Photographing flowers in towns

Flower photography doesn't just have to be done in the garden. Walk or drive off your street and you'll find flowers in pots, baskets, barrels on roundabouts and hanging from lamposts waiting to be photographed.


Gear
Your macro or telezoom will get you in close to the hanging baskets while a wider lens such as a 20-35mm will let you take shots of shops, roads and streets decorated with spring flora. If you don't have a wide angle lens just stand a little further back with your telezoom to create a shot with a different perspective. As you'll be in a town centre full of shoppers a flash may be obtrusive, but one would be useful if it's a particularly breezy day as it will help reduce motion blur. A beanbag is a smaller support so won't get in the way if you need some help with keeping the shot steady and you'll also find the camera's self-timer, or if you have one, a remote release useful.


Technique
You can get inbetween the flowers and really focus on one, throwing the background out of focus with a large aperture or how about getting a flower eye view with a pinhole camera? If the flowers are in an interesting container such as an old barrel, take a step back and make it part of the feature. Don''t forget to look up for interesting shop signs with hanging baskets near them to give popular technique a twist. Search out churches and other buildings surrounded by trees or flowering hedges as these can make great natural frames and don't forget to get the odd shot of an entire street in bloom – it's something our councils are very proud of after all.

Also, there are hundreds of rapeseed fields decorating the UK in a sea of yellow at the moment and one of these dominating the foreground of a shot of a town or village would look great. Just watch out for really bright days as they can turn a field of rapeseed into a blur of yellow. Bright skies aren't good for close up work either as it causes deep shadows so try to position yourself so you're shading the plants or take some card along to act as a cover for you.


You've read the article, now go take some fantastic images. You can then upload the pictures, plus any advice and suggestions you have into the dedicated Photo Month forum for everyone at ePHOTOzine to enjoy.