Photographing bluebells is something we hope to cover in our next couple of intermediate photography courses as the peak season for these amazing flowers is upon us and the woods around Birtle are full of them.
We include these in our intermediate photography courses as the light can be a little demanding under the canopy of the trees.
If you are going to have a go at photographing bluebells yourself here are a few tips to make it successful.
Head for where there are beech trees as this gives tall straight trees and not much undergrowth or offshoots and branches at low level.
If the woods have an open aspect to east or west, all the better, so you can shoot towards a not too strong sun. If you can get shelter from the wind this will help a huge amount and watch the weather forecast as photographing bluebells in the wind is very difficult indeed.
Find a place where you can set up comfortably without straying off the path and trampling flowers that may only just be stirring under the soil.
You need to plan for light that demands low ISO and a narrow aperture and long shutter speeds so a tripod is essential and a remote release is a good idea as well.
In terms of settings if you are looking for a blurred effect the ISO setting is not so important but for sharp images ISO 100 in raw capture will give you the quality you are looking for.
A narrow depth of field (around f/22) with shutter adjusted accordingly will provide real depth and then focus on a point such as a tree.
Your choice of lens will be determined by how rich the bluebell field is. Ideally you will be able to get low and wide but if the flowers are a bit thin you might need to get higher to compress the perspective with a long lens.
If the setting depends on side lighting, then a polarising filter will help with glare and give colours an extra lift.
The leaf canopy will obviously give a green cast so work on your white balance. Setting to AUTO may be enough but a custom setting to counteract the green hue may be required to produce the vivid blue you are looking for.
Finally, it’s May, so it’s going to be pretty damp underfoot so pack your kneeling mat or a strong plastic sheet!
For more details on our intermediate photography courses where we cover more challenging conditions and cover topics such as white balance in more depth please check out forthcoming courses dates.
