Photo and Pictures

When photographing flowers, so you do not need to be a professional to get a colorful performance. You just need a little knowledge and patience to get really nice pictures. Here are 5 good advice on the road.

1st Lighting for flower photos
We are experiencing perhaps the most flowers when the light is brighter than the middle of the day. It is the worst time to take your photograph as the bright light creates strong shadows. If you now anyway are going to shoot when you read just read how your use of a white umbrella in the bright sunlight. Correct time of day for photography is in the morning or afternoon / evening. When the light is not so sharp, you may be saturated colors of flowers. Is it an overcast day, you can also test the middle of the day.

2nd Slip down to flowers level
Make sure to get the same level as your motives and move on to try different angles. Do not stand still, but also try to shoot from below. Try also different distance can sometimes be good to get the environment they grow in. Move around alot so you find right angle.

3rd Focus on the right place
Remember to have a clear focus so that you control the audience for what you believe is important in the picture. Stamens and pistils are natural targets but sometimes it is effective to target on the petals. Some of the pictures where you see the calyx as silhouettes through the petals can be really beautiful and delicate pictures. Be careful not to get a cluttered background that many people miss. Move so that you get a good view. If you have a SLR, use a diaphragm so that you blur the background.

4th Tripods
Use a tripod so that you avoid blurry pictures. Even if you think you are the camera still so moving it a little and you get a little motion blur in the picture. Use a tripod or other support. There are small simple tripods that are not expensive and easy to carry.

5th Frame or try to capture the life of the flower
Try to frame the flower with drooping tendrils or anything else in the local environment. Flowers attract insects of various kinds attempt to catch them in the picture to get a more interesting picture. Sometimes it is also an environmental image more interesting than a close-up.

Get inspired by others: via Ipernity Flowers, Macro, Search for Flowers at Ipernity, Cluster Flowers at Flickr

Foto: Ilva B., Macro/Closeup Set

Ilva is a wonderful woman with a passion for food and photography. I got to know her through her blog Aglio e olio – an excursion into the Italian cuisine. She nows blogs at Lucillian Delights – an itallian experience. Just as you should be proficient in technology and function, it is important to capture the feeling of the moment. Ilva mastered just that and I am struck by is her passion that she has perhaps concentrated in Tuscany where she lives.

For beginners I would recommend looking at how others are doing and ask if you can. Copy and try to do the same before develop an own style that will grow in time. It is the only way to develop in her or his photography. To look at other people’s successful photo also gives inspiration and ideas for their own creations.

What I am envious of Ilva for her is alive and well composed macro and close-up photography. She does, of course, other fine well composed images. She plays with colors, lighting and structures so simple that I will be very jealous. It is very inspiring to follow her blog. I get lots of ideas of her photo. I asked her to write down some advice and tips what to think about. If you ask you´re not get any answers. It is by being inquisitive and to experiment as I feel that I learn best. Ask others what they think is important to capture a great image.

Bengt has asked me to come up with some advice for macro photography and I have put together some points with what I personally think are most important. Some apply only macro photography but really so I think it applies to all photography.

• Photography is for me more a matter of concentration than technology. When I am out and shoot and I’ll do it any time alone because I need to concentrate, if I talk or think about other things I miss so much of what is to be seen. In addition you need to take the time needed to photograph a subject, sometimes it can go directly but sometimes it can take quite some time so my first advice is that you are shooting alone (or with a very sympathetic companion, I often have our dog with and he is perfect, when he sees me picking up the camera so he stops and stands breathless. He is probably the only one in my family who puts up with my photography …) and in peace.
• Check if your camera has a macro setting and use it. It may sound basic, but well I see many photos on the web that definitely would have been better if the setting is used.

Foto: Ilva B., Macro/Closeup Set
• When you take close-up or macro pictures, it is important that the camera is not moving so happy to support it against something. One can, for example, set it on a small box or a bag of rice or something similar if you can not afford or desire to buy a tripod. Otherwise, you can support it sideways against something, it tends to be more steady when you are out shooting.
• Try to shoot from different angles, sometimes an inch here or there makes an ok picture of an exciting and interesting image, moreover, it is good to try to see things from different angles.
• Take many pictures, the more you have to choose the more likely it is that someone is you wanted it. I take several photos of the same image, often from different angles and with different distances and then when I get home so I sort out the worst is already in the camera so that I do not have to download unnecessary photos in the computer.

But above all, so one should not take things so bloody seriously, you have to have fun with it you can see the result!

Ilva sell her pictures if anyone is interested you can contact her via her mail. You can find more of her pictures on her Flickr feed and her other blogs. If you’re concerned about her camera so she uses Sony DSC H1 , Sony Alpha 100 and now Nikon D300.

Read more about: Macro Photography on wikipedia, Photo.net learn macro

The “macro” can be tricky to find and even more so if you do not care to read the manual. My own approach to a new gadget made me write this article. My motto when I get a new gadget is “Manuals are for sissy” then so can I use an unstructured trial and error method. I think my motto is quite common, mostly because the manuals are enormously unpedagogy and technical in its design.

It meant that when we got home our first digital compact camera, a Canon Powershot A85 so were all my close-ups very blurry and unfocused. In the end I gave up and forced to read the mass of manual pages say the least, where it explains how and when the macro function works. It has a flower symbol, and you see it illuminated in the image here. Although the Nikon as the symbol of the close-up of a flower, but Nikon’s menu system is slightly different so read the manual to find it. You will probably find it.

As Canon say, so you will enter into a close-up mode when you press the bottom of the navigation keys. Then you get the flower icon on the display and if you press one more time, then a scale-up and here you can adjust how close the object you have the camera and thus also affect the sharpness.

You should also not forget that you can also change the focus with the moving camera. One of the key things that you might think is obvious is to keep the camera still. If you are unsteady on your hand you can build a mini tripod using a PET bottle. Close-ups are fun to get in and get really good with digital cameras.

I have used simple means to get the effect i wanted. Using an oakleaf from the flowers natural environment to get a uniformal background. To get more light on the subject i used an old receipt i found in my pocket as reflector. Then i used a classical composition with rule of thirds in mind.

Haircapmoss on Ipernity
It is important to fill the whole frame so you dont get too much empty space. Sometimes space can make a tension and add excitement to the picture. It is you who should control your message to the viewer. In this picture i wanted to show the wonderful world and a new dimension so it was natural to fill the frame. Other times i let there be more space. Learn when you need to fill the frame.

Inspiration is running low and the pain in my ears is making it hard to write. I only hope weather is turning to spring and with the light warmth and inspiration will come. This period will be a dark and slow time. Soon summer are here and then new views will make it easy to take pictures.

Reading and links about photo
Read about diagonalmethod and think how it can improv your compositions.
The frame has a collection of pictures from daily life and about world water day.
The Arkive has lots of wilderness picture like this great flamingo.
DPS has two good articles about Macro Part 1 and Part 2.
Pixilated images has an article about creativity and linking to more reading about the subject.
Nick Brandt has fantastic blackwhite colours on wildlife and you will find other photographers at Young Gallery