What does it take to photograph a flower? Yes, there are the technical elements for sure, but what about those moments of time that happen beforehand? What about the growing season for the flower and the hours the gardener nurtures the bloom? Below you will find a list of many of the elements that went into photographing this beautiful dahlia, including those hidden moments of time before the click of the shutter.

Let’s begin when this photograph was actually was taken, back in the late fall. It was a gift after a distanced garden visit. I was so lucky to be able to take in that back yard wonderland filled with such visual delights! For fun, I list below many of the moments that went into creating this image, some long before the click of the camera shutter.

From Garden to Photo:

• • One white Dahlia blossom, protected and loved into existence during a second pandemic summer
  • One avid gardener that grew the Dahlia flowers, protecting the blossoms against insects using individual silver drawstring gossamer bags to cover each bud
  • One distanced garden visit and tour with friends during an unusually warm late fall afternoon
  • One flower gift carefully sent home with me in a container with water
  • Some gentle afternoon sunlight streaming through the window when I got home
  • One reflector opposite the sunlight (really just a piece of white foam board)
  • One glass of water from the kitchen so the flower didn’t get thirsty
  • One DSLR, my trusty Canon Rebel (gotten on sale years ago), and my old tripod
  • One vintage table on which to set the scene
  • One large piece of black paper to use as a backdrop
  • Time for taking the photo
  • More time for finalizing the image using post-processing software

From garden to photo, the process of photographing this beautiful dahlia took several hours (not including all that went into growing and nurturing the flower itself). By the time I got the bloom home, it was still very fresh and a joy to capture in all its glory.

The making of a photo is a bit like picking a bouquet of flowers. Instead of choosing blossoms, however, you are collecting snippets of time (and maybe a Dahlia blossom too).

If you enjoyed viewing this image, you can see more of my images over in the photography section of this site. Have fun exploring!