How to Get Started with Macro Floral Photography

Macro floral photography, or taking extremely close-up photographs of flowers and plant life, has always been a passion of mine. Glancing at a bouquet on the table or a flower outside your window is nice, but macro photography lets you explore it. One flower can become a world of its own when properly captured in a photograph. I've experimented with macro photography using other subjects, but I've found nothing is quite as beautiful the texture of a tiny glistening flower petal.

Having a camera case is a good idea for any photographer. Cameras are expensive and no one wants to lose their artwork. Make sure to get a padded case with plenty of pockets and storage spaces; it'll make it easy to carry around your extra lenses and filters. Wrist/neck straps are useful for when you're walking around looking for your next subject. Accidents happen to everyone and cases/straps don't cost that much. A new camera will. As for the photographic lens cloth, it's a safe and inexpensive way to keep your lenses clean and particle free. The last thing you want is a bunch of dots all over your image because your lens was dirty.

There are a few differences between cameras that could affect the outcome of your photographs, if you aren't aware of them. For macro floral photography, it's best to use a Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) camera. Using a Twin-Lens Reflex (TLR) or a Rangefinder camera results in parallax, which is bad enough in any style of photography, especially macro. Parallax is the measure of the angle of the line of sight that your camera sees and the line of sight that you see through the camera when you're taking the picture. Parallax gets worse the closer you are to your subject, making it a great way to calculate how far away something is and not so good for macro shots.

Most modern cameras are SLR with the exception of disposable ones. A disposable camera is okay for taking pictures of friends or landscapes where the subject is farther away, but for macro photography it's better to go out and purchase a real camera. If you're using a digital camera, the LCD screen always acts as an SLR. Be careful though; if it has a viewfinder in addition to that, the viewfinder will act as a TLR or Rangefinder.

You can take amazing macro shots with both film and digital cameras. I, personally, take both with me when I'm out looking for a good shot. If you'd prefer to use a traditional film camera, it's best to find one that at least gives you the option to change your settings manually. Important settings to have control over are focus, aperture, and shutter speed. Make sure you can turn off your flash too. You'll need to have a good macro lens, but if you can't afford a big fancy one, the twist on macro lens/filters work as well. They're about the size of your average filters but act as a magnifying glass. I have 1x, 2x and 4x macro lenses for my film camera, and often use all three on top of each other for super-close shots.

If digital is more your thing, or you just don't want to fool around with additional settings, all you need is a digital camera with a macro setting. I typically don't change my aperture or shutter speed on my digital camera. Just change it to macro and you're good to go. And don't forget to turn off the flash.

I use flash on occasion, like at parties when the inside lights aren't bright enough or when I'm taking an outside portrait in bright light (it actually softens the shadows on their face!), but I generally stay away from flash when it comes to art. Unless you absolutely cannot see your subject, flash will add harsh shadows and destroy the soft shading on the flower, making it look flat and boring. One of the most beautiful features of floral photography is the subtle shadows created by the curves of the petals, stamens and pistils.