Finding beauty in a sea of foxgloves - Part 1 - Technicals
With heather photography season now emerging on the moors around the UK, I find myself looking forward to spending time amongst another spectacular wildflower display. It has also prompted me to look back on an adventure from earlier this summer, when I found myself faced with an entirely different floral subject – the humble foxglove.
In June 2025, we visited Shropshire while searching for a new home as part of our move back to the UK from Holland. Staying in the beautiful village of Hopton Castle, we spent our days exploring the surrounding woods and countryside. What struck me most was the abundance of foxgloves carpeting the hillsides where pine plantations had been felled. Never having seen such a profusion of flowers, I secretly hoped they would still be there the following year when I became a local resident.
Nature did not disappoint.
As expected, the foxgloves returned in force, filling hedgerows and woodland edges with towers of pink and purple blooms swaying gently in the breeze. Camera in hand, I headed out early one morning after hearing rumours of a particularly spectacular display at the top of a nearby hill. The two-mile uphill walk seemed to go on forever and, if I’m honest, I began to wonder whether the promised display would justify the effort. Then I arrived. Spread before me was exactly what I had hoped for – a sea of foxgloves stretching across the hillside. The challenge immediately changed from finding a subject to figuring out how on earth to photograph something so beautiful in a meaningful way.
My biggest obstacle was light. Despite setting out early, I wasn't quite early enough to avoid direct sunlight hitting much of the scene. Rather than fighting the conditions, I decided to embrace the opportunity to experiment and react to what was in front of me.
Think before you shoot
One of the most useful things you can do in any location is simply stop and observe.
As I stood amongst the flowers, I began noticing what drew my eye. The vast scale of the display was impressive, but I also found myself repeatedly returning to individual stems that stood taller than the others or displayed slightly different colours. My attention drifted between the collective mass of flowers and these unique blooms. I also noticed repetition of the flowers and also the colour. Those observations quickly informed the way I approached photographing the scene.
Using Depth of field to tell a story
Depth of field plays a huge role in determining how an image feels.
Using my 50mm f/1.4 lens, I was able to reduce depth of field dramatically, transforming backgrounds into soft washes of colour and allowing individual foxgloves to become the unquestioned stars of the image. The resulting photographs felt calm, intimate and uncluttered.
At other times, I wanted to convey the sheer abundance of flowers covering the hillside. Switching to my 24–200mm lens and increasing my aperture allowed me to show more repetition through the scene. Looking back, I probably could have gone even further than f/13 to achieve greater sharpness throughout the frame, but the exercise reinforced how much impact aperture selection has on storytelling.
Don't ignore the background
The background can completely transform a photograph.
By simply changing my shooting angle, I could alter the atmosphere of an image. Including patches of sky created one feeling, while using the darker woodland behind the flowers created something entirely different. One particularly rewarding composition emerged when I spotted sunlit grasses and young fir trees behind a stand of foxgloves. Framing these elements against the shadowed forest behind placed the flowers firmly within their woodland environment rather than presenting them as isolated flower portraits. Consider also how the angle you are shooting your subject from affects the image and vary it for interesting compositions.
The lesson was simple: backgrounds matter just as much as subjects.
Working with available light
We don't always get perfect conditions.
The strength and direction of light presented challenges throughout the morning, but it also created opportunities. Instead of trying to avoid contrast, I explored different lighting situations.
Backlit flowers glowed beautifully as sunlight passed through their petals, while blooms growing in deep shade revealed richer purple tones. Moving around the location and observing how the light interacted with different subjects produced a variety of moods and colours that would have been impossible to achieve from a single viewpoint.
Portrait or landscape?
Foxgloves naturally lend themselves to portrait orientation. Their tall, elegant stems almost demand it.
That said, I made a conscious effort to explore both portrait and landscape compositions. Portrait images allowed me to focus attention on individual flowers, while landscape compositions provided valuable context and helped tell the story of where these plants were growing.
Neither approach is right or wrong. They simply tell different stories.
Looking beyond the obvious focus point
One of my favourite images from the session was created by focusing not on the closest flower but on a stem further into the scene.
Using my 50mm lens at f/2.2, I carefully positioned foreground flowers so close to the lens that they brushed against it, creating soft pink blurs around the edges of the frame. This allowed me to "shoot through" the flowers, creating layers of colour and depth that transformed a simple floral portrait into something much more immersive.
The image took plenty of patience—and more than a little frustration—but the result was worth it.
A sea of possibilities
What began as a morning photographing wildflowers quickly became a fascinating exercise in observation and creative decision-making. Every choice—depth of field, background, lighting direction, composition and focus point—changed not only the look of the image but also the story it told.
And yet, as much fun as I had exploring these more traditional approaches, there was another side to this project that excited me just as much.
Back home, armed with a collection of sharp images, movement studies and experimental captures, I began exploring more creative techniques. What happened next opened up an entirely new way of interpreting the foxglove-filled hillside.
Read part 2 of my Photographing wild flowers - Finding beauty in a sea of foxgloves - Part 2 Creative here at this link - https://charlottebellamy.com/photographing-wildflowers-creatively/
