For this month, June 2020, the theme challenge is “Garden or Wild Flowers”.

Photographing garden or wild flowers can be done close to home and give you a chance to share some of your own flowers that you are growing, are close to your home, or close to your heart.

f/8, 1/640, ISO 640, @420mm

Pick a subject that is important to you, such as this image of a tulip that was a gift to my wife’s mom while she was in the hospital a few years ago. Since her passing we had placed it in our garden and it comes back every year providing us with a beautiful memory. The rain drops on the grass even provide an added feeling to the story of the image representing tears of sorrow and of joy as we remember her.

The basic things to consider while photographing flowers include; light, depth of field, clean background, with the main part of the flower being sharp.

You do not require a macro lens, but should have a focal length at or longer than 50mm up to even 600mm, which depends on the situation and how you want the final image to look. If you are using a mobile phone pick portrait mode, or the highest optical zoom, and take advantage of some of the built in presets to help blur the background.

Here are some tips to help with creating a successful flower image. Pick an aperture and  focal length that will allow for the background to be blurred, while remembering that the further the background is away from your subject the better the background. You can even use a piece of colored paper or printed abstract to place behind your flower to create a pleasing background. Use a reflector, or scrim to help control the light. The distance from your subject also plays a part with the background, but more importantly how much of the flower will be sharp. Get as close as possible to fill the frame, but make sure the important part of the flower is sharp. Tweak your distance to the flower, adjust your aperture, or change your focal length to achieve exactly what you are looking for.

Show us what image you create that showcases your flower(s).

Students are encouraged to develop their ability to tell a story or invoke an emotion, as well as how to plan and troubleshoot while creating their images. As such it’s important to not only create the image but to also include a “title”, and write a short paragraph about; how they came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled them to make the image, and describe any techniques on how they overcame any obstacles.

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below is a YouTube video link to help with some hints and ideas.
Garden or Wild Flower Photography instructional aid:
■ My 8 Best Tips for Flower Photography: by Micael Widell (8min 9sec)

An important part of improving your photography is practice, which is one aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips.

For this month, May 2020, the theme challenge is “Patterns”.

With the current social distancing guidelines we can still get out our cameras and capture some patterns, whether you are inside or out for a walk in your local area patterns are all around us, we just need to be more aware of our surroundings.

Taking images of rocks, flowers, trees, and even utilizing shadows your images can make images of patterns interesting. It’s important to fill the frame, get closer or zoom in to make the image about the pattern, just be aware of depth of field and make sure your fstop is large enough to get everything as sharp as you want it. Another tip is to move around until you obtain a pleasing composition. You may need to take a number of images to get the one you are happy with.

f/11, 1/60, ISO 1000, @200mm

Including something that’s out of place within a pattern, such as the sea shell against the rocks in the photo shown below, can help make your image more interesting.

f/8, 1/320, ISO 100, @200mm

Waiting for that decisive moment can provide some order out of the chaos such as waiting for one duck to stick his head up while all the other ducks are eating as shown in the next image with the pattern being all the feathers of all the other ducks that are eating.

f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 1000, @400mm

Use your imagination and have fun with this months theme and create some interesting images.

Students are encouraged to develop their ability to tell a story or invoke an emotion, as well as how to plan and troubleshoot while creating their images. As such it’s important to not only create the image but to also include a “title”, and write a short paragraph about; how they came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled them to make the image, and describe any techniques on how they overcame any obstacles.

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below are a few YouTube video links to help with some hints and ideas.
Patterns in Photography instructional aid:
■ Utilizing Patterns & Repetition in Photography: by Outdoor Photography Guide (2min 58sec)
■ Creative Photography Tips & Tricks – Seeing And Using Patterns: by Visual Art Photography Tutorials (8min 10sec)
■ Photo Walk with Phil: Patterns: by Steele Training (6min 42sec)

An important part of improving your photography is practice, which is one aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips.