Pressed flowers and or dried plants add something so interesting and different to a picture. Whether they are the focus of the image or an addition to the shots. I love to use them to draw attention into my photos by placing them in some of the negative spaces. But because they are so versatile they also really challenge my creativity and what I mean by this is I try and find ways to also showcase them as a main focus in an image rather than always just being a filler.
Wild flowers are easy to find in the summer time, they are all over. That’s mostly what I use because they are easy to find and free. But I do really love eucalyptus so I just buy that from the store fresh. If you have a certain flower in mind or you can’t find any wild flowers you can also buy plant bundles at the store (try Trader Joe’s). Small delicate flowers, like wild flowers, can be press dried using a book because they are small enough. I use wax paper and lay a few flowers in between a folded piece then I but this wax paper in a big heavy book like a textbook. You can even pile thinks on top of the book if you need more weight. Then I leave these to dry for about 2 weeks. They should come out beautifully pressed and ready to light up any photo. If you have bought a bouquet of flowers you want to dry or a thicker flower like a rose, that won’t fit in a book, or eucalyptus like me you will need to hang dry these. To do this you tie the stems together with some yard or whatever you have laying around. Leaving enough length to then tie this bundle to something to hang for again about 2 weeks. I tie mine to the side of a self in my room. The important thing to remember is that they should be kept in a relatively cool dry place in order to get the best quality.
Dried plants are so cool because they give the feel of a real plant or flower that you can use to hang or decorate a space or add life to an image and because they are dried they will last so much longer than a real flower. Not to meantion that having them laying around is great for if you are taking a flat lay picture or images of your decorated space to show case those dried plants yoy hav as decorations. Give it a try and see how dried plants work for you!!
Perspective: a photo blog 