Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Flower Photography Mistake I Continue to Make: Dirty Flowers

I spent about an hour taking yummy images of some Gerber daisies that my wife brought home from the home improvement center. The flowers looked to be just fine and I loved the orange yellow petals. I used my macro lens and got in close. I use a technique where I don't use the viewfinder, I just point, focus and shoot. I use this method a lot. But I also took numerous shots composing through the viewfinder.

Here's the rub. After looking at the shots in Lightroom, I saw that one of the daises had aphids along with their stringy web like trials. Now suddenly all the interesting angles and apertures and shutter speeds and backgrounds are less interesting because of the aphid mess.

I wish I could say this was the first time I've made this mistake. But by the title you can surmise it's not. Always check the flowers for bugs, pollen, dust - anything that doesn't belong on the flower and remove it if you can. I soft brush can be used. A squeeze type blower can be used to blow away unwanted items. Choose the freshest  and cleanest flowers for your macro shots and you will be happier with the results.

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