Working with Flowers

I've always loved flowers, ever since I was a little kid. I actually almost switched course in college and went into floral design. Lucky for me, I ended up in a field where I get to play with flowers all the time but don't have to wake up at 4:00am to get to the flower mart for wedding orders haha. Most of the time that we are shooting flowers, they are being used as a prop, either to help set the scene or as an ingredient since we shoot a lot of skincare and beverages. I've learned a few helpful tricks over the last few years of working with flowers and thought it could be helpful to pass some of those along to you! 

Tools You Need

First let's walk through some tools that will be super helpful for you as you incorporate florals into your shoot. Some of these will also be helpful for a lot of other uses so make sure to add them to your toolkit!

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Clear Floral Tape - If you look closely in the image above, you will see that we made a grid using clear floral tape. This is super helpful for when you're making an arrangement in a vase like this where the opening is wide at the top. Creating a grid will allow you to control where the stems fall and make sure the vase looks filled. It also helps the stems to stand up as shown in the image. Clear tape means less photoshop - hooray!

Green Floral Tape - Green floral tape is helpful for when the tape will show as this tape will blend into the colors of your stems. It is slightly sticky, but mostly stretchy so you place the tape and then stretch it around the stems to secure them together or to something else. 

Pruning Shears - These are ESSENTIAL! I used to always cut our flowers with regular office scissors and it was always so difficult. Trust me, you need some good shears to clip those tougher stems. 

Floral Foam - This is helpful to shove into vases when you don't have or don't want to use clear tape. It can also be used to hold up stems behind other prop pieces - especially dried flowers. You can carve it into whatever shape you want which is fun. You can also purchase styrofoam already cut into shapes at the craft store which how we created the shapes below. 

Pins - U shaped and Straight - Pins are super helpful for positioning flowers or attaching them to surfaces such as styrofoam. 

Floral Wire - Wire can be used to position and pose stems into fun shapes or even just hold them in the position you want. 

Wire Cutters - To cut the floral wire of course haha. 

Frogs - These are a game changer!! Frogs are essentially weighted pokey stands that you can stick flowers onto. The spikes go into the stems and hold up the flower. These can go into vases or behind props. They are what we used in the image below to hold up the lavender stems. 

Buckets - Having buckets on hand is super helpful for when you return with a bunch of fresh florals and need to keep them fresh until the shoot. These ones are great because they fold down for easy storage. 

Fishing Line - You know we love fishing line haha. This is helpful for if you ever need to suspend or hang flowers as seen below. In the first image we used pins to attach the fishing line to the flowers. In the second image we tied the fishing line onto the florals directly because they were fake, making it easy to tie. 

Flower Styling Tips:

Now that we've gone through all of the tools you need, let's talk about some tips that I've learned along the way!

*Buy more than you need - This goes for any prop that is perishable. Always buy extra. Images may take longer than you think and flowers can wilt quickly depending on the type and the conditions. You want to have enough to replenish if needed. 

*If the flowers are extra delicate, buy the entire plant - If the flowers will die quickly, it may be helpful to purchase the entire plant and cut them right before they are needed. This can also be helpful if you're unable to find the flowers at the flower mart or grocery store. 

*Store them properly - As soon as you purchase flowers, take them back to your studio and put them into water. Before you put them in, grab those clippers and clip off the end of the stem at an angle. This allows for the flower to get the most water possible and stay fresh. Take off any unnecessary leaves so that they don't soak in the water and get all gross and soggy. Store flowers in the fridge or another cool place if possible until you are ready to shoot. 

*Make sure they will be open - Sometimes when you purchase flowers, especially from a flower mart, they won't be fully open. You'll want to scout this out in advance either in person or with a call and then make sure you buy them in enough time for the flowers to fully open but not too far from the shoot so they don't die. If you are pressed for time, you can stick them into hot water and that can help to open them. 

*Keep water cups around your set - If you're switching flowers in and out of shots, make sure to keep some buckets and glasses around the set so you can easily stick them directly back into water in between shots. If they have been out for a little while, give them a little trim before sticking them back in. You can try using ice water if the flowers start to wilt a little during the shoot. 

*Make friends with florists - It's definitely a good idea to have some florists you can call up if you have some interesting requests from clients. They usually will know the best places to source and sometimes it's well worth your time to hire someone else to source them for you. 

*Think about seasonality - When you're coming up with ideas for your shoot or if the client has specific requests make sure to look up the flowers you want well ahead of time to make sure they will even be in season. The worst thing is to have your heart set on a flower only to find out that you won't be able to get it. 

*Don't be afraid of fake - When we were first shooting, I never wanted to use dried or fake flowers because I thought they would look bad. While I do always prefer real, I've found that it can be so helpful to use high-quality fake or dried flowers for some shoots. They are easy to pose, they don't wilt, and you can reuse them again in the future. In the Lo-Fi image below, we used fake and dried flowers, and in the ZIPPZ image, we used all fake flowers. 

Some of our favorite places to get fake and dried flowers are Afloral, Etsy, and Terrain.

Have you worked with flowers before? Do you have any tips that I missed? Feel free to share below!

If you use any of these tips in a shoot make sure to share it with us on IG so we can see!

Is it the weekend yet?
Elle