Flower photography -
change shooting angle to get great flower photos

Flower photography is easy - after all, the subject doesn't even move! But changing shooting angle could really make a difference to the final picture.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we can often end up with flower pictures that lack a little punch.

Here I show you how to get a really good flower picture using a simple technique - shooting angles.

And when you've finished here, have a look at my photographing flowers home page for even more tips and tricks.

Flower photography - the shooting angle

A useful tip to get great flower photographs is to get down there with the flowers yourself.

The photo below is the one I will use as an example here.

It neatly demonstrates how a change in shooting angle, and a few tweaks to camera settings, can make a dramatic difference to your flower photos.

 

So what are the photography secrets in this photo that makes it a good shot?

The big thing is the unusual shooting angle.

Instead of taking a photo standing above the flowers I decided to get right down low.

In fact, for this shot, I actually lay my camera on the floor in the flowers themselves to get the picture I wanted.

But don't just place your camera into the blooms!

Hold your camera in the flowers, making sure you are out of shot, and point the lens at some petals.

Then, half-press your shutter button down to focus - you should hear a "beep!" when the camera has focused.

Then press the button down all the way to take the picture.

Check your photo on your camera's screen, and re-frame the photo if you need to and take the shot again (the flower picture you see here was about my third attempt)

Click to read a more in-depth photography tutorial on shooting angles.

Flower photography - Post processing

To really make your flower photos stand out from the crowd you will need a little post processing.

In the photo above I used Photoshop to do the following:

• First - crop the photo if it needs it. Click to read a digital photography tutorial on using the crop tool.
• Then boost the contrast setting a little (this will make the colours appear more saturated)
• Boost the saturation (if the colours are still a little weak)
• Sharpen the photo (look for a sharpening setting - use your software's 'help' function to find it - it will be there somewhere!)