This week we had our first speaker on the season. Award winning photographer, Molly Hollman, joined us by Zoom from East Kent to talk to us about “Creative Flower and Plant Photography”, which is also the title of Molly’s book. Molly explained that she likes all kinds of photography, but photographing gardens and flowers is what she likes best. She works as a teacher Monday to Thursday, but on Fridays you will often find her with a camera in one of the public gardens near where she lives. Molly is a members of the Historic Houses Association (HHA), which gives her access to more local houses with gardens than the National Trust (at least in England it does). When photographing flowers in a public garden, Molly is careful not to disturb anything. She has more freedom when photographing flowers in her own garden, or in her home studio, and can move things around to get the background she wants. You can see some of Molly’s work in the portfolio on her web site: https://mollyhollman.myportfolio.com/flowers

Molly uses Sony cameras, and has a collection of vintage lenses with focal lengths ranging from 24mm to 600mm. She uses the shorter focal lengths for studio work, and macro lens for photographing insects, but when she is out and about exploring gardens she prefers a long focal length lens to a macro lens. A long lens lets her blur the background but maintain a safe distance from the flower. Besides her cameras and lenses, Molly’s most used pieces of equipment are:

• A diffuser, which can filter sunlight and reduce harsh shadows when taking close-ups.
• A clamp for holding a flower or branch in the wild or in the studio. She recommends the Wimberley Plamp for garden work or a Third Hand Tool for small studio work.

A full list of equipment can be found on Molly’s web site: https://mollyhollman.myportfolio.com/equipment-and-other-resources

Molly gave us some hints on how to compose a flower or plant photo. Don’t crouch over a flower and photograph it from above. You need to get down (or up) to its level. Think of a flower like a face and compose it like a portrait. If it is “looking” in a certain direction, allow more space in that direction. Upright and symmetrical plants will look good when placed in the centre of the frame. The focus point is crucial. Molly uses manual focus so she can place the focus point exactly where she wants it: sometimes on the anthers in the middle of a flower; on a leaf or seed; or even on the edge of a petal. Molly takes flower and plant photos with a wide aperture and small depth of field, which concentrates attention on the subject and keeps the background blurred. However, a narrow aperture works better when photographing an insect on a flower, so the depth of field can cover most of its body. Molly will try different viewpoints to get the best background. But if nature doesn’t provide a good background, she also has a collection of background images made by taking out of focus shots of all kinds of coloured objects (such as a garden fence, a blue T-shirt, a green hedge, a child’s painting, etc…). These images can be printed to make a backdrop, or can be added using Photoshop. Molly has made so many that she sells them on her web site: https://mollyhollman.myportfolio.com/overlays-and-textures-1

Molly prefers to take outdoor photos on a cloudy day when the sun doesn’t cast harsh shadows (and uses her diffuser at other times). Shots taken during the golden hour (near sunrise or sunset) often work best for garden landscapes, especially when shot into the sun with a neutral density (ND) filter. The low sun can work well as a backlight for flower photography, and you can also get some good silhouettes of ferns or bracken during the blue hour.

Molly went on to describe her indoor studio work. She likes to photograph flowers indoors using natural light from a window or conservatory, but will also use a light box which delivers diffuse light from the side and from the top. Flowers can be held in place using “Third Hand” clamps mentioned earlier. Coloured card (or a printed backdrop) can be placed behind and underneath each flower display. A light pad (of the type used for viewing slides and negatives) can be used as a backlight for a display of translucent flowers. Molly prefers to capture good pictures straight out of the camera, but will use Lightroom and Photoshop to crop the images, lift the shadows, improve the contrast, remove noise and dust spots and (if needed) drop in a new coloured background (often blended with the existing background for a more natural look).

Molly finished by introducing her photography course (https://mollyhollman.myportfolio.com/my-online-course) and inviting us to check out her YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@MollyHollmanPhotography/videos). During questions we learned that Molly sometimes enhances the lighting with a reflector but never uses a flash. We also learned that her favourite lens is the one provided by her Sony RX10iii bridge camera, because it is the lightest and most versatile for travelling with. Thank you Molly for a fascinating and insightful talk.

• On Thursday, 24th September we will be trying out some “high contrast photography”. Please bring your camera and check out the video on the single light bulb technique which Derek posted: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdCKXFxjSMv/