Close-Up Photography: Shooting Patches of Flowers

Close-up photography takes creative concentration because it includes careful preparation to capture the intricate details of your subject. In this video, professional photographer Tony Sweet gives you tips on how to photograph isolated patches of garden flowers. You will learn how to identify an ideal macro image, how to align the flowers for optimum depth of field and sharpness, how to avoid background interruption, and how to adjust camera settings for close-up photography.

In close-up photography, the camera requires precise positioning because it has to align with your subject. Therefore, tripod positioning is critical. Tony carefully spreads the tripod legs over the flower bed and uses a 105 macro lens to capture a patch of purple flowers. He shows you how to use the depth of field preview button in order to evaluate the focus before you make your exposure. To obtain sharpness, you want to follow the landscape rule. Focus one-third in from the front of your composition, which will result in sharpness up to two-thirds behind it. Tony recommends shooting at a high f-stop, in this case f45. To accomplish this, the shutter speed is set at 8 seconds.

With close-up photography, you always want to check the camera’s histogram to measure the lighting and the color balance. There are times when will you want to shoot various exposures using different white balance settings to achieve the most accurate colors. For maximum sharpness, the goal is to align your camera lens on the same visual plane as the flower patch. At times, you may want make slight adjustments to the flowers, carefully moving them to avoid background interference. The goal is to end up with a razor-sharp spread of color and texture in a full frame composition. Join pro shooter Tony Sweet for tips and techniques on close-up photography.

See all videos in our Flower Photography Artistry Course:

• Flower Photography Artistry: Course Preview
• Isolation Photography: Capturing Flowers
• Close-Up Photography: Shooting Patches of Flowers
• Quick Tips for Photographing Dragonflies
  
• Panning and Stitching Photos on the iPhone
  
• Capturing Dew Drops to Enhance Your Photos
• Capturing Flowers Using Multiple Lenses
• Editing Photos with the Camera Bag App
• Controlling the Light of your Shot
• Handheld Macro Photography
• Creating HDR Images on Your Cell Phone
• Shooting Through to Capture Your Subject
• Creating a Swirl Pattern with a Zoom Lens
• Creating an Abstract Color Swipe
• Creating an Asymmetrical Image with Multiple Shots
• Shooting Orchids with a Printed Background
• Shooting Orchids on an iPhone
• Capturing Tabletop Flowers
• Digital Infrared Photography: Photographing Flowers
• Adding a Textured Overlay in Photoshop
• Targeting Photoshop Adjustments
• Using Photoshop Scripts
• Infrared Conversion
• Flower Gallery