Beginner Bluebell tips

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Does anyone have any top tips for photographing BlueBells? I've tried for a couple of years an never quite seem to get it right. They always seem off for some reason.

Thanks
 
Does anyone have any top tips for photographing BlueBells? I've tried for a couple of years an never quite seem to get it right. They always seem off for some reason.

Thanks

I can only go by the samples you've provided to try and diagnose the "off" you're experiencing and how to correct it, but I suspect its the camels. They're just not very spring-like and their inclusion somewhat detracts from the overall "English Woodland" aesthetic.

Less camel, more squirrel.
 
Thanks, unfortuatly I'm unable to attach an example as I'm at work.

One of the main issues is the amount of pop or seperation of the blue I get. I shot a couple the other day and I had strong vibrant greens for the surrounding woodland and it seemed to over power the blues a bit. I also tried switching to a smaller aperature for maxium depth of field, seems preferable for the open woodland type of shot as opposed to a single flower which benefits from a blurred background.
 
The trouble with bluebells is that they're small bluey purple dots in a sea of green leaves on the floor. I often find that they don't look half as good in a photo as they did in real life because of this. I find that getting down lower to them and shooting over the top of them all really helps with this, as you get a lot of the blue flowers without all the green leaves that separate the flowers on the floor.
 
First, find your bluebells! We've been visiting a usual haunt where there are loads of them but as yet, they're a little thin on the ground. A few more than last week but not as many as next. Loads of ramsons (wild garlic) too - just about to burst into bloom like the bluebells. They tend to look best as a carpet, so you need plenty of them and get as low as possible to get more flowers/less foliage in the shot. Play with WB, either setting it manually to suit the available light (usually sunlight but could be cloudy) or fiddling in PP if necessary. Isolate a single stem as a close up subject, either against the carpet of blue or against a contrasting background.
 
Combe wood near Honiton nod - tis hotching with the things. (course as site manager I'm biased, but Carl Hall said the same thing after he visited) - its on the road between Honiton and combe raliegh
 
But has it got a lovely stretch of river running all the way along the walk (well, a few metres away, off the path!)?

Weather here is grotty at the moment and fore cast more of the same for tomorrow so I doubt we'll go far! The ones up at Dunsford are just about to explode but by the look of things, they have been held back by being submerged during the winter! It's still pretty soggy in a few places but the paths are pretty good.

One further point for the OP. Back in the days of film, bluebells often looked rather insipid for some reason but at least these days we have the luxury of an instant reshoot if we think it's needed!
 
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