Blog: A Walk Around My Neighborhood

By Gary Geschwind

 
As I was driving around my neighborhood, I was amazed at how many people had planted beautiful flower gardens in front of their homes. So, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to photograph some of the flora. As I was shooting the pictures, several homeowners asked what I was doing. When I told them, they were quite pleased that I was photographing their flowers and gardens for our web site.
 
 
 
If you decide to take a “shot” at your neighborhood flowers, you can use many techniques to enhance your images:
 
  • Get up close to capture details on the flowers. Use a macro lens, if available.
  • Look for combinations of flowers with contrasting colors.
  • Find an interesting background, such as a fence or a tree to add texture or make the flowers to stand out.
  • Juxtapose the flower(s) with contrasting patterns or colors.
  • Use leading lines to focus on your subject.
  • Bracket your exposures. I find that under exposing by 1/3 to 1 stop enhances the color.
 
These are just a few of the techniques you can employ to give your flower photos impact. In about an hour, I found nearly a dozen flower gardens to photograph. Oh, and if you want to generate some goodwill, give a few 4x6 inch prints to the neighborhood green thumbs who planted and nurtured your subject matter.
 
Now, take a hike ;-).