Photographing Spring Flowers in DC

The DC area is “blooming” with photographic possibilities now – there are plenty of opportunities to capture the colors of spring! As the Cherry Blossoms fade, the tulips and other spring flowers begin to put on their show.

Tulip, Burnside Farms, Nokesville, VA

In April, you can photograph tulips at Dumbarton Oaks Garden, the Franciscan Monastery and Hillwood in DC, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Greenspring Gardens in Alexandria, Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna and Burnside Farms in Nokesville (for a fee). There are also tulip beds at the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, near the Capitol, in the Enid Haupt Garden and the Tidal Basin (the Tulip Library).

Virginia Bluebells, Potomac Heritage Trail, Leesburg, VA

Wildflowers such as Virginia Bluebells grow in profusion along the banks of the Potomac Heritage Trail in Riverbend Park in Great Falls (Virginia Side), Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Bull Run Regional Park near Centerville, and Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Azalea, Hillwood Museum & Gardens, Washington, DC

In late April through early May, the Azaleas are in bloom at Hillwood, Dumbarton Oaks Garden and the National Arboretum in DC, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, and Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of where you can find spring blooms to photograph! Visit the websites for the various locations to learn more about what’s in bloom and when.

To take advantage of capturing all of these amazing spring blooms, you can use a variety of lenses:

• Prime and wide angle lenses to capture the overall scene,

• Zoom and telephoto lenses to get in close to flowers that are in an inaccessible part of the garden or to “fill the frame” with a flower,

• Macro lenses will provide an even closer view of the flower, great for capturing veining on petals or interiors of the flower. If you don’t have a Macro lens, try using extension tubes, which sit between the camera and the lens and will change the minimum focus distance so that you can move the lens much closer to the subject and still achieve focus.

• Don’t forget about art lenses like Lensbaby! They have a wide range of lenses that provide unique effects that can be captured right in the camera, instead of adding them in post processing.

A few ideas for capturing that memorable image:

• Look for unique groupings of flowers and interesting angles.

• Use the blooms to frame a location or other blooms.

• “Shoot through” flowers to photograph flowers behind them.

• Use a shallow depth of field (such as an f-stop of 6.3) to create an out of focus background

We would love to see some of your photos from visits in and around the DC area this spring!

Happy Shooting!

Photos by Sherryl Belinsky