Foreground Flowers: An Easy Way to Elevate Travel Photos
Floral framing reminds me of the beauty of the moment, even if the photo itself is average.
I’m no photographer. My brother is a professional one, and I’ve never really tried to compete.
At the same time, I’m obsessed with taking photos. I come back with thousands of them every time I travel.
I cherish almost every photo, because not only do they represent a memory, they’re the closest thing I’ll ever have to experiencing the emotions I felt at the time I took them.
A simple way I’ve found to level up the charm of my landscape photos is by making the most of foreground flowers.
There’s something about sneaking foreground flowers into my shot that sprinkles an extra bit of magic on the image.
Even if it’s a forced perspective, I feel some inner beauty is represented by the colours of a framing bloom.
Or maybe I’m just overthinking it, and it simply looks pretty.
Either way, it pleases me.
My photos are taken on various phones; I’ve rarely used an actual camera.
Which makes it look even more ridiculous when I squat or lay down on the ground to take a flower-framed landscape shot.
I think it’s worth it, though. Foreground flowers pepper my photos with some of the excitement, life and contrast that travel exposes me to.
Or at least I like to think they do.
Even a single flower can bring a scene to life, like this lone bloom I found on the edge of the Sahara.
Up the side can work too. These rooftops in Salerno benefit from some vertical colour.
I remember feeling a bit colourful myself after the vertical climb in the heat to take this photo.
This pretty, red-splodged view out of a window in Pedjama Castle, Slovenia, is a bit skew-whiff, reminding me of a story I’d heard that day.
Apparently, the castle’s lord met a bloody death by cannon fire while sitting on the toilet here.
What a charming way to go!
This one doesn’t technically use flowers, but the colourful leaves of the undergrowth in Ubud, Bali, have a similarly dramatic effect.
Of course, it all comes down to personal preference in the end.
For the small amount of effort it takes, I think shoe-horning flowers into my shots can elevate a photo from mediocre to emotional.
What do you think? Is it worth a shot?
This story was in response to Globetrotter’s Monthly Challenge — Floral Beauty Around the World.
I loved this article by Tiani Travels about some magical places in Montenegro, including one of the prettiest places I’ve been, Perast:
And this story by Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages about Ramadan in Morocco, which was very different to my lockdown-free experience!
