--- title: Cherry Blossoms: 6 Tips for Best Photos description: Master these tips and be ready ahead of full bloom. canonical: https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-21T13:00:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:15.227Z og:title: 6 Tips to Photograph This Year's Cherry Blossoms og:description: Cherry blossoms are back og:url: https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe06b6d4996585aa/69888b330a4a229c369c8d52/cherry-blossoms-photos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Thailand's Cherry Blossom Season og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 6 Tips to Photograph This Year's Cherry Blossoms twitter:description: Cherry blossoms are back twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe06b6d4996585aa/69888b330a4a229c369c8d52/cherry-blossoms-photos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 6 Tips to Photograph This Year's Cherry Blossoms by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Mar 21, 2016 1:00 PM UTC  CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - 2014/01/11: A branchs of prunus cerasoides, a deciduous cherry tree in Doi Inthanon National Park during Thailand's cherry blossom season. (Photo by Atid Kiattisaksiri/LightRocket via Getty Images) CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - 2014/01/11: A branchs of prunus cerasoides, a deciduous cherry tree in Doi Inthanon National Park during Thailand's cherry blossom season. (Photo by Atid Kiattisaksiri/LightRocket via Getty Images)Atid Kiattisaksiri—LightRocket/Getty Images by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Mar 21, 2016 1:00 PM UTC Spring is coming and with it the relatively brief cherry blossom season. Cities like [Washington](http://time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/), [Tokyo](http://time.com/3763649/cherry-blossom-japan-tokyo/) and Copenhagen will be blooming under an ocean of pink petals as thousands of people converge to [photograph](http://time.com/4159935/iphone-photos-how-to-take-better/) this stunning spectacle. Ahead of full bloom, here are six tips to perfect your cherry blossom photographs.  A woman walks past blooming cherry trees with an umbrella in Cologne, Germany, 26 April 2013\. Spriing weather is followed by rain and colder temperatures, according to weather forecasts. Photo by: Federico Gambarini/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Federico Gambarini—picture-alliance/dpa/AP 1\. Start with a good app that will allow to independently control the camera’s focus and exposure. This will allow you to keep elements in focus while playing with light and contrast. Your [iPhone](http://time.com/4160026/iphone-camera-lens-review/)‘s native app offers manual exposure controls, but only third-party apps like Camera+ and VSCO let you separate exposure and focus points while also letting you adjust other elements such as shutter speed, exposure and ISO. 2\. Get up early or stay up late. The ideal lighting conditions are in the hours around sunrise and sunset, when colors are more vivid and not washed out by the sun at its zenith. Again, there are [apps](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magic-hour/id482426006?mt=8) that can help pinpoint when will these magic hours happen according to your location. 3\. Be creative. You want to play with the elements. A gust of wind, for example, could lead to a beautiful photo of petals flying around your subject. Also look for colorful elements that can contrast with the dominant pink color of the blossoms. 4\. Be ready to wait it out. Chances are you won’t be the only person photographing your city’s cherry blossoms, so be patient and seek new angles that will allow you to create the perfect shot without any stranger in the background. 5\. Get close and experiment with your camera’s depth of field to create beautiful compositions where the individual cherry blossoms disappear in an overwhelming blur of pink. 6\. When you’re ready to share your photos on Instagram, choose the right hashtags. The most popular are #cherryblossom, #spring, #flowers, #pink, and #fullbloom but be creative and don’t forget to add the hashtag for your town. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/"},"headline":"6 Tips to Photograph This Year's Cherry Blossoms","datePublished":"2016-03-21T13:00:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:15.227Z","description":"Cherry blossoms are back","url":"https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/","keywords":["Living","iPhone","Travel","Washington","photography","Tokyo","Copenhagen","spring"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe06b6d4996585aa/69888b330a4a229c369c8d52/cherry-blossoms-photos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe06b6d4996585aa/69888b330a4a229c369c8d52/cherry-blossoms-photos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thailand's Cherry Blossom Season","caption":"Cherry blossoms","creditText":"Atid Kiattisaksiri—LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4261047/photo-tip-cherry-blossom/","name":"6 Tips to Photograph This Year's Cherry Blossoms"}}]}] ```