5 tips for beautiful smartphone photos of flowers

The Keukenhof is open, tulip farmers offer photo locations, it’s spring. Flowers are blooming everywhere and they ask to be put on the sensitive plate. Not literally, of course, because the natural beauty should stay where it is. These tips will help you take even better photos of Mother Nature’s creations. This is how you photograph flowers with your smartphone.

1. Turn on macro mode

Some flowers have impressive pistils full of pollen and while the leaves of the flower are often the most beautiful, it can be a lot of fun to use the macro mode. Sometimes you can see the grains of pollen. Especially if you’re taking a close-up photo, the macro mode helps to get everything sharp, especially if there’s only a few centimeters between your smartphone and the plants. Mind you, not every phone has a macro mode, so check the specifications of your smartphone. If not, test what happens when you zoom in or just hold your phone very close: it may surprise you.

2. Choose your background well

Often flowers do not come alone and there is a lot of green around them. Think carefully about how you use it. Taking a picture of a plant next to a person is – unless it’s on purpose – a shame. It is better to choose other flowers in the background. Or, perhaps not highlighting just one flower, but photographing a whole cacophony of flowers, which sometimes also gives a very nice effect. As humans, we like to look at something colorful or very green, so don’t shy away from letting that come out in your flora photo. Lush is fine, and you can also make use of the bright rays of the sun.

3. Go for bokeh or portrait mode

Flowers steal with their beautiful colors and often form the show, but you can put them even more in the spotlight by choosing portrait mode or bokeh when shooting. Tap the flower when you want to take the photo and you will see that your phone focuses on the pistil and/or the leaves, while the background becomes a bit more blurred. This makes your flower stand out even more and you also ensure that the focus and sharpness are also in the flower, so that you can see the details even better.

4. Know what type of flour it is

Most flowers are great fun to photograph solo or in a bunch from above, but there are flowers that are more fun to capture from a different angle. Tulips are a good example of this. Some tulips look great from above (like the yellow one below), but there are also some that really look better from the side. Think carefully about which flower you have in front of you and what the characteristics of that flower are. How would a child draw the flower? Enlarging or at least highlighting such details often results in a beautiful flower photo, unless you want to go very experimental of course.

5. Don’t touch the flowers

It seems to be a big problem at the moment: people who want to take a nice tulip photo and then use their clumsy feet to farm through all kinds of bulb fields. There are growers who make it possible to take pictures between the fields, sometimes for a fee, but it is often worth it. Incidentally, the following also applies: stay away from the flowers. Flowers (like many insects) are not made to be touched. Treat the flowers with respect and let nature be nature. Maybe a flower would have been nicer if it was a bit to the right in the photo, but then it’s up to you as a photographer to be creative with that. The flower can stay where it is. Also very nice for other people who still want to photograph the flower(s): not touching means that more people can enjoy it and that the flower also stays alive longer. Win win.

Tips for taking iris photos, photos of food, plus mountains for winter sports and the northern lights have already appeared in this series. We also discussed how best to take a photo of a concert. Also listen to our podcast about smartphone photography:

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Do you have any great tips for smartphone photography of flowers? Then leave them in the comments.