Flower photography is perfect for anyone. From beginner photographers to professional artist or interior designers, the beauty of a blossomed flower cannot be denied. As they have a powerful way of evoking emotions that is quite unique; you can’t go wrong spending your day amongst them, or filling your space with them.
While there are many flowers that are beautiful to behold, only one is known amongst the world by name and first sight. A symbol of love, an icon of beauty. The rose.
Flower photography is extremely fulfilling and can be done on any device. So wether you have a cell phone or an entry level camera; or a professional set up with good glass, get out there and enjoy yourself.
Where to Find Beautiful Roses to Photograph
First and foremost you must find a rose, a rose bush or if your lucky an entire rose garden! There are more options than you may have previously considered and if you think outside the box you will surely find more!
Here are my Top 5 Places To Find Roses to Photograph that will leave you with plenty of options you will be dying to try out.
- Your own Neighborhood
- Botanical Gardens
- Local Flower Shops + Florist
- Flower Festivals
- Online Flower Shops
Your Own Neighborhood
You may not need to venture far at all to find beautiful roses to photograph! Take a walk through your own neighborhood. Maybe you know of someone down the road who has beautiful rose bushes out front or a neighbor who grows them. Take the initiative to talk to them and tell them how much you admire their flowers. Make a new friend and gain access to a lovely new subject to photograph.
Who knows they may love your images so much that you gain a client and a later print sale! If anything you will have a new friend you can thank with a pretty postcard print.
Botanical Gardens
Your local botanical gardens are wonderful places to find flowers for photography, especially roses. Many areas have multiple botanical gardens to choose from and I highly recommend you take the time to visit each of them. Roses are best found blooming during mid-spring to fall. During May and June you are sure to find local rose bushes and gardens blooming beautifully.
If you’re up for traveling here are a few of the largest and grandest Rose Gardens (in the US) where you can spend heavenly days creating flower art. Elizabeth Parks Rose Garden in Connecticut, Municipal Rose Gardens in Tyler Texas, and the Ringling Bayfront Rose Gardens in Sarasota Florida.
Local Flower Shops + Florist
A fun way to find beautiful flowers in a unique setting is in flower shops. Take the time to find local florists and you will be surprised by beautiful bouquets and flower arrangements that you could never find otherwise. Some of my favorite flower images have come from tropical flower stores where I asked if I could walk around with my camera and capture their beautiful arrangements. I make sure to share their business on my social media if I post an image from their shop or arrangements and they often share it also. Win Win!
Some amazing florist and flower shops to check out if you are lucky enough to be in the area are Studio Choo in San Francisco, Solabee in Portland, and FLWR Shop in Nashville. These creative shops are stunning in themselves and hold unique flower art arranged by masterful florist.
Flower Festivals
If you really want to see a spectacle of flowers then a flower festival is a must to add to your photography to do list. And if roses are your main focus then the Portland Rose Festival should be your top priority.
Online Flower Shops
If you can’t get out or want a controlled environment for getting your rose photography just right then ordering online is the way to go. There are endless options when searching for flowers online and you are sure to find unique rose varieties that will be a dream to capture.
If sustainability and eco-friendly businesses are a priority for you as they are for me you will love The Bouq’s Co. You get to see information about the flowers you purchase like the local farm who grew them with photos and biographical information. You can see my favorite arrangement of pastel roses here.
Now that you know where to find your roses it’s time you thought about what you will do when you finally get to photograph your flowers.
View The Beauty Of A Blossomed Rose Art Collection!
How To Photograph Roses
Flower photography is so fulfilling and fun for one simple reason. There is No Wrong Way To Do It! But knowing a few tips will definitely make a big difference. Here are my Top 5 Flower Photography Tips to help you on your Rose Photography Journey.
- Find The Fine Details You Love
- Experiment With Angles
- Get Close To Your Subject
- Find Your Light
- Avoid The Wind
Find The Details You Love
I think often of how we all see the world so differently. Take 2 people and put them in a room (or garden) and they will both see very different things. That is why I love photography so much. You get to show your perspective of the world. Find what sparks your interest, then go further and ask yourself what about it caught your eye. What part of the flower did you gravitate to? Was it the curve of the stem or the way two petals embraced? Find what moves you and see if you can move another with what you saw.
Experiment With Angles
When you find a flower that captivates you stick to it for longer than you normally would. Don’t just point your camera at it, snap a pic and move on. Try getting low and moving around the flower. If you were drawn to a certain area of the rose start with trying to replicate what you saw in your camera. This means you must Look At The Pictures you have taken. You will notice immediately that the angle may be a bit off or some of the petals didn’t make it into the frame. Keep experimenting with the angles until it looks the way want it too in your camera.
Get Close To Your Subject
If you really want to recreate the mood of a rose you will want to move in close. The petals and layers seem too beg for you to move in and capture their intricacies. To achieve this you will want to macro lens. You can find macro lenses for your phone that will make people think you have a professional setup, such as the Moment Macro Lens. If you do have a professional set up then I would highly recommend a LensBaby. The creative effects of these lens will transform the way you see and take flower photography. The images in this article are mostly taken on my LensBaby Velvet 85.
Find Your Light
You will find after taking a few images of different flowers that the way the light fills your image or hits the flower makes your image magical… or trashes it completely. And only you can be the judge of how the light effects your flower photography.
Dappled light can be beautiful in person but is very hard to recreate. Harsh light is my own personal favorite (at the moment); but many will tell you to steer clear as it can take away from the details if your exposure is not perfect for the mood you are trying to create. Diffused light like that found on a cloudy day is generally the easiest for flower photography. You can recreate shady days simply with your hand or a light diffuser. If you can find flowers that are backlit you will often be able to create magical images as the flowers will seem to be lit from within. Experiment with different lighting and Find Your Light.
(Exposure Tip for Harsh Light: bring your ISO all the way down and your shutter speed as far up as possible to make the image quite dark. This creates a flat film look that I adore like in the image Lost In A Trance.)
Avoid The Wind
When flower photography is your main priority than wind is your enemy. Ordering your flowers online and creating a controlled atmosphere at home really comes in handy here. Just a tiny bit of wind can sneak in and blur your image. Keeping a high shutter speed can help here; but the closer you are to your subject the more you must fight the wind.
I hope you are able to find roses galore and use some of these tips to make the most of the beauty you see. Remember “The best camera you have is the one you have with you” and “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst”. So get to snapping and love your time behind the lens.
Here are a Few of My Favorite FLower Quotes To Get You In The Mood
There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom
Knee-deep in my garden’s soil; seeds strewn in my hair. Sunshine streaming, flowers dreaming, bliss without a care.
Describing how I feel about blooming flowers is like baring my soul…how do I put it into words?
View The Beauty Of A Blossomed Rose Art Collection!
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