The other week I had the privilege of being asked to judge one of Mundaring Camera Club’s monthly competitions. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed looking at all the wonderful photos that had been entered. At one point when looking a shot of a flower I made my oft said statement shoot photos of flowers like they are a portrait of a person. So what do I actually mean by that? After a couple of weeks thought – I’m not the quickest! – I’ve decided to actually write it down.

The following four shots are all photos of the same Winter Donkey Orchid – it’s nothing special it’s just a plant I found the other day. But they do illustrate how I approach each subject.

The first is the establishing shot, an environmental portrait. It shows the plant in situ and how it relates to bush around it.

 

 

 

 

The next two are mid length shots. Two different techniques are used to try and produce the same effect. One is a single shot taken with a macro lens and flash, the other is done with a long telephoto lens as a focus stack. The aim is produce a shot with a nice clean back ground.

 

 

The fourth shot is a close up portrait – a head and shoulders if you like – to reveal some of the characteristics of the flower.

It is how I work the subject. Unlike Austin Powers I’m not asking the flower to be a tiger, but, what I am doing is taking a series of photos from different angles to bring out the best in the subject.

As an aside the clip of Austin Powers is its self a parody of another famous screen photographer – the protagonist of Michelangelo Antonioni’s masterpiece ‘Blowup’. I certainly don’t behave like David Hemmings’ character did when photographing Veruschka von Lehndorff in the film. That would be a bit strange.