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September 29th 2016

Tips on taking better photos

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Floret

We recently wrapped up our last workshop of the season. While Floret workshops are focused primarily on growing and designing with seasonal flowers, each event includes a discussion about the importance of good photography and how great photos can help small businesses tell their story.

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For years, we fumbled with our camera and struggled to take pictures that brought out the best in our flowers. It wasn’t until Chris and I took the Eyes Open Creative Photography E-Course that we finally understood how our digital camera actually worked, how we could find the best light, and how to tell our story visually. Good photography has been one of the biggest keys to the success of our business.

Erin Little is the talented photographer who created the e-course and whose photographs are featured throughout this post. She has a great eye for capturing everyday life in creative and compelling ways. The approachable style and flexible format of Erin’s e-course made it possible for me to finally understand all of the photography terms that I previously found so intimidating and confusing. I recommend her course to everyone who attends a Floret on-farm workshop and anyone who is looking to up their game when it comes to taking great photos. No matter what the subject (flowers, family, nature, food), knowing how to get great images is so empowering.

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I asked Erin to share a few quick photography tips with us, along with additional details about her upcoming course.

Erin Little:  Thanks Erin!

When you first hold a DSLR camera in your hands, most people are overwhelmed with the amount of switches, buttons, and information they are facing. The fundamental pyramid of photography (what makes up every perfect photograph) is just three things: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Once you reduce the amount of information down to the essentials, it is easier to dig in deep and master these basic concepts. The course teaches you what these are, what they do and mean, and how you can work with them to get that perfect shot.

Much of photography ends up being intuitive, but a strong grasp of the basic technical components is essential to the ease in which you can let your artistic intuition eventually take over. And how does that happen? Practice. A lot of practice! During this 6-week course, photo challenges accompany each lesson to help you work towards mastering these fundamentals.

erinlittle-3138I designed this course for people like myself, who learn best by seeing, then doing. An overload of information is not helpful, and stripping it all down to what you really need to know in a simplistic way allows for easy learning.

And my final tip:  your camera body is not the most important aspect of your gear. A good entry-level camera body will do for most amateurs, but its the lens that matters. Investing in the best starter lens (a 50mm 1.8f to fit your choice of camera) is a great way to really master all that we go into during these 6-weeks, and is very versatile for many types of photography.

erinlittle-8300The new Eyes Open e-course starts October 3rd, but registrations will be accepted until October 10th. Registration is just $150 for the 6 week course and includes a 132 page downloadable book. Floret readers can take advantage of a $25 discount. Simply enter “eyesopenfall16” when you register.

Erin has graciously offered a free spot in her upcoming class to four lucky readers! To enter to win a free registration in the e-course, simply leave a comment below and let us know what your favorite subject is to photograph.

Deadline for entering is Sunday at 10 a.m. PST.  I’ll pick the four winners and announce them in this space Sunday afternoon. Good luck!

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