Flower photography tips

Spring has sprung early here in the Northwest. I usually only carry my phone on my morning walks with my dog, but the last week I've been compelled to bring my DSLR to photograph this sudden burst of beauty. I thought today I would pass on some tips for photographing flowers. 

First off, I generally use a low depth of field. In this photo I am photographing a tree covered in pink blossoms. If every flower were in focus, you would instinctively try to look at each and every flower, even though the flowers are essentially the same. It is kind of like writing a paragraph with repetitious adjectives. Stating the same thing over and over again dilutes your emphasis.

Lesson number two! If you can, use objects in the scene to frame the flower. Here I purposely picked a blossom with several branches creating a little square to fill what could have been empty space. The branches unconsciously move the viewer's eye to the flower.

For my last tip of the day, look for patterns. This purple striped crocus has vertical lines. To make the image stronger, it helps repeating the pattern throughout the photograph. Leaving some vertical green leaves in focus, both frame and accent the vertical purple lines. I could have cropped out the leaves or found a flower completely alone, but by doing that, I would have lost some dimension and allure.