5 Reasons You Should Be Excited for Spring As a Photographer
Spring is probably the easiest season to get excited about as a photographer. After months of red noses, freezing fingers and a full-blown test of your smartphone’s waterproof capabilities, we’re all looking forward to something a little bit more sunny!
But that’s not the only reason you should be excited for spring. If you want your next Facebook photo book to be your best yet, spring offers a whole load of opportunities that you simply don’t get during the winter. With the sun shining and the flowers blooming, this is your time to take advantage of a rejuvenated world and take some photographs that really show off your skills.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to take off the raincoat, throw the woollen hat in the closet, and begin taking advantage. Here are 5 reasons you should get excited about spring in 2024.
Dusting off the Picnic Basket
If you fancy going on a springtime hike through Watkins Glen State Park or over the mountains of Haleakala, then you might want to bring a picnic basket with you. We’ve all seen those picturesque spring picnic shots, with blankets lined with bread, cheese, grapes, and cold cuts.
Picnics are a great way to spend a family day out anyway, let alone the photographs that you can come away with. With the right composition and the perfect weather, you can celebrate spring with some warm, nostalgic images that demonstrate exactly why the season is so special.
Pink and Blue
Nothing screams ‘SPRING!’ more than freshly bloomed cherry blossoms. With a sharp blue sky in the background and a forest of pink blossoms in the foreground, this is your chance to capture some beautiful, natural images that will light up any photo book. With cherry blossoms hitting their peak in the early weeks of the season, we’d recommend heading to your chosen location as soon as possible. Top places where you can see cherry blossoms include:
- Potomac River, Washington D.C.
- St Louis, Missouri
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Dallas, Texas
- San Francisco, California
A Vacation Photo Book
What’s another reason we all love spring? Vacations, of course! To avoid the summer rushes – and prices! – more and more Americans are choosing to take their vacations in the spring, with popular destinations in 2023 including Greece, Morocco, Corfu, and Jamaica.
When it comes to uploading photos to our photo book maker, you can’t go far wrong with vacation photographs. These are great opportunities to add a different flavour to your portfolio, while also getting the chance to explore new cultures, locations, and try out some exciting activities. Just make sure springtime is just as beautiful where you're going as it is in the US!
April Showers, May Flowers
There’s an old saying: April showers bring May flowers. During the spring, this couldn’t be more true, especially as we begin the merger between spring and summer when showers tend to be more common. This is the perfect time to test out your photography skills by experimenting with reflection photography — perhaps with puddles reflecting blooming daffodils or hyacinths – or trying to get some shots where the rainwater glistens with the springtime sun.
If you have children, this could also be a good opportunity to take some outdoor portrait shots. All you have to do is get them dressed up in their nicest raincoat, play with them out in the yard, and take some pictures while you’re doing it. Once again, if you compose them right – perhaps with a fast exposure or polarising filter – then you can snap some real beauties to add to your collection.
A Chance for a Challenge
Speaking of blooming daffodils, we’d challenge you to photograph them a bit differently this year. Some of the most popular foliage photographs on Facebook and Instagram are up-close pictures, where the flowers take up the majority of the frame. This is a great way to really get creative with colour, using the right aperture – around f/8 to f/16 – to highlight intricate patterns in the petals and show off their beauty.
Of course, other aspects of photography should be considered if you’re going to attempt this -- sadly, it’s not as easy as approaching a flower and sticking your camera lens up against it! Macro photography involves stabilising your camera, finding the right lighting, and choosing a solid editing app to touch up your photographs once you’re done -- thankfully, iPhone now has a macro control setting, so this can work to really help Apple users. Once you do all of this, however, you'll be right on track to take full advantage of springtime, in the way only a true photographer can!
