Shooting Flowers with the Long Lense

There are lots of ways to photograph flowers, and while most photographers like to reach for their macro lense, I have always preferred a longer lens. Telephoto lenses in the range of 200 to 300mm are my personal choice for capturing the quality of image that I like to see from the garden. Just as with my bird photography, I like to control depth of field in my photos, and I think a telephoto lense is by far the best way to achieve what I am after. Telephotos limit depth of field to a very narrow window, and in doing so produce wonderful soft and muted backgrounds. The trick , of course, is to selecting an F stop that is going to keep the primary flower in sharp focus, while eliminating distracting background detail. Experimenting with various combinations of F stop and shutter speed can be fun and instructive. As the Spring flowers begin to bloom, why not give it a try. I think you might just be thrilled with what you come up with. Good Luck.