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This post is entirely inspired by spring weather, and all those inspired by it. I won't lie to you. I am really not a big fan of flower photography. In fact, it ranks as some of the least interesting on my personal list. However, many others feel differently, and among those are thousands of microstock photographers. I know, because I see several flower shots come through the queue at iStockphoto, whenever I inspect images there.

Because there are so many coming through, many are also rejected, and one of the most common reasons given is poor lighting. How could this be? You were using available light! But the sun casts harsh shadows and has a tendency to blow out highlights. This is the most common problem with flower photos. Luckily, there is an easy solution: Bounce the light!

By bouncing the light back onto the flowers (or any other subject in harsh sun), you can soften the shadows and give the photo a more even light. And for something like a flower, you don't need a huge or professional store-bought bounce. A 5"x7" piece of white foamcore will do just fine, small enough to let you shoot with one hand and bounce with the other. This works especially well, of course, if you get in close to the subject.

The other way to go is to diffuse the light coming down. But I don't think that suits this little spring post, hiding from the sun like that. Besides, bouncing is easier for flowers and such.

Rasmus Rasmussen is on loan from iStockphoto, where he is part of the image inspection team.