Your Flash Makes Roses Burst Through Shadows

This sequel accompanies the Celebrate Roses— Part One Photo Blog.  While Part One focused on photographing Roses outside, Part Two takes you indoors, where your flash is a must.

Rose petals have so many folds and curves, which create shadows and depth.  Your flash can bring out those shadows and accentuate that depth.  It takes technique to get the most out of your camera and flash when photographing Roses.  But you will reap the rewards with colorful three-dimensional photos.

Apply a Picturephant technique called over-aperturing by using a narrow aperture (f11 or f13) along with your flash.  If you used a wider aperture, like f8, you likely wouldn’t capture the rich, deep color that epitomizes a red Rose.  Your petal details and folds would wash out, because you let in too much light into your camera— between the wide aperture and your bright flash.

Photograph Roses (and other flowers) at the fastest shutter speed your camera can shoot using flash.  That, coupled with your narrow aperture, produces bright, saturated, and detailed images.

Some photographers don’t like the strong/harsh shadows that show when you use flash.  In this case, I disagree.   When photographing any flowers, utilize your flash to create shadows for dramatic effect.  While your Rose is bright, the dark shadow beneath makes your Rose pop seemingly out of your image.  This photo benefits from the dramatic shadows.

Certainly, I could have set up my lighting kit and arranged lights so there would be no shadows.  But I wanted the dark shadows, because I wanted that three-dimensionality.  Picturephant Photo Blogs are all about teaching you how you can take your best photos.  To shoot Roses, you don’t need the fancy lighting kit.  Flash is all you need.

Use Your Settings To Capture The Right Colors

Whether inside or out, it’s challenging to photograph red Roses.  In Part One, I covered how a narrow aperture (f11 or f13) can get the right dark red when photographing outside.  That same strategy applies indoors, but you need to carefully use your flash to prevent those colors from washing out.  As I explained in the Flowers In A Flash Photo Blog, it takes the right mix of settings to get colors right.  You combine a low ISO, with the fastest shutter speed using flash, and a narrow aperture.

Unlike most Roses, those shown in this photo were a particularly bright red.  I was in a dimly lit room, so it took some effort to set the flash right to prevent Roses from washing out (ISO 400, Aperture f13, Shutter Speed 1/100th Second).  I couldn’t rearrange these Roses, so I had a busier background than I liked.  Still, the green helps the bright red really pop.  Take time to get the color right.  To do that, you need to experiment with aperture and flash settings.  Keep checking your shots until you’ve dialed in the color you see.