Bluebells, how to photograph them and some macro work

Some of the most difficult flowers to photography in the UK are the blue bells that have just been out. Here in the Chiltern’s they fill the beech woods with their sent and colour and look like vast carpets of blue. Why then are they so difficult to photograph? I believe that this is due to their colour and the light which it appears is hard for a camera to capture properly.

So here are my tips for getting better pictures of Blue Bells:

• Only photograph them in the early morning or early evening
• They also come out well in the rain as the light works well then
• Use a tripod as the woods tend to be dark
• Try to use natural light and not flash
• If you have a manual camera setting try underexposing by 1.5 stops
• Try to avoid areas where you have pools of light coming through the trees
• Also try a low camera position

Hope you enjoying trying your hand at photographing these next year and here are a couple of close ups of salmon flys which I have been asked to take they about 2 cms long and shot in a light tent with diffused flash.

Here are some that where taken last month:

Now all I have to do is find something better than blue tack to stand them on!!

Until my next post enjoy the weather

Jonathan