How to best photograph tulips: Yesterday I was in Holand, MI and tried taking photos of tulips growing in planted areas around town. The weather was a little windy which made cause...

wmpark

Yesterday I was in Holand, MI and tried taking photos of tulips growing in planted areas around town. The weather was a little windy which made cause obvious problems. Trying higher speeds resulted in lack of depth of field. Is there any way around this, even in post processing, which would allow taking a good photo when the winds do not calm down.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

wmpark wrote:

Yesterday I was in Holand, MI and tried taking photos of tulips growing in planted areas around town. The weather was a little windy which made cause obvious problems. Trying higher speeds resulted in lack of depth of field. Is there any way around this, even in post processing, which would allow taking a good photo when the winds do not calm down.

Try increasing your ISO to allow for fast shutter speeds while using a smaller aperture.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Here's an idea for a photo if you go back to the tulip fields: Place your camera on the ground on one of the paths between the flowers, so that it is lower than the flower heads. Then take a photo (or several :-) ) straight down that path.
(A lot easier to do if your camera has an articulated LCD).

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

What was the highest ISO you attempted? If conditions were extreme enough that you felt you were getting poor quality images from high ISO noise, one alternative would be to compose specifically for shallow depth of field.

An example would be isolating one perfect tulip to fill the frame or focus on a close one and let the background be blurry. From a quick Google search, here is what I mean:

https://www.longfield-gardens.com/article/All-About-Tulips
Look at the photo next to the paragraph titled "Step 2 - Plan."

-

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Sounds like you are letting the aperture float instead of the ISO. What camera are you using?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

wmpark wrote:

Yesterday I was in Holand, MI and tried taking photos of tulips growing in planted areas around town. The weather was a little windy which made cause obvious problems. Trying higher speeds resulted in lack of depth of field. Is there any way around this, even in post processing, which would allow taking a good photo when the winds do not calm down.

Depending on composition needs, use a flash. With the proper technique, you can reduce the effect of ambient light, even to the extent of darkening the background.

Ltgk20 Loc: Salisbury, NC

I often shoot tulips with a 135f2.8 at f4.5 to 6.3 without issue. Typically I'm more concerned with too much behind the flowers being to sharp than I am I little out of focus towards the back of the flower.

As an aside, the Sony 135f2.8 STF is a nearly perfect flower lens.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

wmpark wrote:

Yesterday I was in Holand, MI and tried taking photos of tulips growing in planted areas around town. The weather was a little windy which made cause obvious problems. Trying higher speeds resulted in lack of depth of field. Is there any way around this, even in post processing, which would allow taking a good photo when the winds do not calm down.

Close up work with a flash with high speed sync. But, regular flash should stop the action as the flash duration is much shorter than the fastest flash sync. on most camera's. You are right though, trying to get the depth of field correct on a close up of a moving object can be a challenge.

wmpark

Thanks for all the replies. Perhaps I should have been more specific in explaining my question. My objective is to capture a large area of tulips extending a long distance from the camera with great depth of field and the tulips in the foreground very sharp and those farther away gradually being less sharp. In windy conditions this seems to be a problem for me. I wish I had the chance to wait for the wind to die down but that did not seem to be happening at the time I was there.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

wmpark wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. Perhaps I should have been more specific in explaining my question. My objective is to capture a large area of tulips extending a long distance from the camera with great depth of field and the tulips in the foreground very sharp and those farther away gradually being less sharp. In windy conditions this seems to be a problem for me. I wish I had the chance to wait for the wind to die down but that did not seem to be happening at the time I was there.

A TS lens works wonders for such a problem but generally too expensive for most of us to purchase.
The higher ISO and faster shutter as mentioned before seems to be the best option for the circumstances you describe.
Also you will notice wind varies and if you time your shot right you can catch it during the intermittent calms that occur.
But the ISO thing is likely the best.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

wmpark wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. Perhaps I should have been more specific in explaining my question. My objective is to capture a large area of tulips extending a long distance from the camera with great depth of field and the tulips in the foreground very sharp and those farther away gradually being less sharp. In windy conditions this seems to be a problem for me. I wish I had the chance to wait for the wind to die down but that did not seem to be happening at the time I was there.

A couple of us asked you earlier about your ISO. You mentioned increasing the shutter speed but have not yet discussed what you set for ISO and whether you tried increasing it, and if you did, how high did you go?

BFS Loc: Queen City, MO

Think through what you are wanting in your photo...

You want great Depth of Field..So you need a smaller aperture to get that results...Check

Now you need to freeze the movement in the flowers. To get that you need a fast shutter speed...Check

Now you will have to set the ISO for the right exposure.

Depending on how high the ISO needs are will determine the amount of noise you have. But I see depth of field and shutter speed needing to be your set points.

Think about what you want in your photos then make your camera setting accordingly.

Hope this helps

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

All of the above comments are simply repeating what you already know. Fact is, if the wind is blowing too hard to enable you to obtain a satisfactory balance between aperture and shutter speed, you will not get a sharp, photo with front to back depth of field. You cannot change the laws of physics. If your shutter speed is too slow to freeze the moving subjects and you cannot open up the aperture to raise the SS due to depth of field limitations, you have two choices - come back another day or try to get an "artsy" shot where some of the tulips are blurred due to subject movement. I can understand your desire for "the shot", but if you cannot get it due to circumstances beyond your control, be able to adapt to what nature gives you. I always carry a Plamp in my bag so if I run into a situations where a plant is not cooperating, I have a shot at shooting an isolated flower closeup.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Rick from NY wrote:

...If your shutter speed is too slow to freeze the moving subjects and you cannot open up the aperture to raise the SS due to depth of field limitations, you have two choices ...

Does your digital camera not have an ISO adjustment option? We still don't know what ISO setting the OP attempted. Let's say shutter speed 1/1000 sec and aperture f/16...Would I be going out on a limb to suggest that ISO wouldn't exceed 800... unless was middle of the night

To the OP: you wrote, Is there any way around this, even in post processing... Answer is yes - there are good editors for noise reduction should your ISO have to be bumped beyond "acceptable."

Geegee Loc: Peterborough, Ont.

Just buy some tulips and take them home. No wind on the dining room table.