Photographing Flora

Flowers are an ideal and rewarding subject for photographers. It’s understandable and there are many reasons for it: they are photogenic at the first sight, interesting, colorful, variable and you can find them pretty much everywhere. And what’s more, flowers don’t run or turn away and unless it is really windy, they cooperate during the shoot! Simply, flowers are models that enjoy to pose! Everybody (and with any camera in the hands) takes a photo of flowers or a leaf from time to time. It is simply irresistible.

In this course, we will not only take pictures of flowers, but we will photograph flora in general and if you enjoy doing that, this course is just for you! You will learn how to use natural light to your best advantage, to create good light conditions for photographing flowers outdoor or indoor, understand the composition (including few composition rules and also when and how to break them!), how to use your current photo equipment to the maximum and how to work with the background (natural or home-made) or how to photograph contrast on white or black… and a lot of more! We will show you many interesting techniques and motivate you to photograph flora whether you are a beginner or an advanced photographer. Many tricks to make your shots stand out from the average are included too!

---

How it works:

Class materials/lessons
Course starts on Friday – your first lesson will be opened (and so on – four lessons in four weeks). Lesson materials are super valuable with great content – full of interesting theory and practical photo examples. Each week you will receive one fun and innovative lesson that you can download, four lessons in total. At the end of each lesson you will also find your enjoyable and challenging assignment. You will have 10 days to complete your assignment (until next Sunday). After you have completed your work, you will upload your photos for feedback.

Valuable critiques
Your instructors are passionate about  flora and will offer extremely honest to the point critiques of your work – we’re all adults here and we’ll save the “sugar coating” for the dessert cookies. Feedback is a gift! You also have the ability to see the other students images and view their critiques from the instructor as well each week.

Q&A Forum
This forum is available for all your photographic discussions. Here is where you can ask all questions and get answers! Here you can interact with our instructors and fellow photographers. Join our photo community and meet new friends!

Authors and instructors: Monika and Patrik Banas

What is also included:
4 valuable lessons / class materials with tons of examples + 1 BONUS lesson
8 photography assignments (2 per lesson) + honest feedback/critique of your images
experienced photo instructor(s)
time flexibility – fully ONLINE class

---

Course Outline:

Instructors: Patrik & Monika Banas

MONIKA BANAS – An international and travel portrait photographer, photography instructor. Portrait and natural light lover. Dreamer. Wife and mom. Creative soul. Nikon girl.

Monika began to photograph as nine years old with her Zenit camera and photography was always part of her life. After moving over the pond, she immersed into photography, took numerous photography courses (including many from BPSOP.com) and attended various photo workshops with the finest photographers. Soon she started to cooperate closely with Bryan Peterson and Scott Stulberg as co-instructor. Since then she takes photos intensively and is a professional photographer for almost 10 years, focusing on portrait photography. In her free time she is filling her memory cards with common subjects around us and is leading several photography projects (for example Fotoproject52). She loves Nikon and 85mm f/1.4 lens. Her work can be found at her WEBSITE and you can follow her recent work at FACEBOOK or BLOG. Together with her husband Patrik they are in charge of BPSOP school and courses in Czechia, Slovakia and Poland.

PATRIK BANAS – An international landscape, travel and street photographer, photography instructor. Long exposure, flash and color fan. Husband and dad. Nikon guy.

Patrik is a professional and passionate photographer with over 15 years of experience. He is enjoying being an instructor and is running individual and group courses for beginners and advanced photographers. Patrik also organizes Experience and landscape photo trips to beautiful parts of Europe (Tuscany, Provence, Prague, Paris, Switzerland…). Patrik was definitely inflenced by Bryan’s style and he cooperates with Bryan for over 10 years. Patrik is originally from Slovakia, lived in Prague, Czech republic and St. Louis, Missouri… He loves his 24-70mm lens, street photography, landscapes and adores playing with long exposure and photographing close ups of everyday subjects. Patrik’s work can be found on his WEBSITE and his recent work can be followed at BLOG, FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM. Together with his wife Monika they are in charge of BPSOP school and courses in Czechia, Slovakia and Poland.

OUR SHARED FLORA PORTFOLIO CAN BE FOUND HERE.

---

Testimonials:

“It is fantastic course, perfectly put together. Easy to read with a lot of ideas and plenty of inspirational pictures, which won’t allow you to stay lazy – you just can’t resist to try it as well!”
–Thomas F.

“I also wanted to thank you for everything; it was a great course with perfect instructors and amazing classmates.”
– Blanka U.

“Course was really very nice, pleasant and inspirational. I wanted to thank Monika and Patrik for kind, but also honest feedback, I really appreciate it. It is moving move me forward a lot.”
– Lucie P.

“As expected at the beginning of the course, there was really a great material to look at and to read. Thanks Monika and Patrik for inspirational feedback.”
– Maria S.

“Absolutely amazing course, I really was not aware how much new and inspirational I can learn about photographing Flora! This new course in the school’s portfolio really overcome my expectations!”
– Michaela N.

 

All pictures below and in the video were taken by our students during this course:

“Kudos to Patrik & Monika for this flower course. I have been taking flower photos for around 5 yrs, and was in a rut, this course gave me so many new ideas to tryout.I can’t wait to try some of the other ideas in this course. Thanks a million for your wonderful ideas for flower photography.”
– Emil

 

“Many thanks to Monika and Patrik for an excellent course. It has been most enjoyable and I have learned a lot. I hope some time you do a followup course.”
– Maureen“I would like to thank you Monika and Patrik for your great comments and great class lessons. I have gotten a lot of new ideas for shooting flora to try out. And your comments have helped me look at my images a little closer before I press the shutter button. I’m happy I took this class!!”
– Sunny Marker

“Patrick and Monika, thank you so much for such a wonderful class. I learned so much in four weeks. Before I wasn’t a fan of flora photography but now I’m a believer. I’m looking for to playing and experimenting with my newfound knowledge.”
– Rene

“Patrik and Monika, thank you for a wonderful course!  I enjoyed it very much and learned so much. You made it a lot of fun and I hope to take another class with you in future!”
– Leann Stella

“I have had a great time learning lots of new ways to play with photographing flowers and look forward to continuing to experiment.”
– Virginia Winblad

“Thanks Patrik and Monika, I too really enjoyed the class. I have taken other BPSOP classes, and admit that I was most nervous about taking this class. I learned a lot and it helped build up my confidence when taking flora pictures. Unfortunately, I’m thinking that, over the next few weeks, our house will no longer resemble a plant nursery like it has over the last four weeks.”
– Karl Gilmore

“Thank you so much for such a fun course!  I really had fun and learned a lot.”
– Benita Clarke

“Thank you both so much. I learned a lot from you and really enjoyed the class. I still have many techniques to try and you’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ve certainly learned that floral photography is not as easy as many people might think. I thank you for your honest feedback. It has helped me grow as a photographer.”
– Francine Sreca“I thoroughly enjoyed the lessons and the opportunity to try new creative techniques and experimenting with floral photography. I know that I will continue to use many of the new techniques presented in this class.  I feel the instructor’s critiques were very thorough and thoughtful.”

– Beverly Burke

“I really enjoyed it and loved how you went from the basics to more creative practice / assignments. It definitely encouraged creativity! Thank you so much.”
– Student, BPSOP USA