How to shoot flowers well?

Spring is coming again! After a long winter blues, it is time to enjoy colorful flowers. Many people has a camera, so don't let it sleep, shoot some flowers and keep it in permanence.

Most photographers like the macro photo. When we take a macro photo, focus is everything. The plane of focus is very shallow — maybe just several centimeter. So we have to choose: What part of the flower do you want to be in sharp focus exactly? The pistil? stamen? or petal? The most beautiful part, of course.

Now, let us find out the light. Usually we avoid harsh sunlight, it tends to cast harsh shadows, at the same time, avoid photographing in the shadows because it tends to give us a color cast. When the light comes from behind us, remember to avoid casting a shadow on the flower. sometimes for getting a special effect, we need shoot with the flower in backlighting, don't forget avoiding the incoming light to shine directly into your lens producing flare.

Next, it is important to choose a contrasting background so that the flower stands out in the shot. When ever possible for bright colored flowers choose a darker background and for dark colored flowers choose a lighter background.

Then, we need to control the Depth of Field. A larger aperture of say f3.8 would mean a narrower Depth of Field which may not have been enough to capture all the details of the flower. But a small aperture, let's say f22, would mean a longer Depth of Field which may catch a massy background. We have to make a decision what kind of result we want.

With a macro lens will allow us to capture a landscape of flowers with a wide-angle lens. But don't forget we also can use telephoto lens to capture the fleeting butterfly or bee as it flutters from flower to flower.

Sometimes, we need to use flash to fill some shadows that maybe lurking around the subject.

Before pressing the shutter, make sure to use a tripod if we can. In nature, the flower is swaying in the wind, we have to wait for the moment, no, the second while the wind will die down and the flower will stand still and "pose". Without a tripod, we will get exhausted and lose patience easily.

If we must shoot during an unremitting wind, we have to play some tricks, placing a temporary shelter (such as an umbrella or a folder) around the flower to block off the wind.

Be patient, hold on... once everything is good in our camera’s viewfinder, press the shutter, done!