Flower Photography Tips

I'm more into child and infant photography than anything, but I do enjoy taking pictures of flowers (and random unknown greenery, apparently) every now and then. I've picked up a few things over the years.

The best time to shoot flowers is when it's overcast, after a rain shower, or the usual early morning/late afternoon. You don't need to wait for rain though. You can easily imitate rain drops with an atomizer.

The flower photographer's worst enemy is the wind. Block it. If you're focusing on one flower in particular, make sure your background isn't distracting.

Use a tripod whenever possible. Get as much detail as you can. This applies to everything else, actually.

For point-and-shoot photographers, know your camera's macro capabilities and maximize it. The Canon PowerShot S series, for example, has 0cm macro, which basically means you can stick your lens up to the petal, and will still be able to take good pictures. That yellow photo to the left? I took that with my old s2 IS from a few centimeters away.

For DSLR users like me who are still too broke from purchasing their cameras, get a close-up lens. It screws onto your lens just like any old filter, only it turns your zoom lens into a macro zoom. Next to macro lenses, they're ridiculously cheap.

Pick the freshest flowers you can find. Looking for fresh flowers takes less time than editing out every single blasted spot on Photoshop.

Get down and dirty. Kneel. Roll around in the dirt. Well, not really roll around because we wouldn't want to wreck your gear, but you get what I mean. Just like you wouldn't shoot down on children, don't shoot down on flowers.

If all else fails, get flowers from the market. Seriously.