May is here. For many, this is the month folks get back into the full swing of flower photography, especially if you live in the northern regions of North America. May is the month where wildflowers begin to make themselves abundant. Yet, getting out to shoot is not always easy. Life has a funny way of detouring our plans and postponing our outings.

One way to keep your eye sharp, your technical skills fresh and your creative mind working is to practice at home. The best way to keep the mind and eye observant is to buy a bouquet of flowers. Any bouquet of flowers; I prefer a small bouquet that can be easily moved around to follow the light coming in my house. I also prefer flowers that are a variety of shapes and colors.

With a controlled situation, you have the ability to really work the subjects. This ability also allows greater creative freedom, giving you the chance to expand into an exploratory mode. There are many simple exercises or challenges you can give yourself to help focus on ideas. One way to get creative and really pay attention to what you are shooting is to work in shallow depths of field. The more shallow the depth of field, the harder it is to make a shot happen. Working at f/2.8 can be challenging because you have to really nail the focal point. The longer the lens, the more critical it is because your wiggle room is that much less. I actually like working at f/3.2 and f/4, I find these apertures allow just enough depth while still blurring backgrounds and foregrounds as needed.

Another way for finding shots is to slowly pan through the flowers while racking your focus back and forth and seeing what comes into play. Some of my favorite shots are discovered this way. Once found, it comes down to working the composition to its strongest point and then making exposure and depth of field decisions. You can't be in a rush. With this technique; the process is slow.

Riding highlights is another way of getting creative. If your flowers have white in them, try riding the highlights to their edge, or try losing all detail in them. It can be fun to see the results. These ideas won't always score a knockout image but will push your creative ideas and show you where the edges of the technical aspects lie. When you go down this road, you begin to open up your brain to new possibilities. Even if some initial forays prove fruitless, you are still taking steps toward opening up the artistic mind.

Another tool that I like to use is the Lensbaby. This unique lens is terrific at creating soft, blurred edge images that can often convey a dreamy feel. Because of its bellows like maneuverability, focus points can change readily which can create a variety of moods. Aperture rings allow you to craft various depth of field effects that change images dramatically.

Lastly, work the lenses in your bag. When shooting flowers, I sometimes add extension tubes to my wide-angle lenses so I can get in close but still create that wide-angle feel. Extension tubes and tele-converters attached to long lenses can get you deep into a subject or allow you to explore the subtle edges of a petal. The possibilities are endless.

The key to all of this is simply doing it. You have to practice. If you want to turn your pictures into artwork, you have to work at it. If you practice now, you'll astound yourself with the discoveries you will come upon in the field. Even the standard classic portraitures will have new life and new excitement because you have opened your eyes to possibilities.

I've said this many times in lectures, workshops and articles - your success lies in the preparation. The more you prepare, the better your chances at success and the better you'll feel, not only as a photographer but also as an artist.

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