by Sherry Law

Created on: July 15, 2008   Last Updated: July 07, 2009

It is actually pretty hard to take a bad photograph of wildflowers. Their bright, vibrant colors and beautifully-sculptured petals will turn even mediocre work into something that will look good when placed in a frame. Pet lovers will love having their "baby" framed against a field of brilliant wildflowers. Use the flowers as a backdrop for pictures of your children and you will have a gift that will be treasured forever by grandparents or long-distance family members. Keep in mind, however, that pets and kids are MUCH harder to photograph than that field of daisies or bluebonnets.

This having been said, there are some things that you can do to improve the quality of your wildflower pictures and turn them from good into great. The first thing is to use the proper equipment. A one-time-use, point-and-click camera from the drugstore is obviously NOT going to take the same quality of photograph that you will get with either a high-end digital or a SLR camera that has changeable lens and adjustable shutter speeds. This is a fact of life and it does not matter that you may have the best "eye" for beauty since Ansel Adams. The quality of your camera WILL make a difference. If you want to be a serious photographer you need to get at least a decent piece of equipment.

Practice makes perfect. As with many things in life, this is true with photography, too. Practice will allow you to learn the limits of your equipment and techniques for getting exactly the shot that you see in your mind. Plan on burning a lot of film. People that use a digital camera will have the advantage during this stage of their photography experience - it's cheaper to take pictures with a digital - no processing costs.

Try to remember that you will be working outside. The weather may be bad. Unless you're prepared, you may miss the shot of a lifetime. Have an umbrella handy and something to lay on. Even though flowers are beautiful during or right after a shower, laying in the mud is not really the best way to get the picture. If you don't have someone to hold the umbrella over you and the camera, you might be better off waiting for awhile - unless they're waterproof, most cameras do not appreciate a bath.

Another variable when shooting out of doors is the lighting. Shadows can appear at the worst angles and the worst times. The wind will die down, the shot will be prefect and the only angle that is "right" places your shadow (or the shadow of a barn or tree, etc) on top

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