Tamron Blog: Photographing Daffodils Indoors

Daffodil | 1/200 sec | f/3.3 | 90.0 mm | ISO 400

When you think of flower photography you probably have visions of a warm summer's day, bees buzzing around and a garden full of colourful blooms waiting to be photographed but actually, you can capture just as good images indoors on a wintery morning.

Why Indoors? 

By working indoors, not only can you stay warm but you don't have to deal with the breeze and busy backgrounds which can make flower photography a lot harder than it needs to be. However, it can still be tricky to create contrast and this is particularly true when working with strong coloured flowers such as Daffodils. 

Daffodil | 1/80 sec | f/3.2 | 90.0 mm | ISO 400

Natural Light 

In this instance, we chose to create contrast by using backlit from a patio window but to disguise the window and diffuse the light, a see-through voile curtain was hung up. 

 It's also worth noting that when working indoors with natural light, don't set up too close to windows as even on cloudy days, direct light can be too harsh.

If you're working side-on to a window and are using a wall as your background, make sure it's plain or you can drape material on the back of a chair to disguise whatever is behind it. 

Isolation 

To isolate the flower head further, and to keep hands free for controlling the camera, a simple tabletop tripod and clothes peg was used to keep the Daffodil in position. The isolation of the flower head was further enhanced/made easier thanks to the 90mm focal length of the Tamron lens, too, as it meant the rest of the room, and it's distracting furniture, were kept out of the frame. Just think 'minimalism' and you won't go far wrong. 

Angles & Positioning 

Once set up, it's important that you spend some time turning the flower and adjust the positioning while looking through the viewfinder or at your camera's screen. Look from above, from underneath, the front, the back, the edge - there's usually one angle that suddenly stands out and is 'the one' that you should shoot.  

As you can see, it's a really easy technique to try so if you do fancy having a go at capture some of your own artistic, indoor spring photography after reading this quick blog entry, don't forget to share your images with us in the Totally Tamron Gallery.

Daffodil  | 1/250 sec | f/3.3 | 90.0 mm | ISO 400