P#2 Q#1: The Single Biggest Mistake Taking Pictures of Flowers

Are You Making the #1 Mistake When You Take Pictures of Flowers?

Tony Sweet: Well, that's kind of an easy one, because we teach location workshops and on the Internet. So we see the work of a lot of people, many thousands throughout the year.

And the single biggest mistake is photographing flowers in bright sun.

Everyone thinks, "Oh, it's a great, blue skies, sunny day, it's good for everything."

Well, it's not great for a whole lot of photography, unfortunately. And the flowers all look... they have like really bright spots and really black spots. That's called high contrast.

That's what very bright sun will give you. There are ways to manage that and we'll get into that I'm sure, but hands down, the mistake people make is thinking that that's the best time, when it's really not.

Audri Lanford: OK. So don't take flower pictures when it's a bright sunny day.

Tony Sweet: You can control the light with diffusers and reflectors and they are very small, they are very compact. They are manageable.

I think the main thing is to realize that you need to do that, or photograph on a bright overcast day.

The single most important element to bear in mind is that the flower should be in even lighting.

Then, the colors look better. Everything is very defined, very soft.

Flowers are very soft when you shoot them and they have so much flattering light. And the most flattering light for flowers is diffused light, either overcast or using a tool called a diffusion disk that you hold over your subject. A diffusion disk spreads the bright sun out and gives you that overcast sun look.

So, next time you decide to photograph flowers, make sure there isn't too much sunshine. It makes for a beautiful day, but less than beautiful pictures of flowers.