Once you have floral mechanics down, and you’ve gained work experience or enough experience on your own to feel confident in creating floral designs, it might be time to start sharing your work through photos, either to attract clients, or just for friends and family.

Styling flowers for camera is different than styling flowers for real life.

-Be sure to include flowers at different stages. As a general rule, styling flowers for camera will involve older flowers that are more open. You never want all of your flowers in an arrangement to be in bud form. This will create a more dynamic and interesting composition. It also fills more space and has more impact on camera.

-The difference in height and depth on a floral composition need to be exaggerated on camera because even if they look correct in real life, they won’t translate on camera without added height. Typically this looks like adding in some taller stems or longer vines to add this effect for camera.

-Make sure your floral arrangement is the focus point of your photograph. This means that it should look larger than anything else in your photo and should stand out. That can look like keeping props to a minimum or avoiding them all together. Instead, focus on the relationship between your vase, your background, and the flowers.

-Test things on camera and check them, and then adjust accordingly!

-Stiff flowers like sunflowers, gerbera daisies, and lilies are generally not going to give you a soft, ethereal feel in photographs. this is a matter of personal taste and dependent on the brand and feel you are trying to convey.

I hope this helps as you seek to capture your floral work on camera, whether for professional reasons or just for fun!

To learn more about creating floral photos and creating your floral portfolio, sign up for our flower portfolio builder workshop!