How I Made “Sunflowers!”

It’s the height of flower season here in Portland, Oregon where I live. I don’t normally photograph a lot of flowers. After working in photo labs for 25 years I saw enough photos of flower and cat to last a lifetime or two.

I had been trying to photograph both of these flowers outdoors with no success due to the light being too harsh this time of year. I saw these in a vase in a bakery and loved the arrangement. I moved them closer to a window where the diffused window light and brown wall in the background were perfect. Following the rule of thirds I placed the Sunflower in the upper left and zoomed in until the flowers filled the frame.

I choose an aperture of f/4 at the equivalent of 100mm in order to keep the flowers in focus and throw the background slightly out of focus.