photogrpahy | Beautiful Flower Pictures Blog

What Caught Your Eye?

by hankinslawrenceimages | Jun 10, 2016 | Photo Tips

Thanks for the great response to my article about using a tripod. After my newsletter went out last week, I had a few people ask me what sorts of things I think about when I’m taking the time to set up my tripod. One of the main things I think about is what caught my eye? Or another way of looking at it is – why did I stop in this particular spot to take a photo – rather than 3 feet to the left or say 6 feet to the right? Something caught my and made me want to take a photo. While I’m setting up my tripod, I’m figuring out what that is – so I can take the photo I’m seeing in my mind.

Over the years, I’ve realized that there are several things that catch my eye and make me want to stop and take a photo.

Sometimes it’s a single perfect flower

Tour de France Bearded Iris © 2010 Patty Hankins

Other times it’s a combination of flowers

Crested Dwarf Iris & Star Chickweed © 2009 Patty Hankins

Or it could be several of the same flower

Sometimes it’s a single color – like the shades of blue in these blue hydrangeas

Blue Bigleaf Hydrangea Blossoms © 2014 Patty Hankins

Or it could be a combination of colors – like the purple and yellows in the wildflowers

Yellow Trillium & Purple Phacelia © 2009 Patty Hankins

Sometime it’s the details – like the center of a sunflower

Or it can be the whole scene in front of me

Sometime it’s a line

Sunflowers All in a Row © 2011 Patty Hankins

And sometimes it’s just something unexpected

So when you’re out photographing – be sure to take a moment to think about what caught your eye. It will help you create the photos you want to create.

Identifying what caught your eye and deciding how to capture that in your photo is one of the things we talk about in my workshops – including in my July 15-17 Photographing Flowers (Without Swearing at Your Camera) workshop. I’d love to have you join me for the workshop. You can find all the information about the workshop on my website.

Pearly Everlasting – Anaphalis margaritacea

by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 25, 2009 | Flowers, Wildflowers

This past summer while Bill and I were exploring Acadia National Park in Maine, I spotted a wildflower I’d never seen before. It had clusters of tightly packed white and yellow flowers. I had no idea what it was. I eventually discovered that it was Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), a native plant and member of the aster family. Later in the week, I was able to photograph a lovely group of Pearly Everlasting ath the Wild Gardens of Acadia – a great location for learning about the plants and ecosystems at Acadia National Park.

Here are some of my photos of Pearly Everlasting from Acadia National Park.

A view of the entire group of flowers

A little closer in view that gives a great sense of the texture of the unopened flowers.

And finally two side views of the flowers with different depths of field. I’m still trying to decide which of these two photos I like better.

I really enjoyed photographing the Pearly Everlasting at the Wild Gardens of Acadia. Next summer, I’ll definitely look for more Pearly Everlasting, I’d like to photograph some with the flowers fully open.