Best Tips for Visiting a Sunflower Field

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Swimming pools. Backyard barbecues. Days at the beach. Popsicles and ice cream galore. These are all signs of everyone’s favorite season: SUMMER. You know what else is an indicator for the best time of year? Sunflower fields! And I’ve collected all the best tips for your upcoming visit to a field full of sunshine.

Why visit a sunflower field?

Do I really need to answer this for you? The better question is why not visit a sunflower field? They literally spew happiness. I might sell my house and go start living in one; that is how strongly I feel about their awesomeness.

While we spend our lives being told not to look directly at the sun, the sunflowers are bold enough to do this every. single. day. And their beautifulness depends on it!

People have been enchanted with sunflowers forever. The famous painter Vincent Van Gogh permanently memorialized the beauty of these fascinating flowers when he painted five canvases of sunflowers in the late 1880s. He once claimed to a his brother in a letter that “the sunflower is mine” and that “the sun itself cannot make the world bright without soul to feel its light.” Hard to argue with that!

He painted his masterpiece with only three shades of yellow and nothing else just to prove that even a simplistic painting could be beautiful and eloquent. He used his sunflower paintings to communicate gratitude, and when you’re standing in the middle of a gorgeous sunflower farm, you’ll start feeling pretty grateful for that magical feeling in the air.

Fast forward hundreds of years and sunflowers are still captivating the hearts of artists everywhere – be they painters, photographers, or a family looking for a beautiful spot for a summer picnic.

Best time to visit a sunflower field

Sunflowers generally flourish from mid-summer to late fall, so the high season is typically late July to early September. However, the peak bloom time for sunflowers is only about two or three weeks. Wherever you plan on going, call ahead to find out if the flowers are still in bloom and how long they’ll still be blooming.

Find the best location

Sunflowers bloom in fields, farms, and gardens. There are stunning sunflower fields all across the United States and around the world. You just have to know where to look! Do a little research or just Google “sunflower fields near me,” and I bet you’ll be surprised by how many are nearby or how close you are to one!

If you have the time, dedication, and the brainpower to plan insanely far ahead, you can plant your own sunflower field and enjoy it for years to come. I know someone that did this right in their own backyard, and then one day she got married among all those beautiful blooms.

The Best time of day to photograph Sunflower fields

The “golden hour” is, like the name suggests, pure GOLD for photography, especially when it comes to sunflower fields. Lucky for us, golden hour is longer than just one single hour. It’s actually the few hours after sunrise and before sunset. This time of day is so beloved by photographers everywhere because it gives the softest light and the fewest shadows. Plus, most people usually aren’t out taking photos this early/late, so you’ll probably have the space to yourself.

Use that backlight! Take advantage of that lovely golden hour! You will literally be GLOWING, and it’s stunningly beautiful. But if you have that lovely glow, your photographer will not be able to see AT ALL because they’ll be staring at the sun. If you’re shooting with a partner, I suggest bringing an umbrella (I used a big purse) so they can shade their eyes from the harsh sun or else they’ll be shooting blind!

I personally had better experience visiting a little before sunset. The sun wasn’t in my eyes and the sunflowers and I were facing the same direction. What more could you ask for?

Photography tips for sunflower fields

Bring the right gear: You can get great photos with your phone, no question, but nothing compares to a good DSLR camera.
Bring a wide-angle lens if it’s a BIG field. Bring a macro lens if you’re coming specifically to photograph just close-ups of the flowers (and the cute little bees on them).
Tripods are a girl’s best friend. Whoever answered diamonds doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s a tripod.
A polarizing filter will reduces glare and enhances color saturation.
Get low! When Flo Rida sang that hit song, I doubt he thought it would be good advice for visiting a sunflower field, but you never know! Getting lower and shooting up at the flowers can elongate the field, making the flowers appear bigger and the field seem endless.

What to wear to a sunflower field

Um, your cutest outfit, duh? Ha, if only it were that simple! As beautiful as they are, sunflower fields are often muddy messes. Seriously, go look at your favorite Instagrammer’s sunflower farm shots. I bet you won’t be able to see her shoes! Thankfully sunflowers are so tall that it’s super easy to get shots without your shoes in them, so leave the designer sandals at home and opt for something you don’t mind getting a little dirty.

Because sunflowers are only around in the summer, there’s a good chance it’ll be sunny and hot. Props are a girl’s best friend, so bring along a cute hat and sunglasses. It’ll up your photo game and save your skin!

Buzz off!

Sunflower fields are like Disneyland for bees; sunflowers are the peanut butter to bees’ jelly. Unless you happen to be a beekeeper, you will never see more bees in your life than at a sunflower field. Thankfully, the bees are SO preoccupied with those sunflowers – can you blame them? They won’t bother you unless you bother them. But I always prefer to be better safe than sorry, so bring some bug spray just in case.

Leave the flowers as you found them!

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. You are a guest and a visitor on someone else’s land. PLEASE don’t harm the sunflowers or pull them out of the ground to take photos with them. So many locations suffer from overcrowding because photographers flock to these Insta-worthy spots. People come to admire the beauty but end up ruining it by squashing the flowers!

So repeat after me: I will not trample the flowers. I will not pick the flowers (unless allowed, because some farms allow you to pick your own, like the one I visited. If you’re not sure, just ask!).