Popie garden in Chichibu

How to Capture Beautiful Flowers with Your Camera

As we are approaching May, there are many flowers blooming in Japan. Breath taking witeria in Fukuoka, pink moss by Mt. Fuji, and azalea blooming in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo are just to name a few. It is a perfect time to capture your time in Japan with a colorful background of flowers. Bring a camera along on your trip and enjoy the beautiful view of flower gardens.

But wait, sometimes your photo doesn’t come out the way you imagined and you may be disappointed in how it turned out. For those who had similar experience, here are some tips from our photographers so you can capture if as beautiful as it looks!

1. Adjust F-number small

Defocus the background and emphasize the main subject.

2. “+” Exposure corerction

Let’s make your photo soft and light!

3. Don’t include the ground 

Including the ground in your picture makes it undesirably busy and cramped.

4. Play around with composition

Try holding the camera high or low and find a position where you can capture cluster of flowers.

Even when you capture the broad view, always include the part that can be the center of your photo.

As you move around, make sure to stay parallel and perpendicular to the ground.

Flowers

Photo by OiMax

5. Get low and include blue sky in the background

If you take photos of the flower from high position, your photos are likely to come out flat.

Also, if the ground is showing, it will add some unnecessary business to your photo.

So get down low, look up into the sky and you’ll have a beautiful picture of the flowers!

Sunflower.

Photo by skyseeker

s-RIMG2844

Photo by eiko

6. Get really close to the subject

By getting close to the flower, you can extract the background.

This can be useful on a cloudy day or where there are many people in the background.

When using the wide angle lens, a tip to keep in mind is to get as close as possible to the flowers.

If you have part of the petals out of the photo, it will look more natural and not one of those photos in a plants photo books.

Even on a cloudy day, set the white balance in warm color and it will turn out nice!

tulips

Photo by Keromi Keroyama

 

7. Enjoy the backlight

With backlight, use plus corrected setting and you’ll be able to capture the flowers and leaves soft and light!

Flower

Photo by solarisgirl

 

8. Blur the front purposely

It will give you a different impression, perhaps soft, if you blur the flowers in front.

shiunji060805_004

Photo by yamakidoms

9. Use zoom and enjoy the compressed effect

If you have zoom lens, get close to the flower and you’ll be able to capture the dense cluster of flowers.

Flowers

Photo by yo &

Interested in being in the photo yourself with the beautiful flowers in the background?