going on in front of it, behind it, etc, it takes over the image. I have found walking slow, looking slow, presents many opportunities. It is a different type of photography. For me and my Sigma 150-600 lens, I set it at f8 with a max 800 iso and worry about the shutter and just wait for wildlife animals. But for shots like you posted, a little different thought is required.

In 1, you missed focus on the middle flower, people like sharp middles.

In 2, you really have to think how your want to present what you see as interesting. Often times, it s another angle, many times it;s nothing.

 

[WesternGuy]

You have hit upon one of my favourite subjects. I agree with what jcdeboever has said.

In #1, there is too much clutter in the image. The foreground brown twigs and the grass sticking up spoil the image. You need to isolate your "subject" much better and use an f-stop that will throw the background out of focus. I would have cleared out all the "clutter" in front of the flower before photographing it. Also, watch for shadows on the flower that may be caused by other elements of the image that may not even be in the actual image. I would have also picked a better flower. This one has bent up and brown ends on some of the petals, although some would call that "character". In the end, it is up to you which flower you choose and why.

In #2, I would have filled the frame with the subject. All the other stuff around it, the leaves and the stems, etc., are clutter.

As jcdeboever has suggested, walk around your subject, take a number of shots from as many different angles as you can. Remember, don't take an image just to "take" one. For me, if the image doesn't work, I don't bother, but go to another plant and see if it has something to offer that will work.

There are literally thousands of web sites that cover flower photography in some form or other as well as a number of YouTube videos. If you intend to adopt flowers as one of your favourite subjects, I would encourage you to spend a bit of time looking at some of them. You might want to start with a series of 3 web pages by Ron Bigelow - How to Photograph Flowers -- Part I will get you to the first one and the references to the subsequent ones are at the end of each site. Other flower photography sites can be found by searching the web for "flower photography".

HTH

WesternGuy

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Good start Logan. I am no expert but I understand for the most part what I am doing with flowers in my vision.

Always try to have sun at your back. You want a single point focus, and spot metering. EC is your friend in these shots. Bright sun means you need to lower the -EC so you don't blow the highlights. Also, you can darken backgrounds and add dimension to the flower with faster shutter speeds. You can also darker backgrounds and isolate the flower ( in shade/poor lighting) with your pop up flash which you probably never use... If I use the pop up, I get the exposure right in camera with the flash up and ready and run shutter to max shutter speed of flash sync (mine is 200). Pretty powerful trick on the right occasion.

You have a good eye for composition but you should try to isolate the flower like you do with a bird or mammal in wildlife. If there is a lot going on in front of it, behind it, etc, it takes over the image. I have found walking slow, looking slow, presents many opportunities. It is a different type of photography. For me and my Sigma 150-600 lens, I set it at f8 with a max 800 iso and worry about the shutter and just wait for wildlife animals. But for shots like you posted, a little different thought is required.

In 1, you missed focus on the middle flower, people like sharp middles.

In 2, you really have to think how your want to present what you see as interesting. Often times, it s another angle, many times it;s nothing.

View attachment 128597

Thank you

You have hit upon one of my favourite subjects. I agree with what jcdeboever has said.

In #1, there is too much clutter in the image. The foreground brown twigs and the grass sticking up spoil the image. You need to isolate your "subject" much better and use an f-stop that will throw the background out of focus. I would have cleared out all the "clutter" in front of the flower before photographing it. Also, watch for shadows on the flower that may be caused by other elements of the image that may not even be in the actual image. I would have also picked a better flower. This one has bent up and brown ends on some of the petals, although some would call that "character". In the end, it is up to you which flower you choose and why.

In #2, I would have filled the frame with the subject. All the other stuff around it, the leaves and the stems, etc., are clutter.

As jcdeboever has suggested, walk around your subject, take a number of shots from as many different angles as you can. Remember, don't take an image just to "take" one. For me, if the image doesn't work, I don't bother, but go to another plant and see if it has something to offer that will work.

There are literally thousands of web sites that cover flower photography in some form or other as well as a number of YouTube videos. If you intend to adopt flowers as one of your favourite subjects, I would encourage you to spend a bit of time looking at some of them. You might want to start with a series of 3 web pages by Ron Bigelow - How to Photograph Flowers -- Part I will get you to the first one and the references to the subsequent ones are at the end of each site. Other flower photography sites can be found by searching the web for "flower photography".

HTH

WesternGuy

Thanks

 

[SquarePeg5 4]

Nice start Logan. If you're shooting close, don't be afraid to selectively move or trim stray stems and leaves out of your way. I have a green cloth in my bag that I use sometimes to hold down unwanted foliage around my subject. Look around for a flower that is already a bit separated from the others and get an angle that separates it even further. I sometimes like to shoot toward the sun to get some backlighting if the angle is right. Also, if you're out shooting birds and then switching to flowers, don't forget to change your focus mode, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Not sure if Canon has the same options as Nikon but you can set up User 1 and User 2 for different types of shooting which makes switching from birds to flowers a very easy process.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Nice start Logan. If you're shooting close, don't be afraid to selectively move or trim stray stems and leaves out of your way. I have a green cloth in my bag that I use sometimes to hold down unwanted foliage around my subject. Look around for a flower that is already a bit separated from the others and get an angle that separates it even further. I sometimes like to shoot toward the sun to get some backlighting if the angle is right. Also, if you're out shooting birds and then switching to flowers, don't forget to change your focus mode, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Not sure if Canon has the same options as Nikon but you can set up User 1 and User 2 for different types of shooting which makes switching from birds to flowers a very easy process.

Thanks