Photographing Cherry Blossoms

It's Cherry Blossom time, and we all want to get pictures of the
blossoms. The blossoms are pretty, and the delicate pink can be hard to shoot.
Take care with your exposures.



A close focusing lens will be helpful. A macro lens is made to focus much closer than a regular lens., so you can get in close and have a much bigger image of your blossoms. A lot of the longer zoom lenses have a macro setting that is not true macro, but lets you focus much closer. When you are getting in really close like this focus is critical, as is eliminating camera shake. You also want to use a smaller lens aperture (such as f11 or f16) to maximize the depth of field. This will make for a lower shutter speed. May want to use a tripod to keep everything steady.

Backlighting delicate blooms always makes nice images. The backlight ads depth
to your pictures. You may have to open up a little to compensate.



If you can get a bird, bee or some other creature in the frame, it keeps it from being just another flower photo. And move around, look for interesting composition, changes in light. Have some fun.