Some of the most beautiful flower arrangements can be found in botanical gardens. This shot was taken in the Denver Botanical Gardens. April and May are the best times to go, but throughout the summer in many of the gardens around the world you can find an endless number of photographic possibilities. The ideal type of lighting for floral photography is soft and diffused light. Avoid harsh light from direct sun like the plague. This introduces too much contrast, and the resulting pictures never look as good as if you'd waited for a cloud cover. For most pictures of flowers, you want complete depth of field. That means f/22 or f/32 and a tripod.
4 Comments
May 8, 2016, 2:29:56 AM
Jim Zuckerman - Hi Daniel,
Yes, it would, but not white felt. That doesn't diffuse light because felt is opaque. Instead, use any kind of white translucent fabric -- even a white bed sheet.
May 8, 2016, 12:45:21 AM
Daniel Reynaud - Hi Jim, if harsh sunlight was unavoidable, would some kind of an overhead difuser be good enough ( like a piece of white felt ) ?
Apr 13, 2016, 6:23:19 PM
Jim - Hi Bob, No, I don't. F/32 gives me the DOF I want. Focus stacking at f/8 would be ultimately sharper, but if there is even a hint of a breeze, the sharpness goes out the window with stacking.
Apr 13, 2016, 4:11:35 PM
BobTurner - Do you use focus stacking or Helicon focus for flowers gardens