Use a Low Perspective When Photographing Flowers

Flowers are arguably some of the most beautiful subjective that a photograph can record.They can also be found almost anywhere and at most times of the year.They can be small, large, medium single color or multi-colored.

Most photographs of flowers are taken from a human perspective; we take photos from a high point seldom going down to their level.

Undertaking a photographic project which aims to show flowers from a very low perspective is not only easy but can be done in a rather short time span.

You have seen the movie "Honey I shrunk the kids", where some of the characters find themselves in the middle of a garden and everything , including the grass, appears to dwarf them in comparison. Well this technique aims to do the same.

The resulting images will give you a much different view from what you are normally accustomed. The main issue with this type of theme or technique is that the subjects must be single stalk specimens to give the appearance of resembling "tall trees".

The best ones are tulips and other similar varieties of tubers. You will also need a rather large planting or grouping of specimens.

The project also needs to be done during the daytime but while the light is also diffused, like on a cloudy day.

The theme involves getting very low to the ground with your camera almost on the ground and while getting your camera lens in the group of flowers. Once there, slightly raise the lens so that it appears that you are looking up at the flowers. Don't forget to include parts of the stems as well.

If all goes well the images will appear as if the viewer is in the middle of giant flowers and this is similar to using "selective perspective" as well as forced perspective.

Pay attention to your focus point since you will be very close to at least some specimens and for this you need to have a wide aperture for two main reasons; you will more than likely be under less than ideal light since the flowers will block most of the Sunlight and second, since some flowers will be actually touching the front lens element, you need to focus on mainly one found ahead of the lens and leave the rest as out of focus elements.

Focusing or trying to get several subjects in clear focus can be done but the effect is minimized. It is better to get one clear and crisp subject than to try to cover all and risk getting an out of focus scene that ends up distracting viewers because it presents a confusing array of visual cues.