I was delighted to be contacted by Julie Davies to collaborate on a blog.  Julie lives up to her name of being The Florist that teaches, providing online tips for you to do exactly the same in the comfort of your own home, or face to face in workshops.

It felt very natural for me to write this blog as a way of my skills sharing series, with top tips to enable you to take photos of your floral creations at home.  There are a variety of other scenarios in which to take photographs, for example out in landscape with wild flowers, in workshops, sheds, markets etc, perhaps this is room for another blog!

Although the photos you see here have been taken using a Canon 6D, the following will give you some pointers for ‘point and shoot‘ cameras, or using a smart phone, both of which can work just as well, particularly if you are uploading small versions of your photos onto websites or social media.

1. Position your flowers next to a large window; this will help maximum natural light which is better than using the orange tinge of household lights, (there is always the option to shoot outside).
2. If you have a macro / flower symbol setting on your camera, use it!  It will let you bring out the finer details of those gorgeous blooms.
3. Don’t forget to ‘set the scene‘ if you are wanting to show how you work on your flowers through your photos, pop some scissors, oasis, ribbon etc on a wooden block (a kitchen chopping board will do just fine if you have one), everyone loves a story.
4. Keep the background to your photos simple, after all you want to highlight how beautiful your floral creations are, white (or black) card can work and help with bouncing the light into those harsh shadows.
5. Take the photos using interesting angles, the rule of thirds can be helpful, however, be creative and use a variety of angles in your shots to show off those blooms.
6. Using your macro setting on your camera, shoot ‘through‘ a bouquet to focus on one particular flower that takes your interest.
7. Similarly as above; take one flower out of the bunch and make it the star of your show!
8. A little post production may help bring out the best in your photos, so if you have photoshop, or other editing software, don’t be afraid to use it.  Photoshop express on the i-phone is fab.

I hope these tips have been useful and if so I would love to hear from you, so why not drop me a line through my contact me page.