One would think a photographer with over six hundred flower pictures in his catalog would actually know something about flowers. Alas, this is not the case with me.
I recognize common blooms, but I'm completely lost when it comes to anything exotic. I've thought a great deal about what it is that keeps me photographing flowers.
I concluded people are attracted to flowers for many of the same reasons birds, butterflies, and moths are. It's all about seduction.
Just as in the animal kingdom, seduction is part of reproduction. Every species, whether plant or animal, tries to perpetuate its own kind. This is the most fundamental aspect of nature.
Every species has the inherent right to exist. The endless cycle of birth, seduction, reproduction, and death provide we humans with our own survival. Without flowers, there is no food.
In addition to things like apples that begin as blooms, we eat actual flowers. Although you may not realize it, cauliflower, broccoli, and artichokes are all edible flowers. Flowers have been used as medicine for as long as there have been people.
Even today, some flowers, roots, and leaves have pharmaceutical applications. Flowers have long been used to create perfumes, paints, dyes, and inks.
Flowers seduce, using a variety of methods.
Each flower has a specific design that encourages the transfer of pollen. Form, color, scent, mimicry, and high calorie nectar are examples.
Entomophilous flowers commonly have glands called nectaries that attract insects, bats, birds or other animals to transfer pollen from one flower to the next.
Anemophilous flowers spread polen via the wind. Anyone who has seen a maple tree casting 'helicopters' to the wind, has seen this happen.
Cleistogamous flowers are self pollinating. Self polination increases the chance of producing seeds, but has a limiting effect on genetic variation.
Flowers have been used as decoration for thousands of years, as gestures of love or friendship, and served as the inspiration for artists and writers. Flowers are a common theme in romatic poetry, and the visual arts abound with flower images.
The impressionests took flower pictures to an entirely new level. Flowers have great symbolic meaning in many cultures, often being identified with the femine. Western culture associates flowers with weddings, funerals, and other special occasions.
The effect of flowers on people is well documented. Flowers can impact happiness in ways that are both dramatic and immediate.
Flowers have long-term positive effects on mood and tend to make people fell less depressed, anxious and agitated.
The presence of flowers can trigger happy emotions and have an effect on social behavior that goes far beyond what was once believed.
The preceding paragraphs delve into the 'why' of flowers. Lets turn our attention to taking good flower photos. Although its not always true, certain aspects of a particular bloom tend to stand out.
Your eye will be automatically drawn to it. This is that seduction thing at work. This is where the focal point of your photo belongs. If it's a nice calm day, and the flower isn't bobbing and weaving, I like to go with maximum depth of field.
Maximum depth usually means longer exposure times, so movement must be considered.
Some blooms look better very close. .
This unusal arrangement allowed me to get in tight on a flower, while standing a few feet away. This effect can also be achieved by using an extension tube with a longer lens, and it's a great way to photograph butterfly's.
Regardless of what you're photographing, remember there are no aboslute rules. Go with what works. It's almost always a good idea to avoid subjects that are strongly back lit.
