With endless resources like YouTube videos, online courses, and workshops, there’s never been a better time to learn something new. The ability to teach yourself new skills at your own pace and in your own home is empowering. However, there’s a downside to this abundance of information, it can quickly lead you down a rabbit hole resulting in you believing that you need to spend a lot of money just to get started.
When I first began photographing flowers, I experienced this first-hand. Everyone online recommended different gear, lenses, and filters, making it hard to know what I needed. Back then, the only macro lens available for my Canon 5D Mark II was a 100mm f2.8 macro. It was a wonderful lens but came with a hefty price tag of approximately $1300. For someone who wasn’t even sure if flower photography was the right path, spending that much money felt absurd, especially after already investing $2000 on the full-frame camera everyone insisted I needed to produce professional looking images.
To get up close and capture the intricate details of flowers, I did need a macro lens. The guy at my local camera store understood my hesitation about the $1300 lens and recommended an alternative a very old Canon 50mm f1.8 macro lens that was still available to buy. It cost $400, which felt like a much more manageable starting point. My plan was to use it for a while and then upgrade later. Six years later, I was still happily using that “cheap and cheerful” 50mm macro for my flower photography. In fact some of my favourite flower photographs were taken with it, and I never felt I needed to buy the Canon 100mm macro at all.
Of course, as my photography improved and I knew flower photography was something I wanted to continue with, I began adding more specialised equipment to my kit. Higher quality lenses, Lensbaby Art lenses, vintage lenses, and a variety of filters have all helped me take my work to the next level. But none of those things were essential when I started. All I needed was a simple lens, a bit of curiosity, and a love for capturing the beauty of flowers.
Looking back, I realise that you don’t need every fancy gadget to get started. Sometimes the best way to learn is to work with what you have and let your creativity guide you. It’s not about the gear it’s about practice and your vision.
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