Nothing says summer quite sunflowers.  The image of a sunflower reminds me of long warm days, the smell of cocoa butter suntan lotion, and ice cold lemonade.  As a photographer, sunflowers are great to shoot. 

In infrared they are even better

I do love the way they look.  Here’s a Super Color sunflower.

Here’s one making the most of the Lensbaby Velvet 85.   The narrow depth of field and softness really work well.  

If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll remember I did a piece a couple of years ago on sunflowers. 

This year I have a new reason to be excited about sunflowers . . . Hyper Color is here. 

Hyper Color is so different from the other types of Infrared that I had to see what I could make.   

I wasn’t disappointed.

This is probably one of my favorites from shooting that day.

This was made with a Canon 6D, converted to Hyper Color, and the Lensbaby Velvet85 at f8.0 1/2000 sec.  The camera was set to shoot 7 bracketed images, each a 1/4 stop apart.  The next time someone asks me why I always shoot bracketed, I’ll show them this image.

The intense color pallet of Hyper color just makes everything pop.

And once again pairing it with the Lensbaby Velvet85 is the perfect combination.  

Now, if you are thinking about shooting sunflowers for the first time, let me share a couple of things with you.

• Go in the morning.  The light is pure and the flowers are very alive, and there are lots of insects to add to the images.

• Bees like sunflowers, ….. but they aren’t crazy about you getting in their way.  Keep that in mind.
• Pack light on the gear.  I shot 99.9% of the time with the Velvet85, and then used a fisheye just a couple of other times.  
• Consider bug spray.  Remember the bees?  
• Bring water, wear sunscreen, and keep track of time.  You will be amazed at how fast an hour can go once you get started.  

And Finally, 

• Try different things.  Most people only shoot the big open sunflowers.  I love the look sunflowers before they open.  They can even look a little sinister.

If you want to learn more about the lensbaby lenses, check out my reviews on our blog here and here   

Then if you want one, click here.