Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley

The beautiful Lily of the Valley is a fantastic little plant that carpets shaded woodland floors throughout many parts of the U.K, it's delicate little white flowers, dancing with the slightest breeze. The beautiful, fragrant scent this plant produces is truly wonderful, and it's a joy to see every Spring.

Not really the easiest of flowers to photograph as the mass of broad green leaves covering the floor can make it difficult to select a suitable subject. Delicate stems of tiny white bell like flowers poke through this sea of green, so for me, isolating one specimen seemed to work best, the surrounding leaves acting as a great background. It's a very short plant, no more than 15-20 cm, so I adopted a very low camera position to try and capture the delicate beauty of the flowers, as well as the shape of the stem. Using a tripod and getting in close allowed me to achieve this. Patience really is the key with close up photography as the slightest movement of the subject can ruin the image. Days with little or no wind will likely provide the best results and shooting with a cable release will also help avoid any camera shake.

A beautiful little plant and well worth searching for during May and June across dry woodlands and hedgerows on chalky soils.