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 Use available sunlight, nature's greatest natural light source.
The easiest way to take beautiful and aesthetically pleasing pictures of floral bouquets is to use natural light rather than flash illumination or artificial room lighting. 
Use soft background effects to enhance the impression of floral arrangements and focus the viewer's attention on the subject.
Rendering the main floral subject in sharp focus against a soft background creates a striking and natural looking effect. To achieve this, use Aperture Priority AE mode and choose a wider aperture (smaller f/stop number). Think of f//2.8 as your standard aperture value, and use a wider aperture such as f/2 if you wish to soften the background even more. Note: The greater the distance between the flower (the main subject) and the background, the softer the background will become.
Control brightness to optimize the effectiveness of your pictures.
Brightness is a crucial element in creating good floral pictures. To control this critical variable, shoot test images at a variety of different exposures, and visually compare the results to arrive at the most suitable exposure for your particular subject.
Use a tripod.
It is an indispensible tool for taking your pictures to a higher level and in achieving consistently good results.
Set your camera's LCD monitor to Live-View, then zoom in and fill the frame with the main subject and bring it into sharp focus manually.
This is the most efficient way to achieve the precise composition and focusing that is required to maximize the effectiveness of delicate floral images.
You can enjoy flower photography indoors with a little creative planning, and it also gives you the opportunity to decorate your living room with gorgeous floral arrangements as well as to take beautiful pictures of them. It's easy to find attractive bouquets at your nearby florist-that's the first fun step in creating beautiful photographs of floral arrangements indoors.
 The best way to capture flowers beautifully indoors is to make effective use of the flood of sunlight coming through the window. If the sunlight is too strong or harsh, move the floral arrangement away from the window or use lacy or translucent curtains to soften (diffuse) the light. The Picture A is of an inexpensive mini-bouquet. It's a good idea to take pictures of a bouquet of flowers before putting it into a vase. Can you see that the light came in from the rear, right-hand side in this case? In other words, the bouquet was actually backlit, or more correctly partially backlit by the sunlight flooding in through the window located behind the bouquet. Select the Aperture Priority AE mode of your camera and use a wide aperture (a numerically smaller f/stop). This picture was taken at f/2.8, and as mentioned the main subject is lit from behind. In such cases, the front surface of the flowers is likely to be underexposed. To remedy this and create a more pleasing image, reflect light onto the flowers using a sheet of white paper or cardboard. You can also adjust the overall brightness of the image by using the exposure compensation function of your camera. Adding exposure by making a plus compensation will lower the contrast and ensure better exposure the main subject, making for a better shot. A simple background is strongly recommended because it allows the bouquet to stand out clearly as the main subject. In this case, the bouquet of flowers was placed on a white table, which also may helps to reflect ambient light onto the main subject |
![LESSON [2] Adjust your exposure values to capture the vibrant colors of flowers perfectly.](images/lesson2.gif){kind=small}
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To take excellent pictures of floral arrangements, use the Aperture Priority AE mode and choose an aperture in the f/2 to f/4 range.
To begin with, try setting your aperture to f/2.8. Use a wider aperture value (a numerically smaller f/stop setting) if you want to soften the background even more to achieve a pleasing pictorial effect. If you want to increase the depth of field zone and extend the range of sharp focus more deeply into the main subject, use s smaller aperture (am f/stop with a larger number), such as f/8 or f/11. Experiment with different aperture settings until you get exactly the effect you want. Controlling the overall brightness level is also very important if you expect to render the exquisitely beautiful colors of flowers accurately. The easiest way to adjust the brightness of the image is to use the exposure compensation function of your camera. Picture B is an image of the same bouquet previously shown, but now it's been placed put in a colorful cup to attract the interest of children. Lighting conditions are the same as those for Picture A. Whatever ceramic vessels you happen to have at home can certainly serve as flower vases. The best approach to decorating your room with flower arrangements it to maintain a sense of balance-not to take it so seriously that it looks rigid and over-controlled or so casually that it looks totally random The Picture C is an image of a variety of flowers placed in a small vase. Lighting conditions are the same as those for Pictures A and B, but the flower arrangement is now on a table that's been painted a mint green Since the exposure compensation is made before taking the shot, the color of the table in the resulting image is likely to look a little washed out. If you want to avoid that, try placing the bouquet on a table of a darker color. |
 Picture BUse available light only and avoid using flash illumination. In addition it's generally better not to use artificial room light such as incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Using the flood of sunlight coming through the window is generally a lot easier. To faithfully render the beautiful and subtle hues of a flower arrangement, make your exposure adjustments before shooting. Since the main subject is almost always backlit, as it is in this picture, it's necessary to make a brightness (exposure compensation) adjustment toward the plus side (to brighten the image). This compensates for the tendency of in-camera metering systems to underexpose backlit subjects. Taken with the Canon EOS 50D and Tamron SP AF60mm F/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 (Model G005). Aperture priority AE (f/2.8, 1/5 sec), +2 exposure compensation, ISO200, WB: AWB. * Click on the picture to see an enlarged image. |
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If you are working in a room with attractive interior furnishings, it is a good idea to integrate them into the shot as harmonious backgrounds. Picture D was illuminated by natural light streaming in from the window on the left. The subject is a group of small flowers in full blossom that I picked from my little garden.
I set the flowers in a small glass bottle, and composed them in a way that would utilize the lovely background. Selecting flowers and vases while considering the whole color scheme of the shot is one of the special pleasures of flower arrangement photography.
I tried playing around with some artificial light possibilities before taking Picture E. I set up the shot by adding some eucalyptus twigs to some gerbera flowers I had placed in a tea canister. As with the other pictures in this article, natural daylight was used as the main source of illumination, but here I added some artificial light, namely candle light, which is very warm (reddish) in color. To emphasize the warmth of this light, I took a chance and set the white balance to the Sunlight mode. As a result the candles impart a faint red light touch to the picture that I find quite appealing.
If you have a macro lens, it can enhance your shooting flexibility, regardless of the size of the flower arrangements. Here's how to take up the challenge in shooting a variety of floral patterns with your macro lens.
I set the flowers in a small glass bottle, and composed them in a way that would utilize the lovely background. Selecting flowers and vases while considering the whole color scheme of the shot is one of the special pleasures of flower arrangement photography.
I tried playing around with some artificial light possibilities before taking Picture E. I set up the shot by adding some eucalyptus twigs to some gerbera flowers I had placed in a tea canister. As with the other pictures in this article, natural daylight was used as the main source of illumination, but here I added some artificial light, namely candle light, which is very warm (reddish) in color. To emphasize the warmth of this light, I took a chance and set the white balance to the Sunlight mode. As a result the candles impart a faint red light touch to the picture that I find quite appealing.
If you have a macro lens, it can enhance your shooting flexibility, regardless of the size of the flower arrangements. Here's how to take up the challenge in shooting a variety of floral patterns with your macro lens.
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Picture D This picture looks quite different from the Pictures A, B, and C, because here the light is coming in from the left side, and the subject is not backlit. As a result no exposure compensation was necessary in this case. Note that the effect of different exposure settings will vary, depending upon the hue and brightness of the predominating color in the scene the scene, so don't forget to check and compare the captured mages on your camera's LCD monitor while you still have the chance to reshoot if necessary. Taken with the Canon EOS 50D and Tamron SP AF60mm F/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 (Model G005). Aperture priority AE (f/2, 1/13 sec), ISO200, WB: AWB. * Click on the picture to see an enlarged image. |
Picture EIt is often difficult to focus precisely on the main subject if the scene is very dark. If you're using autofocus and the main subject is not in sharp focus, simply use the focus control ring to make fine adjustments without switching to manual focus. This function called “full-time manual control”. It is quicker and more convenient because you don't need to switch over to the MF (Manual Focus) mode. Taken with the Canon EOS 50D and Tamron SP AF60mm F/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 (Model G005). Aperture priority AE (f/2, 1/30 sec), -2 exposure compensation, ISO200, WB: Daylight. * Click on the picture to see an enlarged image. |
 
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Please stay tuned for Session 3: “Capturing kids in heartfelt close-ups”.
Session1