YOUR SPRING GUIDE
Canon photographer Drew Buckley shares his top tips for spring landscape, wildlife and flower photos
After the long slumber of winter, which feels like it goes on forever these days, suddenly there are signs of life that invigorate and inspire us photographers. With the ever-changing climate and milder winters, there’s always a crossover of winter and spring seasons, so depending on which part of the country you are in Spring may come sooner or later than usual. Either way, it’s a fantastic time of year to dust off your camera and lenses and head out to explore what’s on offer and capture as many seasonal images as you can.
Spring is one of those seasons when there’s lots of fascinating subjects on offer, but unlike summer, for instance, we’re not bombarded all at once: we can spread out what we shoot over the months between March to June.
Potential subjects in the world of flowers are the classic snowdrop, crocus and daffodil, before wild garlic and bluebell carpet our woodland floors as the trees start to produce leaves and we head into the warmer months. It’s around then the wildlife kingdom really ramps up too, with insects on the move and many mammals and birds having young, with our coastline becoming packed with migratory seabirds.
In this guide, I’ll share my favourite photography skills during this magical period and how to implement them, so you can get out into the great outdoors with your Canon, and take some really compelling spring photos yourself.
CONTENTS
1 Get that floral feeling 30
2 Top tips for spring landscapes 32
3 Live on the wild side 34
4 Get creative 36
Get that floral feeling
Fill the frame
START off your spring photo sessions by taking 01 photos of flowers in your garden or local parks. Choose a main flower and fill the frame, washing the background with the rest of the plants. Spring is a great time to get photos with bags of colour; increasing temperatures trigger the burst of activity from beneath the ground and buds begin to open. Don’t just think about the subject when you’re composing a shot, be aware of its surroundings. In some instances, you may want to include empty space (known as negative space) to enhance and give the subject some ‘grounding’. With a collection of flowers with an array of shapes and colours on display, forget negative space and get in really
