5 Things I do to get super model flower portraits.

Over the last few weeks I have been adding some lovely photos of my Tiger lilies in the garden. In this posting today I would like to talk more about flower portraits and getting the shot.  Choosing your flower type for shooting isn't all that easy. The Lily families have been photographed since the first cameras have been around. And that does not leaves you with many positions/ angles to expose this gorgeous flower. I very often stalk my nursery for a few weeks before I make a choices of taking a flower type home, that will end up in my garden and before that get exposed to the world as a flower super model. I treat all my flower fine art photos as models and more. They embody my emotion, my flare and pretty much how I react to a flower model.  My flower portraits are very special to me I try and see human traits in the flowers that I photograph and make others seem them too. I want to see the magic in each flower and the beauty of life captured in that moment, that frame..

But I digress, before starting with a flower portrait here is a short list that I follow to get different types of shots and fine art portraits.

• Subject : Choose your subject well - make sure you like the flower you're capturing, if you smile so would your audience. The emotion that you are experiencing about that flower, that shot, that moment, will transcend into your work.
• Lighting and environments: I start with the flower in the pot that I bought it in. I carry it around the garden to get different light effects on the petals, on the stem, leaves. I for the lack of a better word visually dissect this flower and all that the environments that are available to me at the time - sometimes even a light tent set up. After that I do plant the flowers in the best place for them and explore that flower more in a planted space.
• F-stop: Play with your F stops. Some of my most personal favorite flower portraits I have done on the weirdest F stops. Part of the exploration of the flower is in the playing with your Camera and your lenses.
• Shutter speed: Brake the rules, do under- and over exposure of your subject captures. You might just be pleasantly surprised. 
• Position and framing : Play with your framing of what you see,- yes you can crop in the post production process, but nothing stops you from taking a step closer, see what the leafs look like from the bottom, doing a macro.In the long run, saving yourself some time in your post production process.
• Enjoyment : If you don't enjoy the time you are spending in taking photos of that flower you have chosen, Stop right there and call it a day. You are wasting your own time - you just wont be happy with the photos in the post production process.

Click on the link to see some of my Super Model Tiger Lilies flower art that is for sale on Fine Arts America. Flower Gallery