Imagine a festival dedicated to roses... During the summer, hundreds of American towns hold faires and festivals dedicated to just about anything and everything. There are bratwurst festivals, Greek festivals, Irish festivals, apple cidar festivals, you name it and there is probably a celebration dedicated to it. In Columbus, Ohio, in June you will find a "rose festival". The Park of Roses is a Columbus Metro Park featuring roses from around the world. There are countless varieties arranged in groupings throughout the gardens. Virtually every color is represented. There are even species named after celebrities (George Burns and Audrey Hepburn were two of the more memorable variants I saw).    My wife has been begging me to visit the Park of Roses for quite some time, so, when she mentioned this past weekend (June 9th and 10th) was the "International Rose Festival" it was impossible to ignore. We grabbed our cameras and tripods, packed plenty of memory cards, and off we went. It was a bright, sunny day and there were few clouds in the sky. I grabbed my trusty Sigma 135-400mm APO DG f/4.5-5.6 lens. I also took a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di lens, polarized filter for the latter, a Pentax 135 f/2.8 telephoto lens (manual focus), and some fully charged back-up batteries.

Please Visit Pentax SLR.com

I saw many photographers at the festival and the thing that stood out in my mind was that aside from my wife and me, there was only one other person there with a tripod. What was also interesting was that the majority of people had digital point and shoot cameras, but, every other person carrying an SLR was armed with a short lens. They might not have realized it when they were walking around taking pictures, but, they really limited themselves to shooting flowers at arm's reach, while most of the best specimen were in the middle of a flowerbed somewhere.

I always look for eye-catching groups of blossoms and I try to pick ones that don't have wilted petals or lots of obvious insect damage. I have mentioned shooting groups as opposed to shooting single flowers in previous articles, but I wanted to emphasize that you should pick your subjects wisely. Having a long lens makes the job much easier. First off, you can shoot distant flowers with no problem and you'll have very shallow depth of field. You can avoid cluttered backgrounds simply by using a 400mm lens like the one I brought with me. I could completely blur the background which really made my subject pop!

  

When you line up your shot, remember to look at the entire frame to make sure that nothing will compete with your subject. You want to pick your flowers wisely and try to avoid heavily damaged petals. When leaves are in clear focus, again, watch out for bug damage and broken tips. Use a wide aperture or a long lens to compress the background unless it enhances your image.

If you MUST shoot a single flower, try to include a bud or interesting foliage around it. The yellow rose above is a nice example. First, it was shot vertically. Second, I positioned the camera to keep the bud and blossom in sharp focus. Third, the leaves are full of fine detail and right in the middle of my depth of field.

The rose on the right is a good example of a single blossom shot properly. I included some foliage to add interest and the background visible above my subject is totally blurred, thanks to shooting at 400mm (on my Pentax digital SLR, this lens would be like shooting a 600mm on one of my 35mm film bodies).

The best advice I can give you is plan carefully and try to anticipate any needed lenses and accessories. It is better to carry more gear than you need than miss the shot of a lifetime because the best lens for the job is at home in your closet. Happy Shooting.