For this month, August 2025, the theme challenge is “Flowers”. This month’s challenge is intended to get you out doors to create some images of wild flowers, or flowers in a garden. Try spending some time at a location where you are excited about the possibilities of getting some images you will be happy with. In general, creating images of flowers requires the use of a macro or telephoto lens, good light, a clean background, while considering your perspective.

This time of year there are many opportunities to take images of flowers in the wild or in a garden such as the Halifax Public Gardens, which is for us only a 1 hour drive. The challenge for many of us is how to create a flower image that we are happy with. Just seeing a beautiful flower gets us all excited, but then we spend a lot of time trying to get the image to look like we want it to but not always successful, just be patient and don’t give up you will get some nice images. Let’s see where you go and what you can create this month, then include us in your success, share the images you’ve created this month.

Some Considerations

Here are a few tips and camera setting suggestions to help with your success.

Close Up Tips:
■ Use a macro or telephoto lens
■ All images do not have to be close ups you can also take a wider view of a group of flowers
■ Consider the minimum focus distance of your lens (if you are too close to the subject your lens will not focus on your subject)
■ The angle and position (unique perspective) of your camera is important
■ Work your composition to remove as many distractions from your background as possible.
■ Low wind
■ Good light, softer light is better (overcast, cloud passing over the sun, or back light)
■ Use a fast enough shutter speed for a sharp image (consider the wind as well)
■ Consider you depth of field, remember it’s not just aperture, also consider focal length and distance to your subject (distance of your subject to the background also contributes to how out of focus the background is)
■ Decide on what part of the flower is your subject and make sure that your subject is sharp and the area of your subject is within your depth of field.
■ Don’t be afraid of ISO
■ Patience (keep trying)
■ Another advanced technique is focus stacking to obtain perfect sharpness for your subject with an out of focus background, but only attempt this if there is little to no wind. You may require a tripod and a focus rail for this technique. Some cameras have the functionality to shoot a focus stack directly in camera.

Camera Settings: You can start in Aperture Priority mode (Av for Canon or A for Nikon, Sony) with a medium aperture (larger f-stop number) say f/4 to f/8 with a medium ISO of 400 to 1250. Keep an eye on what the camera chooses for a shutter speed especially if you are taking your images handheld. If the shutter speed is slower say 1/100 then raise your ISO to obtain a faster shutter speed of at least 1/400 (at least 1/focal length), and also consider the wind. For these types of images, you could use various focal lengths depending on what you want to create, anything from 50mm to 500 mm, just be aware of your depth of field, keeping acceptable sharpness throughout the image, check you image to make sure your intended subject is sharp.

Example Images

This month the sample images shown are from my wife Darlene Awalt with most of them created in a friends garden. The following images were taken with a ®Canon EOS R5 and an RF100mm macro lens.

The following images were taken with a ®Canon EOS R5 and an RF100-500mm telephoto lens.

Additional Resources

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out additional instructional resources, below are some YouTube video links to help with some tips, hints and ideas.
Flower Photography instructional aids:
■ My 8 Best Tips for Flower Photography by Micael Widell (8min 9sec)
■ How to Be Creative in Your Flower Photography with Jackie Kramer by B&H Photo Video Pro Audio (56min 1sec)
■ 5 Ways to Compose Photographs of Plants and Flowers by Sarah Marino (22min 10sec)
■ Vision & Light 12: Alister Benn & Sarah Marino by Expressive Photography (44min 8sec)
■ How to Shoot & Edit Flower Photos Like a Pro! by Christian Möhrle – The Phlog Photography (16min 37sec)

You’re encouraged to develop the ability to “tell a story or invoke an emotion“, as well as learn to plan and troubleshoot while creating images.

• It’s important to not only create an image but to also include a “Title”, this process helps with; determining your subject or story, and composition.
• Try writing a short paragraph about; how you came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled you to make the image, and describe any techniques how you overcame any obstacles.
• Do some research and include any relevant information behind the subject of your image. This helps with planning and your approach for a story

An important part of improving your photography is practice, practice, practice which is one important aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips that you are not familiar with.

Share your images and stories experienced this month

Even though this website is not setup to directly upload your images, you can achieve something similar by commenting on the post; paste your social media or google drive link to your image in the comment, then type any additional message you’d like to share. Everyone who visits will be able to visit your link. Note comments are moderated so it will not show up right away. We do get notifications when any comment is posted, so it won’t take long to get approved and have your comment subsequently show up. By pasting your social media or google drive link in your comment, it gives everyone visiting the blog a chance to click the link to see your image for the challenge and also the ability to look at your other work by viewing your social media through your pasted link. We want sharing to be a positive experience and we hope you have fun with this month’s photo challenge.