The Flower, Nature Macro and Garden Photography Thread! (Caroline Jensen)

[CarolineJensen]

Do you love to shoot flowers and garden visitors like birds, bees and butterflies? This is your thread! Whether you like to get in close with macro or step back and capture all the beauty, this is your spot to share! 

My name is Caroline Jensen, Sony Artisan and passionate garden photographer. I love to shoot all the garden things, both in-situ and indoors in the studio (floral arrangements). My hope is that your will share your images in this thread and also ask questions! I shoot macro dead leaves in -20F winter as well as flower farm for more subjects in summer. If you have a problem or a question, I most likely have the answer...or at least I can help you learn from my mistakes. 🙂 

...and because a thread is sad without pictures, here are a few of my recent garden arrangements and images:

 

[drtomayiacolvin]

Caroline, thank you for sharing your beautiful and breathtaking images! 

I'm such an admirer of your work. 

[CarolineJensen]

Caroline, thank you for sharing your beautiful and breathtaking images! 

I'm such an admirer of your work. 

Hi! Thank you! 

[Guest previous-member]

Beautiful work, as always! Excited to watch this thread grow!

[CarolineJensen]

Beautiful work, as always! Excited to watch this thread grow!

Me too! I'm excited to have this space! 

[alpha-michaela]

Always so inspired by your work, Caroline, thank you for sharing! Looking forward to learning more about your art and technique on here!

[monicasigmon]

Beautiful work, as always! Excited to watch this thread grow!

[jcoahgne]

Your work and style is amazing, i started following you everywhere...😍😲

[CarolineJensen]

Always so inspired by your work, Caroline, thank you for sharing! Looking forward to learning more about your art and technique on here!

Thank you so much, Michaela! 

[CarolineJensen]

Your work and style is amazing, i started following you everywhere...😍😲

Aw! Thank you! 

[bmcdonough]

Hi Caroline, I love your work!! 

I was wondering what tips you had for photographing butterflies macro? I struggle to even get near them enough for macro work. I'd love any tips! And for fun, I've attached a few of my butterfly images 😊🦋

 

[CarolineJensen]

Caroline, thank you for sharing your beautiful and breathtaking images! 

I'm such an admirer of your work. 

Thank you so much! 

[BrianHoward]

Your work is amazing. So fantastic. Glad you are on this page. Are you doing those flowers with a studio backdrop or are you editing out the background in post-production.

Very inspiring work!

 

[CarolineJensen]

Hi Caroline, I love your work!! 

I was wondering what tips you had for photographing butterflies macro? I struggle to even get near them enough for macro work. I'd love any tips! And for fun, I've attached a few of my butterfly images 😊🦋

 

Butterflies are genuinely hard! The thing that helps me the most is the shooting early in the morning. They often have a bit of dew on their wings and it takes them a bit to get going. That helps make it much easier to capture them! 

My second tip is to look for flowers that have either a flat top surface or are stick like---things like zinnias or liatris. The reason I like flat top flowers and spikey flowers is that they tend to sit on them in a way that makes them easier to capture. I have more trouble with flowers that fan out in all directions, which means I end up getting a wonky angle on the butterfly. 

[CarolineJensen]

Your work is amazing. So fantastic. Glad you are on this page. Are you doing those flowers with a studio backdrop or are you editing out the background in post-production.

Very inspiring work!

 

Hi! I have a small studio with a dark grey wall. I used Dutch Boy paint in the color Iron Chains to paint the way. It is dark, but not too dark. Black would be a black hole, but a deep gray lets me lighten it with my lights or darken it by keeping the light off of it. 

[CarolineJensen]

Hi Caroline, I love your work!! 

I was wondering what tips you had for photographing butterflies macro? I struggle to even get near them enough for macro work. I'd love any tips! And for fun, I've attached a few of my butterfly images 😊🦋

 

...and these are wonderful, Brooke!  The second one is a great example of a 'table top' flower. I love those kinds of flowers because the butterfly sits in a predictable way! 

[bmcdonough]

...and these are wonderful, Brooke!  The second one is a great example of a 'table top' flower. I love those kinds of flowers because the butterfly sits in a predictable way! 

Oh these are great tips - thank you so much! I"m going to give this a go - I'll report back on how it turns out! 

[Educopilot]

Beautiful images! Great work @CarolineJensen !

[-AJB-]

Fab images!

[-AJB-]

And a couple of my images. Novice photographer here.

[CarolineJensen]

And a couple of my images. Novice photographer here.

Aw! Wonderful! Thank you for sharing! 

[DonSmith]

Beautiful work Caroline! Have you tried focus stacking with the a7RV? It's AWESOME!

[apurcell]

Beautiful photos. I am finally getting around to setting up custom menus for my a7riii. Ive got a separate settings for wildlife and astro and wanted to set up one for macro. What settings would you recommend?

I was thinking aperture priority, steady shot on, and leaving ISO on auto. What focus area would you select? Is there anything else you would recommend? Thanks

[Joey-Austin]

Awesome pictures, it looks like a painting, I like your editing style as well  

[CarolineJensen]

And a couple of my images. Novice photographer here.

Gorgeous colors!!