Day One: My Journey into Flower Photography
I’ve long been a fan of Ursula Abresch’s gorgeous flower photography. So I decided to start doing a deep dive into flower photography and to share the journey with you.
I have a long way to go!
It was going to be in the 90s today, so I got up (relatively) early and went out to the Williamsburg Botanical Garden . A wonderful pollinator garden with native plants, and I’m already having a problem with my first task!!
Staying with one flower!
I’m like a bee. I want to move from flower to flower to flower; alighting for the briefest second and then moving on. But that’s not the best way to learn. So on day 1, I tried staying with the same flower. Aiming for maybe 20 minutes…?
What I learned:
Don’t pick a flower in the middle of the batch. You can’t really move around and change angles!
Laying on the ground, propped up on your elbows is very tiring after awhile! Taller flowers might be a nice change.
Don’t forget to experiment — that’s what you’re here for. I forgot almost immediately! I got so focused on the incredible pistil and stamen that I focused (literally and figuratively) on that. I need to avoid going down a rabbit hole. I need to find ALL the rabbit holes first!
Here are some of the unedited, uncropped shots. I tried slight changes to modify the background, foreground, depth of field and magnification.
Which did I like the best?
I thought I would like the side shot the best. That’s why I took so many, and unfortunately, didn’t move around more. But I was wrong.
This is the straight on, side view:
This view you see a little more of the back of the flower, which is much more interesting
None of these are keepers, yet. I have a long way to go. But I am rather fond of this one!
So I was really good and stayed on the one flower for… let me go look… I’m sure it was about 15 minutes…
Ok — I stayed on the flower for all of 8 minutes!! I need to be more patient!
And then I got distracted.
I played with the bees for 18 minutes. Don’t expect me to be able to concentrate on flowers when there is wildlife around!
What to do for next time:
Pick a flower that’s more on the edge, and move around more. Change up the background, shoot from higher angle, lower angle, etc.
Change up the depth of field on every shot
Spend more than 8 minutes on one flower
Stay tuned!
