Florists, here are 12 photography tips for your floral design arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres, and other floral work. You know which part should be highlighted and which is seemingly okay or hidden. After all, you took the time to create floral recipes using a floral software recipe tool, creating beautiful designs. Hiring a photographer might work, but you may encounter budget limitations and undesirable results once in a while. The good thing in our digital age nowadays is that you can be your photographer in simple, learnable ways by using a professional camera or your latest phone. See our founder in action during her florist days taking videos with her iPhone.
My fellow florists, designers, planners, and all vendors in the wedding industry, I highly recommend starting to do it yourself when taking pictures of your creations. After working hard on designing the flowers, you want to capture your work to show your future client. Make time to learn some of these tips and allow yourself to learn a new, simple skill. Aside from saving you some bucks, the output you will achieve is guaranteed to be aligned with your preferences.
Tip Number 1 – Use natural light to take photographs of your floral design.
Go outdoors! You can always use the sun as natural lighting. Since you cannot always rely on professional lighting when taking pictures by yourself, taking advantage of the natural light from the sun is a good move. Always target shooting in either of the best hours of the day for good lighting: a few hours after sunrise and a few hours before sunset. Avoid shooting at noon when the sun is directly shining unless you have windows or other props to help you filter the hard light coming in.
Bouquet and corsage photographed in natural morning light away from the sunlight.
Tip Number 2- Ensure your camera lens is clean and ready for florist photography.
Whether you use a camera or your mobile phone when taking pictures, always keep in mind to clean the lenses before shooting. There are tons of available cleaning aids in the market for you. However, if you are not interested in buying, use a microfiber cloth to wipe lenses before shooting. Terry and cotton are other fabric options, too, for cleaning lenses. Avoid using tissue paper of any kind.
Tip Number 3- Indoor setting for florist photography during cold winter days to protect floral arrangements is a must.
We, amateurs, don’t know how to use sunlight while photographing our work. Try shooting your creations indoors if it’s hard to find good lighting outside. As mentioned a while ago, learning to spot good lighting with the help of windows, curtains, and other props to filter the light coming in from the outside is an advantage. You can also use minimal lighting with the help of lamps. Indoor photography is great during winter months.
Flower bouquets photographed indoors using morning light.
Tip Number 4 – Schedule a specific time to photograph is my best suggestion for you as a florist in the event industry for the last 12 years.
After working hard on designing the flowers, schedule a specific time for you to photograph your beautiful floral work. It could be at night after all your design work is done or early the next day before delivery, or the day of the event. I like to take pictures at six in the morning, using the light and airy vibe from the sunrise, done in a shaded area. @Everlasting Weddings By Grace
Shooting pictures of my beautiful floral work outside.
Tip Number 5 – My florist friend, before Photographing your floral work, you will need to take out the floral design arrangement before photographing them.
If you are taking items from refrigeration, allow time for your beautiful floral work to reduce condensation. For some floral work with glass, wait for the glass to neutralize the temperature and clear up to avoid capturing lots of moisture that might ruin the overall aesthetics of your beautiful floral work.
Tip Number 6 – Floral design work needs to be propped up before photographing and capturing the best angle!
Start investing in simple but helpful props for your product photography. It may seem trivial, but a few outdoor props such as large logs slices, tree stumps, a bluestone, and a piece of wood that you colored or varnished to withhold weather is helpful. You may also collect some flat and interesting rocks you can use for flat-lay-themed shoots. A nice wall or old doors could also be a good background. All of these elements, when added together with your beautiful creations, will surely improve the overall aesthetics of your picture.
Tip Number 7 – Improvise materials.
Sometimes, the best angle requires a little support when capturing our creations. One good example is boutonnieres. The suggested angle should be similar to when worn to capture the best image of the boutonnieres. However, if you do not have someone you can pin this on to take photography, you can improvise on making a stand/tripod. Make a tripod using a pin to hold the boutonniere upright so you can photograph the angle you desire. A sample is shown in the picture below.
Tip Number 8 – Ask photographers to photograph your floral design arrangements.
You can contact photographers who are new to the industry or those just looking to collaborate and ask them to collaborate. It could be for free or with a little fee, depending on your negotiation. Most creatives entering the field will agree with this as they want to build their portfolio. @ Jessah Rose and @craig T. Adderley
Tip Number 9 – Shoot videos too
Take videos in short clips. Remember to shoot reels vertically for Instagram and horizontally for Facebook. The usual duration could be 5 to 15 seconds. With that, you can collect more videos and edit them as one to produce a longer video. This could be done for tutorials, practical tips, a montage of your finished work, or a product promotion.
Tip Number 10 – Repurpose videos.
Since most videos will be combined to produce longer ones, the shorter clips can be repurposed as content on Instagram. The story must be less than 15 seconds, so it could fall under the set duration of Instagram Stories for videos.
TAG ON THE IG POST OF THE VIDEO FROM TCP IG.
Tip Number 11 – Use video transitions.
Since the online world is now saturated with many videos to capture the users’ attention, being creative in your editing and presentation style is a must. There are lots of tutorials available online for you to learn. One example is the famous use of video transitions. For example, when capturing finished products such as boutonnieres, zoom in on a flower and zoom out on a different flower. Simple hand movements yet effective in showcasing a variety of your work. It also keeps viewers engaged, as showing the diversification of your work is important. Be sure to take photos of the floral work you created as content to build your portfolio and showcase it to your future clients.
After you have taken all the photos and done the hard work of selecting photos, remember to load it all on True Client Pro’s Gallery/Image library, which allows you to store your photos, interact with them as inspiration photos on the vision board on project, proposals, floral recipes and much more. I value professional photography at any given time; see the example of the same item photographed. My event florist, do what you are good at creating that beautiful floral installation for your clients.
Tip Number 12 – Create a Portfolio
Create a beautiful slide show and play it on TV/computer during an in-person consultation.
BOOK A DEMO to learn more about creating a floral arrangement with floral recipes worthy of photographing and building your portfolio.
