Today’s Musing – Spring Is In The Air

Today is the first day of Spring and it’s time to start thinking about capturing pictures of wildflowers and other desert blooms. As the proliferation of wildflower blooms is largely dependent upon a series of factors such as winter rain, temperatures and sun, it looks like this may not be the best year for finding such. However, normal desert flora such as bushes, cacti, yucca plants and trees will still be going through their normal bloom cycles. Higher elevations and washes, as well as upper level bajas provide the best opportunities for spotting early arrivals during March and April. Yuccas and cacti blooms are generally more prevalent towards the end of April through early June. Before heading out into the desert looking for wildflowers, one should always make sure that they have all of the tools and equipment necessary to enhance their picture taking opportunities. Hence I created the following post titled, More Tips for Taking Wildflower Photos.

Two Recent Purchases

Flipbac Angle Viewfinder: The Flipbac Angle Viewfinder is specifically designed for the LCD screen on digital cameras. It fits most digital point-and-shoot and digital SLR cameras with 3-inch or 2.5-inch live view LCD screens and opens to more than 180 degrees in both landscape and portrait positions. Its stainless steel hinge stays in position, keeping your hands free, and its bright glass mirror provides good reflection of the LCD screen image. This camera accessory will provide you with the ability to capture low angle or ground level shooting without kneeling or to take candid portraits without hiding your face behind a camera. When not in use, it also acts as an excellent LCD screen protector. I have been looking forward to finding something for quite a while that would help resolve the inherent problems associated with the stationary LCD screen on my Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS19 camera.

Field Macro Support and Clamp System: The FMS (Field Macro Support) and Clamp System holds reflectors, diffusers and subjects for macro and close-up photography no matter what the distance from your shooting tripod. The unique, non-twist stake firmly anchors the FMS in the ground near your subject, and frees you to move, frame and shoot from any position. The FMS System comes with a non-twist ground stake, 24" of flexible armature and a sturdy clip. The ground spike provides solid support on grassy or sandy surfaces; of course it obviously will not work on a rock or other hard surfaces.

More Tips & Hints for Taking Wildflower Pictures

There are many factors that enter into the equation for the successful capture of wildflower pictures, such as lighting, sharpness, composition, etc., more on these later. First let’s take a look at some additional equipment items that you will find useful in enhancing your picture taking experience.

Additional Equipment: In addition to your camera, lenses and filters, there are several inexpensive items that can enhance and improve your wildflower experiences. Because it is always important to get down, closer to and on the same level as subject, Knee Pads can come in quite handy when shooting in rough, rocky areas. A moisture-proof 3x4 foot piece of black cloth can be useful as a backdrop when the area behind the subject is too busy or bright. It can also be used to cover yourself when reviewing images on your LCD screen in bright sunny areas. A small knife with scissors is often needed to trim out the occasional dead twig or finished flowers. A properly placed, small white umbrella can be used as a screen to help filter bright sunlight from shining directly on the subject. A Field Macro Support and Clamp System can be used to position and immobilize a subject, hold back something you don't want in the photograph or hold a small reflecting screen.  Depending upon your type of camera, a right-angle viewfinder can be a great accessory for keeping you from having to dig a hole to get low enough to see through the camera when working at ground level. For my smaller digital point and shoot camera I purchased the Flipbac 2.5" Angle Viewfinder. Adding a few drops of water from a small spray bottle can often provide a much desired effect. Finally, a Tripod that will steady your camera all the way down to a sitting position at ground level. Now that you have all of the items needed to make your shoot successful, let’s look at some tips and hints that will help insure that you capture sharp, quality pictures.

Avoid Camera Shake: Avoiding camera shake is always a primary factor when taking pictures of wildflowers. Whether taking handheld pictures or shots using a Monopod or Tripod, there are simple rules to follow. Refer to one of my prior posts on Avoiding Camera Shake.

Composition Hints: Think outside of the box and try to capture more unusual perspectives. Look for scenes where you can have dramatic angles in the shot, such as shooting a carpet of flowers on a hillside. Scenes where everything is perfectly straight and parallel can be perfectly boring. However, keep it natural; don't tilt the camera. Play with the idea of eliminating the horizon to create a somewhat abstract look, such as capturing a limitless carpet of flowers using a longer focal length that compresses the perspective. Look for shots that take advantage of dramatic weather such as an impending storm with the sun peaking through banks of clouds. Instead of using a macro lens, use a telephoto Lens to isolate one or more flowers from a group. By setting the aperture to wide-open, you will minimize the depth of field. Because you won't be able to focus as close to the subject as you might like, you might need to use and extension tube to shorten the focus distance.

Know The Focusing Limitations of your Lens: When trying to capture close-ups, it is only natural to try and get as close to the subject as possible. However, you need to remember that changing and using different lenses in the field, changes the minimum focusing distance for close-ups. For example, the minimum focusing distance on my 14-41mm lens is 1 foot, while the focusing distance on my 45-200mm lens is 3 feet. On my Point-and-Shoot camera with 20xZoom, the focusing distance varies depending upon the camera mode. In “Macro Mode” the focus is 3.3 feet; however, in “AF Macro ON” it is .098 feet and 1.6 feet with “AF-Macro OFF”.  Remembering these facts will help you get a better focused picture.

Achieving Proper Focus: Once you know the distance limitations of your lens, noted above, your ability to achieve proper focus, maximize depth-of-field, e.g. the range of sharpness, and compose it to enhance the images' message will arguably be the first criterion by which your work will be judged. To learn why In an image may come out blurry and what steps you can take to improve your chances of achieving proper focus, read this previous post titled, How To Capture Sharp Photos.

Preparing For and Taking The Shot: When it comes down to taking the actual shot there are a lot of things to keep in mind. One of my previous posts titled, Taking Pictures of Wildflowers lists nearly a dozen tips for capturing good wildflower pictures. You can read this post here … Taking Pictures of Wildflowers.

Hopefully this information and some of these reminders will help you capture better quality wildflower pictures. Now get out there and find them!