P#2 Q#2: Choosing Flowers to Photograph
"What do you look for when you choose flowers to photograph?" a subscriber asks
When you're photographing flowers, do you pick the flower first? According to Tony Sweet, that's not the best way to pick your subject.
Audri Lanford: Let's now talk a little bit about choosing your subject. What do you look for when you choose flowers to photograph? In other words, are there special criteria you use to choose the flower, like their shape or their color?
And what is the most striking feature of a flower that makes it a good subject for being photographed?
Read Tony's answer here...
Picking the Right Subject When Photographing Flowers
Tony Sweet: Well, flowers are known for being colorful for the most part. So I look for colorful flowers... the most colorful flowers are usually the most attractive.
However, I look for good backgrounds, which is probably more important.
This sounds like reverse thinking. But in general, the background is probably more important than the subject, because backgrounds can be very distracting.
The first thing that I do, Audri, is look for a good possible background, a patch of red flowers or a patch of very nice green or golden grass -- something that can be rendered in a very pastel, very non-competitive fashion.
Then, I will try to find a flower to put in front of that. I then look for good subjects, good graphics, good color.
Certain flowers are too unwieldy and they just spray out too much, while other ones are a little more contained.
I look for simplicity. Things that are very simple... very graphic... very clean... some good lines.
Like any other kind of graphics, you look for things that are clean and simple, and in general, very colorful.
Audri Lanford: That's counter-intuitive, which makes it interesting.
Tony Sweet: Well, like most things, it's always somewhere where you think it ain't. It's always somewhere else.
Audri Lanford: And we're going to talk more about backgrounds, because that was one of the areas where we got so many questions.
Tony Sweet: Sure.
So in summary, to take great pictures of flowers, pick your background first, then find a good subject.
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