Grow Your Love of Flower Photography

Jan 30, 2025

Alan Adler

A close-up of a blooming orange rose with dew drops on its petals, set against a blurred green and brown background.

Photographing flowers is easy and very rewarding. You can create beautiful images with any equipment, most any day or evening, indoors and out. Spring is nirvana for flower photography but I find good opportunities all year.

I walk my neighborhood shooting flowers almost every day. And occasionally visit nurseries (garden type). You don’t need to read this article to shoot good photos. But if you do read it, I hope to help you get to great flower photos more quickly.

Lenses

(Mostly) anything works when it comes to lenses. I’ve succeeded with ordinary 35mm lenses up to telephoto. My favorite range is 50mm to 90mm, with a preference towards the longer end. You do not need a macro lens. Even cheap lenses are sharp in the center and if they blur at the edges, that’s totally ok, even preferred.

Aperture

I prefer the range of f/4 to f/8. I’ve even tried f/0.95, but the depth of field is only a millimeter, so it’s hard to nail focus and you can’t sharply capture enough of the flower. Photographers like fast apertures to blur the background. However, as these examples show, blurry backgrounds behind flowers usually occur naturally with any aperture.

A close-up of a bee collecting pollen from a purple and yellow flower on the left. On the right, a cluster of green buds on a stem with a small ant near the bottom. — Photos shot at f/16 (left) and f/11 (right).

Flash

Gentle flash is usually great, but not essential. I like the way flash lights up the anthers and pollen, deep in the center. I most often use my EVF magnifier, to center autofocus on the anthers and ensure they are sharp. The anthers in flower photos are the equivalent of eyes in portraits. I also often use a monopod to help me aim at the tiny centers.

Close-up of a vibrant tulip with red and yellow petals, a dark center, and visible stamens and pistils. The background is blurred, highlighting the flower's vivid colors.

Close-up of a yellow flower's center, featuring a cluster of vibrant red and orange stamen surrounded by soft yellow petals. The intricate details and vivid colors create a striking focal point.

A bee with pollen on its legs is nestled inside the petals of a white rose. The flower's delicate layers surround the bee, creating a soft, natural setting.

Anthers

These are the pollen dispensers in flowers. They are fuzzy with pollen particles.

Close-up of a vibrant orange and yellow flower, focusing on the stamen. The vivid yellow pollen stands out against the bright background, showcasing the intricate details of the flower's reproductive parts.

Close-up of a bee covered in pollen resting inside a vibrant red flower. The bee holds onto the flower's delicate stamen, showcasing its detailed wings and fuzzy body dusted with bright yellow pollen.

Often the same flower can be captured in different ways, emphasizing just the center, or wider. And don’t overlook unopened buds.

Close-up of a green flower bud infested with tiny insects, including aphids. The insects are small, white, and scattered over the bud's surface. The background is a blurry green, highlighting the plant's vibrant color.

Of course, foraging bees are a bonus. Don’t fear them. I’ve photographed tens of thousands of bees and never been threatened.

A bee is perched on a vibrant yellow sunflower against a dark background. The sunflower's petals radiate outward while the bee, with its striped body and wings, gathers pollen from the flower's center.

A bee clings to a pinkish flower, extracting nectar. Its body is fuzzy with orange and black bands, and it has translucent wings. The background is blurred with green foliage.

Flash can help to darken backgrounds. Take a few underexposed test shots without flash to establish exposure for dark backgrounds. Then add flash to bring up the flower. The more distant the background, the greater this effect.

Close-up of a white flower with purple and orange accents on its petals. The flower has slender petals with a bright orange stripe down the center and delicate purple details near the base, set against a dark, blurred background. A small insect is on a petal.

Two side-by-side images of a Bird of Paradise flower against a dark background. Both images highlight the vibrant orange petals and striking blue and purple accents, showcasing the flower's unique, tropical appearance.

Weather

Clouding days are best for their even illumination. But flash helps to fill harsh shadows on sunny days. I tend to underexpose, which results in richer colors and helps to preserve texture in light petals.

A vibrant flower with pink and orange petals radiates from a dark central disk. The petals are a gradient of deep pink to orange, creating a striking, colorful contrast. The background includes green foliage and slender leaves.

Although a fast shutter can freeze flowers waving in the wind, your autofocus will be confused by waving flowers. Take extra shots and try manual focus on windy days.

Water drops, after a rain, are beautiful.

Close-up of vibrant green leaves with droplets of water on the surface. The leaves show hints of red and purple on the edges, creating a colorful contrast. The texture of the leaves and the water droplets are clearly visible.

I’ve tried spraying water on a flower, but the drops were too small.

With modern high-megapixel cameras, you needn’t be very close. You’ll have plenty of range to crop.

Editing

I crop to emphasize the flower. Then I adjust exposure for bright highlights, taking care to retain texture. Then, darken the mid-tones to enrich the color, possibly pushing the saturation control. Finally, I moderately sharpen most photos. If you have a high-megapixel camera, you may end up with a file that is large and slow to share. So I often resize to create a smaller version but retain the original for printing. When viewed on most screens, a 1200-pixel wide file will look as good as anything larger. Experiment.

Monarch butterfly with vibrant orange and black wings resting on textured, furry leaves. The wings display white spots along the edges, and the butterfly's antennas are pointed upwards.

A vibrant butterfly with black and orange wings perches on a cluster of bright orange flowers with green leaves. The butterfly's antennae and legs are visible as it rests and feeds on the blossoms.

Three blooming red amaryllis flowers with yellow centers and green buds are clustered together against a dark background, highlighting their vibrant petals and delicate structure.

A hummingbird with shimmering green and gold feathers hovers near vibrant red flowers, sipping nectar with its long, slender beak. The background is a blur of greenery and more red blossoms, highlighting the bird's delicate form.

About the author: Alan Adler lives in Los Altos, California. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. He has been an avid photographer for 60 years. He is also a well-known inventor with about 40 patents. His best-known inventions are the Aerobie flying ring and the AeroPress coffee maker.