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How to photograph spring and its colors

After the long winter months, spring is finally back. Flowers, plants and trees reflect a multitude of colors. A godsend for photography enthusiasts who have an abundance of subjects to photograph. Here are some tips to take advantage of springtime when taking pictures.

Capture the right moment

In spring, nature is in full bloom, making it the perfect time to go outside and take pictures. A forest, a green meadow, a field under a blue sky: numerous subjects that allow photographers to express their artistic sense. Nevertheless, there are also a number of photographic constraints and challenges to consider.

The main difficulty for the photography newcomer lies in the control of natural light. Contrary to the photo shoots inside the studio, on location photographers obviously have less control on their environment. Indeed, weather conditions, luminosity, and the way the light shines onto the subject will greatly impact the result of the photo. Therefore, the time of the shoot is one of the key factors to consider.

For best results, it is ideal to shoot in the early and late hours of the day. This is commonly referred to as the “Golden Hours”. During these hours, the sun’s position is low in the sky, which creates shadows and naturally gives texture and relief to subjects. Also, when photographing individuals, a soft, warm light source is always more beneficial to skin tone.

© Linda Harrison – “Bees in the City”

Taking advantage of the blossoming season

Spring is a magical time of year, the various shades of green reflected by leaves and trees are more vivid, new flower buds are starting to appear everywhere. It is the opportunity to bring your camera closer to the subject to capture nature in full bloom. To do this, you don’t need any macro lens, nor a tripod or any special camera gear, but rather you will need good knowledge of composition and camera settings.

Color is a powerful compositional tool in photography. Creating a contrast between the green of the leaves and the bright colors of a flower can make for very visually appealing renderings. To achieve this, you need to get as close to the subject as possible. This eliminates all the unwanted elements from the composition and brings the essential to the forefront: the colors.

The challenge that the photography newcomer frequently encounters is that they can no longer focus. Indeed, as for the human eye, when you bring your lens too close, it sees things blurry, because by getting closer, depth of field gets reduced.

In this case, to increase the sharpness without affecting the distance, the only parameter on which we can change is aperture. By reducing the size of the aperture, the area of sharpness increases. An aperture between f11 and f16 is the most suitable for this type of photography and allows you to get sharp pictures even with a very short depth of field.

Discover the training courses at Spéos

For successful spring photos, it is important to know the settings of your camera very well. To achieve this, there is no secret: the main thing is to practice! However, starting photography without help can be frustrating. Taking a training course or a workshop to learn the basics of photography can be a good way to learn the different photographic techniques before starting your own practice.

Spéos offers various training courses ranging from simple one-week photography courses (initiation and advanced level) to 3-year courses. The long courses to become professional photographers allow you not only to master all the photographic techniques and its vocabulary (blurs, hyperfocus, sharpness zone, depth of field, backlighting, focal length, shutter release, autofocus, wide-angle, rule of thirds, etc.), but also all the stages of shooting and image processing.

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