22 SPRING PHOTO PROJECTS

Learn how to capture your best-ever spring shots, from flowers, forests and colourful landscapes to close-ups of butterflies, wildlife and birds… with Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Spring has finally sprung – gardens are blooming, flowers are flourishing and birds are singing. But capturing all the beauty this bustling and vibrant season has to offer can prove challenging if you don’t know where to start, or haven’t photographed spring much before.

The inspirational projects in this spring photography masterclass will help you improve all aspects of capturing the new season. I’ll show you how to take better exposures of bright flowers and how to use the correct aperture and focal length for controlling your depth of field; master your macro lens for close-ups of spring insects and wildlife, or use a long telephoto zoom for far-away birds; find out how to take better compositions of blooming landscapes in spring, and the best ways to photograph blankets of bluebells in your local forest. Plus, you’ll learn how to photograph spring sunrise and sunset scenes, including those atmospheric misty morning shots. So let’s turn the page to get started…

PETER TRAVERS

Peter is a Canon professional photographer and content creator with over 18 years of editorial and photographic experience. The former editor of our sister title, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, he now runs Peter Travers Photography from his home studio between Bath and Bristol, and in Boscastle, north Cornwall, where he provides coastal photography workshops. His favoured photographic genres include everything from landscapes, seascapes and wildlife to portraits, property and products. www.petertravers.co.uk Instagram @peter_travers

FOUR TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR FLOWER PHOTOS

Find out the best ways to take close-up photos of spring flora

01 BETTER BACKGROUNDS

A background can make or break your images. Move around with your camera to compose so that your chosen flower has a colourful backdrop that flatters. Shooting at an angle with your flower facing ‘into’ the frame is also more interesting than one placed centrally.

Peter Travers

02 BACKLIT FLOWERS

Shooting towards the sunlight may feel counterintuitive; however, using the sun to backlight your flowers will give them a bright rim to stand out. Compose so that the backdrop is colourful, and don’t point directly at the sun. Boost the shadows of your raw image when editing.

TOP KIT TELEPHOTO ZOOMS FOR FRAMING FLOWERS

No flowers say ‘spring’ more than golden yellow daffodils, and photographing them can be easy with a few key tips. For a start, you don’t need a macro lens to capture daffodils. I’ve used a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM between 250-400mm. Shoot in Aperture Priority (Av/A) mode at f/5.6 to provide a shallow depth of field, but maintain sharp flower heads. Shoot at an angle so the sun lights the flower heads from the side to create more depth with shadows. Take care to position yourself so you can compose with a clean background.

TOP KIT

USE A TRIPOD FOR SHARPER CLOSE-UPS

Use a tripod to ensure sharp close-up shots, as any camera movement is magnified, plus you can focus more accurately when using a macro lens. I use the Manfrotto 190 Go! carbon-fibre tripod, which has a 90º column mechanism and versatile legs that can be angled so I can shoot lower to the ground.