Spring Flowers

Colorado wildflowers, cactus flowers, poppies, lilacs, and more!  Don't you love the color explosion happening all around?

Shooting Stars

Poppies

Cactus Flowers

Lilac Bush

Mmmm, plant life

Colorado wildflowers

When photographing wildflowers, there are several things to keep in mind in order to produce the best results.  First of all, get close.  I'll often get as close as my lens can focus.  Then zoom in.  Fill the frame with the flowers, if possible.  Also, consider the orientation of the flower.  For the yellow one above, it was best shot from above.  Most wildflowers, however, are best shot from the same height as the flower itself.  Get down low.  If the ground is muddy or you're unable to get your body as low as the flower, hold your camera down there and shoot several exposures.  Over time you'll become comfortable aiming your camera without looking through the viewfinder.

Consider the background too.  For the shooting stars, I sought those that were partly in the sun, but had a shady area behind them.  This really helps the flowers stand out.  Also, make use of shallow depth of field to create an unfocused - or Bokeh - background, as I did with the white flower above.

Finally, consider your composition.  Do not center the flowers in the frame.  Either when shooting or afterwards when you're in post-production, crop the image so the main flower in your image is off-center and above or below the mid-point of the frame.

ice and snow on spruce bough

While shooting morning landscapes by the river, my eye was drawn to the ice and fresh snow on these nearby spruce boughs.  I walked over to get a few shots while waiting for the skies to change for more landscape photos. 

It's hard to predict what the Bokeh will look like when taking photographs like this.  Even harder is knowing just where to crop for maximum effect.  In this case, I removed the left and bottom of the image, preserving the Bokeh above and moving the in-focus area off-center.

Wildflowers

I like to call these types of shots "microscapes," because they're miniature landscapes.  Besides composing for the flowers, including nearby rocks and logs, positioning everything properly in the frame, and considering the bokeh are all things to keep in mind when shooting microscapes.

desert lizard

I love everything about this photo.  The angle of the light relative to my camera, the camera's height and angle, the bokeh in the foreground and background, the lizard's pose and position in the frame - all of it.

Too often people shoot small wildlife and flowers from above.  I prefer to get down low, much closer to the subject's height.  For this shot, I got as close to the lizard as he would let me (they spook easily), zoomed in to about 100mm, and held the camera down and away from me.  I've been shooting this way for a while, and am getting pretty good at knowing what's going to be in the viewfinder.  Even still, I'll take several shots to ensure one of them is a winner.

rain drops on plants

I should really invest in a macro lens, so I can get much closer to my subject.  Lots of rain last night made for foggy conditions today, but not foggy enough for the landscape photos I hoped to take by the river.  Instead I found this plant on the way back.  Unlike most of the others, which had some drops, this one was covered with them.  I positioned the tripod in several spots, each yielding both a different view and a different background.  This one was chosen for the great bokeh.