Along Interstate 5 in north-coastal San Diego County, you might have seen the fifty acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers that make up The Flower Fields in Carlsbad. They bloom for approximately six to eight weeks each year from early March through early May. This annual burst of color is nature’s way of announcing the arrival of spring in Southern California. Here is what you will see:
Like all photo outings, I would encourage you to get there early. The fields are open from 9-6 and will become crowded quickly, especially on the weekends. The sunlight can already be harsh at 9 AM so you have to work fast. It is also near the coast and the wind can kick up at any time. An ideal day would be slightly overcast with no wind.
This is a fine place to experiment and try a lot of things. We both enjoyed changing focal lengths and depth of field. We had a variety of lenses, including 100 mm and 180 mm macros, 70-200 mm telephotos, 17-40 mm wide angle, as well as a fish eye.
Go wide.
Isolate a few flowers.
Isolate one flower.
Make a macro photo.
Use a large depth of field.
Use a shallow depth of field.
Emphasize color.
There is a also a small flower garden of various flowers to get up close for macros and they had an orchid pavilion this year.
I am not sure I would recommend this place as a destination location, but if you are coming to San Diego anyway, or planning on shooting at multiple locations, and love flowers, this can be a fun and rewarding morning.
To see more of our photographs, please go to www.pamphotography.com.
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