6 of 7

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

be an idea to take a few spares along, to ensure that you don't have to strip completely to set your picture up!

You might, for instance, find a bloom of great beauty growing on a rubbish tip. You don't want such an ugly surround so you need to hide it somehow. Maybe you just want a nice background. Any suitable material will do, and if you didn't think to bring any, your jacket or shirt might just fill in. I used to find an old Army camouflage hat useful for an impromptu backdrop. This had the added advantage that it was free-standing, and didn't need any other means of support.

When the wind is blowing your plant about too much for successful photography, your rucksack could be used to make a wind-break. If you aren't carrying one, you could, of course, improvise with your clothing. But you may not have to take it off, because you, yourself, make a pretty good windbreak ... if you aren't using yourself for something else!

In strong light, deep black shadow across your subject can spoil the picture completely. To overcome this, photographers use a gizmo called a diffuser. This distributes the light more evenly, and lessens the contrast between the shadowed and lit areas. But you don't absolutely need one. You can get the same effect by standing so that your shadow falls on the flower. Alternatively you can simply wait for a cloud to pass in front of the sun, or even choose an overcast day for your shoot.

Other good conditions to wait for to make successful flower images are those times when it brightens up after a shower, and early morning, when there's dew ...... or sometimes better still ....... frost on the ground. You can do a little cheat by taking a spray bottle of water to the plant, but it isn't quite as convincing as the real thing.

I recently took part in an Internet discussion on wildflower photography. A constantly recurring topic was the identification of subjects, and what's the best field guide. Like so many questions, this has to be answered with another question. How badly do you need to know?

If you were photographing for a nature magazine, you would stand little chance of your pictures being accepted unless you knew all there was to know about the flower. But, if it's just for pleasure in the flower's beauty, does it make it any less beautiful if you don't know its name?

I once entered a competition with a picture of an orchid. Since orchids hybridise so readily, nobody could tell me if it was a Marsh Orchid or a Spotted Orchid. The only way you can tell them apart for certain is to dig them up and examine the roots. That's bad practice at best, and might well be illegal in some places.

So, I simply called it Orchid'. It won a small prize and, nobody ever asked what kind of orchid it was!

But I did once put a picture called Wildflowers: Thetford Forest' into an exhibition. It was barely on the wall for an hour, before some sad git crossed out the title, and scrawled in Bogbean'.

If you really want to know what the flower is, there are field guides to suit all pockets. The less expensive ones, however, do often contain only the commoner flowers, which you may already be familiar with. Less well-known blooms you may only find in a more expensive ....... and bigger and heavier ....... tome, which you might be unwilling to drag around the fields with you.

But, if you decided to keep such a book at home, you could always check your pictures against it when they came back. Isn't that where we came in?

Learn more about this author, Keith K..
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about Tips for photographing wildflowers?
We want to hear your view. Write now!