Settings for photographing spring flowers

rck

I have a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 and want to experiment with manual settings for outdoor flower shots. I have always used Auto mode or pre-set modes in my camera. Which mode, ISO, and aperture should I use?

I tried setting the mode to Av with an ISO of 100, but my images are coming out totally blurry. Looking forward to your advice.

Moose

Howdy @rck - It's possible there's not enough ambient light. In situations where the sun is low in the horizon or you're under cloudy skies, you might need to use a higher ISO in order to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze subject movement (flowers moving do to wind) and to eliminate any chance of camera shake.

As for settings, start with the following...
1. Aperture priority (Av)
2. Aperture f-number set to f/2.8
3. Enable Auto ISO
4. Set your focus mode to One Shot
5. Enable Continuous shooting (burst)

With these settings in place, pre-focus on the flower by half-pressing the shutter button. Re-frame the shot to get a composition you're happy with and when you;re ready, fully press the shutter and hold it down to fire off a burst of images. The burst will help improve your odds of finding a keeper on windy days.

If you want to get tighter framing, you can attach a macro adapter like the Raynox DCR-250 to help increase the magnification of your flower shots. Hope that helps and happy shooting! :)

Auston

@rck - on top of all Mr. Moose said, try using a monopod or tripod to make sure the camera is solid.