Flower Photography Equipment

By: Timothy Spencer

Shooting flowers in the great outdoors is considered to be a pastime more than work. The relaxing feel of the outdoors in national heritage sites and parks is enjoyed by many outdoor photographers. Going on such outdoor day shoots requires some equipment especially if you’re using a digital SLR. I currently enjoy my Nikon D40, probably the most affordable digital SLR bought from Hidalgo for a mere P21, 000.00. If you want to do some flower photography, it would be a great idea to invest in a few lenses.

The cheapest lens you can get that yields great results is a 50mm prime lens with an aperture of f/1.8. A lot of photographers have dubbed this lens as the “nifty fifty” because it delivers absolutely clear photos for a price less than a hundred dollars. This lens is available for both Canon and Nikon DSLR brands with Nikon’s being slightly more expensive. The true benefit of this lens is that it takes very good portraiture, allowing your flower subject to stand out clearly while blurring the background.

If you have a little bit more money to burn I would highly recommend a macro lens. My personal lens of choice is an old inheritance - a Micro Nikon Auto f/3.5 macro lens which I’ve seen all over the Internet. It’s not being sold in stores anymore but you can probably grab one from eBay if by some twist of fate the previous owner has decided to sell.

If you’re going to go “deep” with shooting, you will definitely need a mini tripod or a monopod to deliver versatile shots. You can find pretty versatile mini tripods for less than P400.00 in some malls. But I suggest investing in more durable tripods such as the mini GorrilaPod that retails for about a thousand bucks. A monopod, on the other hand will help you get sturdy in thick situations like when inside bushes or when the area does not give you the luxury of spreading out a tripod through a wider plane.

With a variety in equipment coupled with the basics of photography, shooting flowers outdoors can be a therapeutic and rewarding experience altogether!