Saturday, April 19, 2008

Spring Has Sprung

It was a long, snowy winter, wasn't it? They say in the springtime a young man's thoughts turn to love. True, true.... although a young man's thoughts are pretty much always turned to love. And sandwiches. But I digress. In the spring a young lady's thoughts turn to her wedding plans. Or, perhaps, gardening, if she is already married! Watch out for the bees!


The big push is on to finalize all those plans for the big wedding. You've got the venue, caterer, officiant, clothes, etc. Still looking for a baker, florist, or DJ? Or photographer, videographer, etc. etc.???

Of course, I hope you'll consider me for your photography, but for other services, check out the links at my website http://ronwarrenphotography.com/links.aspx . All great service/product providers that you can count on. I'm not getting any consideration to plug them (although I hope they are doing the same for me). So give 'em a look-see!

While I'm clacking away at the keyboard, I'll offer some tips for garden/flower photography.

  • Use a tripod and zoom in close with a longish lens. If you get too close you risk casting shadows on your subject. Also the telephoto lens will give you good background bokeh (blur).
  • You may want to use some sort of clamp to steady the flower stem. Even small breezes can wreak havoc on those closeups.
  • Try a wide aperture like f2.8 or wider to isolate flower detail.
  • If your camera has a style mode, try "landscape" for nicely saturated colors.
  • If your background is too busy, try a colorful sheet of posterboard but keep it far enough back so that you can blur it somewhat with the above tips.
  • Bring an atomizer of water, or a water bottle that can be tuned to mist. This is the way to get some beautiful dew on your petals regardless of the time of day.
  • Try side lighting from a window or off-camera flash.
  • Also, a polarizing filter will take the edge off of hard light and reflections.
  • For entire garden scenes, try to look for patterns in the foliage.
  • Also, utilize your rule of thirds and, when possible, framing devices like tree branches.

Good luck and good shooting!

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