Photographing flowers as they dance
This was of the kind of day it was at Amanda Saurin's place in Barcombe, East Sussex. Rainy, cloudy and very windy.
Amanda's an apothecary, her creams, oils, soaps and aromatic waters are exquisite and here are some of the flowers they come from.
It wasn't a good day for sunbathing but it was a fair day for photographing flowers. The rain eventually stopped but the clouds stayed so the light was gentle and diffused.
If the sunlight had been brighter, the contrast on the flowers would have been greater and we would have lost the subtle range of colours and tones that diffused light gives.
The Technical Bit
I used my 80-200mm lens so that individual flowers would stand out sharply against a blurred background. I used a fast shutter speed, around 1/250, to freeze the flowers in their windy dance and the bees and butterflies as they got right into the nectar.
Overcast daylight always works well for rendering a range of colours in natural subjects with no concealing shadows or burnt out highlights.
www.asapoth.com for Amanda Saurin's beautiful oils and soaps and more.
