I am a self-proclaimed people photographer. Whenever anyone asks what I photograph, I say “anything involving people”. If that’s the case, you might be wondering why I’m posting about photographing flowers and plants. To be honest, I sometimes like to head out on my own and experiment with different types of photography. Doing that, I have found a type of flower photography that I absolutely love. Today I want to share it with you.
For some people, photographing flowers and plants can seem cliche and boring. After all, aren’t flowers what most of us used for test subjects when we first started learning photography? Well, I like to think that we never stop learning and if I’m going to experiment and learn new tricks, a flower doesn’t make a bad subject.
I love wandering around a beautiful garden with an extension tube hooked up to my camera. I first tried out this technique at the Butchart Gardens near Victoria, British Columbia. Since then, I’ve regularly photographed flowers and plants in different locations and with different combinations of lenses and tubes.
My current preferred setup is the Nikon D810, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 lens and the Vello extension tube set (usually the 20mm tube). Because my old extension tube could not communicate with my camera, I originally used the 135mm f/2.0 lens so I could manually set the aperture on the lens itself. With the newer Vello extension tubes that are able to communicate with my camera, I can use any lens I’d like, but I still prefer the results I get from the 135mm focal length the best.
The extension tube allows me to get macro-like results without a dedicated macro lens. The plus side is that I can use my beloved portrait lenses for other types of photography, such as close-ups of flowers and plants. The negative side is that my focusing distance is severely limited. Sometimes only a few inches of a scene are in the focusing area, which means my composition may suffer. Still, because I don’t do it very often and it’s only for fun, I prefer this setup to a dedicated macro lens.
Since I moved to San Francisco last year, I’ve tried to visit the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park at least once a month. There is always something new blooming, so it’s an adventure every time. Some months it’s delicate peonies…
While other months grasses are some of the more fascinating subjects
I try to find shaded areas where I can photograph…
although some direct sun on the backside of a leaf makes for an interesting image as well.
Even the leaves and petals that have fallen to the ground can make interesting subjects.
Here in San Francisco, the magnolia trees bloom between January and March. The Botanic Gardens have a variety of different magnolias and I visited multiple times to see and photograph all of the different types of blooms.
If you ever happen to be in San Francisco and want to go explore the Botanical Gardens, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I’m always looking for a reason to get out and shoot!
Excellent work John,
I find photographing flowers unbelievably difficult. You did great. My compliments
Thank you Marco! I have taken many, many bad photos of flowers for every good one I’ve taken. Keep at it and sooner or later you’ll get some keepers. :)
You mentioned that Macro lenses are big and heavy. I use a Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro and it is very moderate in weight and size. No VR however I often use a tripod but even handheld it works well. I did try a Nikon 105mm f2.8 Vr micro but did find it large and heavy so switched to the Tokina which I love. I really enjoyed your article and photos. Obviously you are very, very talented. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Leslie! I guess I was thinking about the macro lenses with VR as being the big, heavy ones. There are definitely some smaller, lighter macro lenses out there, so I’m glad you found one that works for you!
Thank you for the interesting article and nice photos. Botanical Gardens are wonderful place to spend the day with a camera. Close-ups are essential but carrying around a tripod can be a pain, even if allowed.
I use my old 40mm DX macro on a Nikon1 J5 for flower shots along with my Nikon D750 with the 70-300mm lens and a Canon 500D close-up filter. Both set-ups work and do require some patience when hand-held.
I do have a set of the Vello extension tubes and have tried, but not mastered them to date. Your photos give me a reason to try them out on the local flowers. Maybe I can master them enough to put them in the mix next time I get to a nice Botanical Garden.
Thanks for the article and photos and keep up the beautiful work!!
My pleasure, Joe! It’s true that a lot of gardens do not allow tripods (or they charge a photography fee if you have anything more than a camera). If the gardens are busy, a tripod can be very difficult to use.
Definitely get out there and give the extension tubes another try. They are so small it’s easy to throw them in a bag (or even your pocket). Best of luck!
Thank you. I will give the tubes a try. I am also a fan of working with a tripod and doing what Vincent Versace calls image harvesting – a form of focus stacking where you use multiple images at a wide aperture to get what you want in focus by stacking while keeping hte nice background bokeh that allows you to draw rhe attention where you want in the photo while keeping the nice out of focus background.
So many techniques to try and so little time to try them – after the job, house work, yard work, etc.
In really like your style. Thanks.
Thank you Anders!
Great photos. I have been meaning to order a set of extension tubes, and your post just got me to pull the plug.
Did you need to use a tripod or did you just hand-hold?
Thanks Jack! Hope you enjoy them!
I almost always shoot hand-held. Due to the very shallow depth of field I end up taking a lot of photos and rejecting quite a few that don’t have the correct part of the image in focus.
Fantastic photographs! Don’t quite understand why you prefer an extension tube over a macro lens?
Thank you Merlin! For starters on why I prefer an extension tube over a macro lens, I don’t have a macro lens and I do have extension tubes. :)
Personally I’ve always thought macro lenses are big, heavy and expensive, especially compared to a small extension tube. Plus, with an extension tube and prime lenses, I can shoot at very wide apertures such as f/1.4 and f/2. Of course, macro lenses are amazing pieces of glass and have many merits and benefits over extension tubes, but I don’t have the need for one often enough to justify purchasing one.
Nice article John! Quick question, did you cropped these photos or are they more or less a representation of the 135 + 20mm extension?
Thanks!
Daniel
Thanks Daniel! All of these are uncropped (except for the possibility of a little straightening), so they are a good representation of the 135 + 20mm extension combination.
Lovely flowers, but how do you manage to get such clear reds? Whenever I photograph red flowers, the reds are always blown out. Any special filters?
Hmmm, I’m not sure Don. I don’t use any special filters. I try to be very careful with my exposure, as I find it very easy to meter incorrectly and overexpose plants and flowers. My technique is to hold my hand near the flower, spot meter on my hand and then use that exposure. It might look underexposed when you’re shooting plants outdoors, but it almost always gets me a good exposure.
What reds? I don’t see deep reds in the pictures. Reds are quite limited by sRGB, try ProPhoto RGB and open the pictures with a color-space aware viewer (e.g. the firefox), the difference can be astounding (depending on the image and your screen).
Wow! It’s probably no shocking news but… you are VERY talented! I find #5 and #6 exceptional. And those colours in #3…! They are all really stunning in full screen. There’s no shortage of wonderful images on this site but these really made my jaw drop. Thank you so much for sharing. I haven’t even read the article yet, I just can’t stop looking at the pix ^^
Thanks so much Judit. I have never quite been able to figure out why, but sometimes the colors come out with an almost pastel quality, much like in #3. It’s partly because it was taken in shade, but there are other factors at play as well (I’m just not sure what they are). Glad you enjoyed the photos!
great pictures!!!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Robert!