Nick Senior dahlia with a dark leaf on the side.  Red and gold dahlia.  Taken by Spokane photographer Alan Tower  www.alantowerphoto.com

This is a fairly traditional shot of ‘Nick Senior’ a lovely Dahlia.

It really pays off to take multiple angles/multiple shots on each subject.  The use of multiple angles is a great way to assure you’ll find the shot that interests you and your audience the most.  Each of the shots here was taken of the same bloom.  It was so pretty I could not bear to cut it, but had I done so I could have gotten many more angles and taken the theme further.  However, this will convey the principle.  A snapshot is a single picture from an expected viewpoint, just documentation that you were there.  A photograph will explore the subject and that requires some different viewing angles.

Dahlia Nick Senior detail of bloom.  Taken by Spokane photographer Alan Tower www.alantowerphoto.com

Here we see a detail of the bloom, with the yellow brought to attention by being in sharp focus.

When photographing people, it is more than angle and light, expression counts for everything.  However, with a flower, you simply work with the depth of field, the style, the angle, the light, and so on to get the effect you desire.  In the shots on the right, I zoom way in and get just a piece.  In one, I get it sharp, but limit the depth of field. I want the yellow to stand out not only as a color, bur also due to focus.  The other shot is intentionally soft and painterly.  I used the oil brush filter for the main effect, though that image was processed quite a bit.

Finally, I fill the frame with the whole flower, but take the image from a different angle that is more directly into the center of the bloom.  By coming in tight, the large size of this bloom is hinted since it “won’t fit in the frame”.

Close  up of a portion of a bloom of Nick Senior.  Taken by Spokane Photographer Alan Tower www.alantowerphoot.com

A stylized photo with oil brush markings and soft focus. Just the curves are the point of this composition. The flow of the flower.

Dahlia Nick Senior taken by Spokane Photographer Alan Tower www.alantowerphoto.com

Here I use an angle more directly into the bloom. This is a more traditional flower shot and it implies the large size by having the bloom not quite fit in the frame.

So whether you take  a photo of a person, a flower, a car…whatever subject, take multiple angles and consider multiple styles.  That way, you’ll create a study of the subject and have great fun.  A cool project would be to take 50 shots of one bloom and find ways to explore the composition even further.