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WILDFLOWERS DON'T SELL, DO THEY?
by John Gerlach
Wildflowers are a great source of stock photos that sell, if they are done right.
 This question kept coming up during the series of seminars Barbara and I taught on the west coast in early 1993. At first this question threw me off balance because I couldn't figure out why good photos of wildflowers wouldn't sell. Indeed, of all the things we photograph, wildflower photos rank consistently among our best selling subjects.
As we presented one seminar after another and the question kept coming up, the real answer to this question dawned on me. I realized that I had been giving the diplomatic answer to why people have a hard time selling wildflower photos instead of the real answer. So during my last few seminars on the west coast, I gave my audience a choice of hearing the diplomatic answer or the real answer. Of course, everyone wanted to hear the real answer, but some wanted to hear the diplomatic answer for comparison so I would give the diplomatic answer first and then the real answer.
Let's start with the diplomatic answer which is designed to please everyone. Wildflowers are natural subjects for the camera because they are so beautiful. Since they don't run away from photographers, everyone can stalk them successfully. The reason they are hard to sell is because everyone has thousands of wildflower photos in their files so the market is overflowing with great wildflower photos to pick from. After all, what are the odds that your photo will be selected with all the competition? Therefore, there is simply too much competition to permit much of a chance of selling many wildflower photos.
Now let's look at the real answer. There are millions of wildflower photos around because everyone can walk up to them, point their camera and go click. But, very few people really photograph wildflowers well. Contrary to popular opinion, wildflowers are not easy to photograph. Far too many people photograph them hand-held in bright sun with short lenses. And the flower is three days past it's prime so it wilting away. For an example of this type of photo (in case you don't have any in your file), just look at the Audubon wildflower guides that use photos. Although some good photos are in the book, most of the photos are mediocre at best. In all fairness to the guides however, these books were done quite a few years ago. There are a lot more good photographers now than several years ago and the equipment and skill level of the average photographer has improved considerably. Also, a guide book needs photos of many species of wildflowers whether they are inherently photogenic or not. How many chickweed flowers photos do you have? You see my point! Many less showy flowers are only photographed by a botanist and was meant to be nothing more than a record shot and certainly not a work of art.
Still, even serious photographers often don't photograph wildflowers well. Many mistakes seem to come up over and over so I have compiled a list of the 10 most common mistakes I find.
1. The wildflower is a poor specimen. Flowers that have been chewed by bugs, injured by frost, covered by road dust, or whitewashed with bird dew don't work.
2. The wildflower isn't in peak condition. Many flowers like squirrel corn and dutchman's breeches only look good for a day or two before they start to wilt or bugs get to them. Other flowers may look good for several days.
3. The light is bad. Bright sunshine creates very contrasty light leading to burned out highlights and blocked shadows. Slide film accentuates this problem. Generally, softer light works better on flowers. In the desert where bright sun is the rule, diffusion cloths and reflectors are almost always necessary to create wonderful photogenic light on the flower.
4. Distracting backgrounds caused by using short focal length lenses is a universal problem. Using lenses in the 200mm focal length with its narrow angle of view and careful use of depth of field will minimize this problem.
5. Too many flowers are bull-eyed in the frame. Dead center compositions usually don't work well. Keep the flower out of the center and work with the flow.
6. The flower should be sharp. Wind is a real and almost constant problem. Shoot only when the flower isn't moving. It you want to take blurry flower photos, then really make them blurry by using slow shutter speeds and fire when the wind is blowing the flower around greatly.
7. Look for flowers that have something extra. For example, a skunk cabbage with its' mirror reflection would be an extra touch that would make an ordinary photo special. Natural raindrops or dew on flowers also provides that special touch. A bright yellow crab spider perched on a blue flag iris is another example.
8. Look for flowers growing in neat situations. One example in my file that come to mind is a shot of a Canada goldenrod growing up in a solid carpet of purple-stemmed asters. The yellow flowers of the goldenrod are particularly striking when surrounded by lavender asters.
9. Occasionally you can photograph flowers with butterflies perched on them. That is always a nice bonus.
10. Photograph flowers like you really love them. Barbara likes them better than I do so its not surprising she photographs them better than I do. She also smells them while I never do. Perhaps that's the difference. She knows them better than I do!
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