HELP with Photographing Flowers

[believer]

I will have the opportunity in a few weeks to take photos of tulips and maybe a few other flowers. I would love to be able to use the water color effect on some of my shots like Jerrilyn and some of the others.

My equipment - Canon EOS 30D - Tamron 18-200mm lens - Canon speedlite 580EX flash - tripod -monopod - just bought a small reflector sets with 5 colors (have not used yet)

When is the best time to take the pictures?

PLEASE give me instructions and tips.

Thank you ahead of time for all the help,

Montine

[NMarti]

I can't offer expert tips but you want to try to avoid the flash. It could wash out your colors and over-expose areas of tulips. I believe early morning or late day - just before sunset is the optimal time for getting the softest, most natural light. If there is not adequate light, you can also use a white jacket or shirt or piece of paper to reflect a little light onto the flowers.

There are plenty of experts here who will be along throughout the day to offer tips.

[Sonita]

Also, use a large aperture (small number) for a shallow depth of field. This will keet the eyes just on the flower and not the background.

[Lesa]

Nancy's right on the times: about 30 minutes on either side of sunrise and sunset are consider the "Golden/Magic/Exalted/Add Other Adjective Here" hour

You might also try getting super close to the flowers and experiment with macro photography (some great sensual shapes are to be had with flowers). Also, get down on the flower's level (or below) if you can. Some interesting perspectives await! Have fun

[lexcell]

As Nancy and Lesa mention, right around sunrise and sunset are the "golden" hours. Once the sun moves higher in the sky, the light gets harder and not as flattering for flowers. but, don;t put your camera away, pull out your diffusser and use it to diffuse the sunlight...you will be amazed at how nicely it works.

Another option is to use the reflectors to bounce light back into the shadows...depending on the color reflector you use, you may introduce a color cast to the image so I'd stick with a fairly neutral reflector.

Ideally, a high overcast sky will give you the best results. The sky will act like a giant reflector softening the shadows and making for some lovely "flower" light.

Play with both wide and small apertures for different effects.
When shooting closeups, your depth of field is quite shallow even closed all the way down so you will want to play with a variety of apertures to see which one gives you the amount or lack of depth of field. Wide open apertures will give a very selective focus look and smaller apertures will increase your depth of field.

Before you go, check your lenses minimum focus and see just how much area you are able to get in your frame. If you would like to get even closer, you can add a Canon 500D Closeup lens to the front of your lens and achieve a macro effect which is fun with flowers.

[Chuck S.]

Laurie's guidance on depth of field is important. If you really do want the flower to be in focus from front to back, you need that stopped-down aperture (high f-stop). However, when you do that, the required shutter speed becomes very slow, and you may need a tripod to avoid camera shake. Even then, if it's an outdoor photo, the movement of the flower in the breeze can also result in a blurry image at slow shutter speeds. Lots of tradeoffs....

One 'cheat' that sometimes works if you're not trying to make big prints: back off from the flower to achieve more depth of field and crop the resulting image. Works better if you have a lot of megapixels to work with....

[lexcell]

And, if you want depth of field that would normally be physically impossible...try out Helicon Focus. It's a cool program that allows you to take several images at varying focus points and it combines them to increase depth of field as much as you want/need.
http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html

[Not4wood]

On top of all of the great advice, you still dont want to write off your flash. I am not talking about your built in flash either. If you have an external flash you can bounce it off of any of the reflectors you had mentioned to use as a fill light. Just keep the power levels down on the flash and it wont effect your overall exposure, just to fill-in the shadows and help keep the details alive.

Flash isnt a dirty word, its a major tool in our toolbox and as long as you keep an open mind you can be very creative using it for almost any and all situations. Just try not to use it as a direct light, its way too harsh.

for more information:

Build a Better Bounce Card
http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/

Strobist
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02...-strobist.html

My Examples of using the bounce card:







and here I was draggin the shutter. Be nice, this is my live in model LOL.

[Bob_Benner]

Also try shooting flowers at angles and levels that they are not normally viewed at. Everyone has looked at flowers from above and maybe eye level but you can get some interesting shots by lowering you camera below the flower and shooting up at it.

[Chuck S.]

Building on Bob's excellent point, photographs taken from the side and the back, instead of 'face-on' can add a great deal of interest. Backlighting can also provide some striking semi-transparent effects.

And then there are the black backgrounds such as Ron uses...love 'em!