Flower photography: How to take natural looking flower photographs indoors
By Geoff Harris •
Outdoor flower photography is very weather dependent. The ideal conditions are a bright but diffused light, and no wind – and needless to say this doesn’t happen very often! We flower photographers are very hard to please – we’re usually complaining that it’s too sunny, or too dull, or too windy – and I won’t even mention the days when it rains or hails!
But one of the joys of flower photography is that unlike so many other genres – landscape, travel, or sports to name but a few – it can also be done indoors. All you really need is a flower or two, and a bit of natural light from a window.
However, if you want a natural looking photograph of a flower, and don’t want to use an artificial backdrop such as cardboard or fabric, things get a little more difficult. So here are a few photos I took earlier this year to illustrate a technique I like to use.
This first pic shows two little pots of daisies, bought at my local market, and still covered with raindrops (it was pouring when I bought them!). As you can see, some of the leaves are looking a bit battered, and the pots are splattered with mud. I’ve put them on a plastic fold-out table in my small conservatory.
It’s not looking too good at this stage!
But the reason I bought two pots is that it gives me much more flexibility with creating a background. I can focus on one of the daisies in one pot, and then move the other pot around behind it to fill in any gaps in the background, which would otherwise contain bits of window or wall.
Using my macro lens, I was then able to take various different shots of the daisies, which look as if they could have been taken outside in natural growing conditions.
If you’d like to learn more about photographing flowers, you might like to consider taking my course Creative Flower Photography
Stay updated
Receive free updates by email including special offers and new courses.
