Hit me with your flower photography tips

I'm taking my dad to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens tomorrow so I'm looking forward to lots of opportunities for photographing beautiful flowers - as opposed to the weeds in my garden!

I would probably snap away randomly and hope for that beginners luck that I rely on! So, any top tips to help focus my technique would be great!
Thanks!

It's a tricky topic, as we don't know the 'venue' but.

If it is outside, which I am guessing it is, and you have windy weather, you need to use a fast shutter speed, or all of your shots will be blurred.

If you are doing single flowers as opposed to 'bunches' then use maximum aperture (the smallest F number) to blur out unwanted backgrounds.

Get low to the flowers, this gives a more natural look, and stops you getting in your own light.

If you have a nice sky, get really low and shoot up for some added interest.

You might have to lie down for some shots, you might feel a bit silly, but you are never going to see the people there again. so what the hell

if you are trying to get the whole flower in, leave some room around the edge for 'cropping' later.

Alan.

I can do low F numbers - I'll have a try with high shutter number too (haven't done that combo before!)
There are glass houses too so I'm hoping for some exotic flowers in there. My eldest boy has requested some shots of carnivorous plants!

Well - Alan has said most of what I would have said - so I just look forward to seeing what you can do! Don't be at all afraid to really experiment!

xx

Some good tips above, and I'm sure you'll do very well - composition is half the battle, something I think you have nailed

So low F number, high shutter speed, get down low, leave room to crop.
Should I do anything about lighting or will the natural lighting be enough?
Hubby has a big flash I can put on top of the camera - not that I have tried that yet. I have also been told I can borrow a macro flash ring from someone else sometime!!!! Would this be a good time to use it? Not sure I dare trust myself with it out and about for a day! I'm a bit clumsy and careless!

It might be nice to try a macro flash ring - but I would stick to natural light if you can, you can get some very rewarding shots that way!

Sorry - I just re-read the title, and the Lou Reed song popped into my head...

"Vicious... yeah you hit me with a flower... you do it every hour, oh baby your so vicious!"



xx