Apple shared an article on how to take great flower photos for people with an iPhone 12 Pro | Pro Max. These models have three cameras: Wide, Ultra Wide, and Telephoto, and can capture photos in Apple’s ProRAW format.
These tips are from Nathan Underwood of Tulipina, one of the world’s leading floral design studios.
Take Great Flower Photos
First, lighting is of utmost importance in photography. Mr. Underwood says to look for diffused natural light and position yourself or your flowers to have the light shine in from the side. Second, neutral backgrounds help make your subject stand out, and avoid brick, stripes, dots, and other distracting patterns.
Next, framing is key. Mr. Underwood says he likes choosing a lens with the closest focal distance. In the iPhone 12 Pro’s case this means the telephoto lens. Place the flowers in the center and evenly fill the frame. Using Portrait Mode is another interesting tool. This really helps your flowers stand out because it blurs the background. This mode is great if you’re shooting flowers outside and your background isn’t ideal.
Photo Edits
Finally, photo editing is personal and each photographer will apply different edits depending on their style. But these edits generally work well for most floral photos:
- Crop the photo as needed so that the flowers are filling the entire frame, making them as “in your face” as possible.
- Small increases in exposure brighten the frame and allow the arrangement to pop, especially on a mobile screen.
- For floral arrangements and other colorful still lifes, bumping the saturation a small amount (less than 10) further pops the colors and allows them to stand out.
- Finally, adjust the warmth of the photo. Generally this means cooling down the image just slightly for an elegant calming effect that’s also still very true true to life.
These edits can be applied within Apple’s Photos app. Tap a photo to view, tap Edit in the upper right corner, then use the dial icon to apply these edits.