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| How to take good Flower Photographs.Flower and garden photographs can often bring disappointing results. Here's how to get the most from you plant and garden photography. David Hughes - Gardenseeker.com Editor - had a 3-year spell as a full-time professional photographer. (Back in the times when you had to put a cloth over your head!) This has been followed by 35 years in horticulture. Photographs of Flowers from his personal Plant Picture Library, are to be found in most national newspapers, garden magazines and many gardening books. Needless to say, most of the Flower and Garden Photography on this site is his work. Here he explains how you can do it - whichever camera you use!
Most of my best-selling flower pictures were taken on my cheapest camera. It was not a 'Brownie 127' mark you, but it cost around 50% less than my ' better' cameras. I won't tell you what make it was, because it really does not matter! There are some very basic techniques in photographing flowers, plants and gardens: Stick to them, and you should have many 'gardening' pictures that you can be proud of. Film or digital?
All of this is simply to put-to-rest the claptrap about ' Digital' not being good enough. If you are happy enough with your film camera, then stick with it. Many mini-labs now have digital printing processes, where you can get 'better than ever' prints done. Not before time, because the standard of developing and printing at some labs, has been nothing short of disgusting. Many prints have been discarded by their owners, because they felt that the finished product was not good enough, when it was basically the fault of the automated processing system. So - that off my chest - here we go! General If you simply want to record a few garden views or perhaps a nice-looking plant, then any camera - preferably with a standard zoom lens (not absolutely essential - but helpful) loaded with any reasonable film, with a speed of 100 - 200ASA Din will do the job. For something a little bit more ambitious - maybe to hang on the wall - then virtually any camera - preferably with a standard zoom lens (not absolutely essential - but helpful) loaded with any reasonable film, with a speed of 100 - 200ASA Din will do the job. (No it is not a typing error!) If you want to show your work to a photographic club, or perhaps sell some of it, then you may need a slightly better camera - perhaps; a slightly better film, and a very different technique! I doubt also, that you will be reading this article.
Most cameras have a few different automated modes - ie macro - usually depicted by a flower; sport - an athlete running; and landscape views - sort of 'mountain' symbols. The 'macro' mode allows you to get in close to the flower subject - 30cm or closer. The 'problems' start here. Most will have tried to look at something through a pair of binoculars -or perhaps a telescope. It is difficult to keep the subject in view, as even the slightest movement of the binoculars - like that caused by your breathing - will cause the image to move violently or even disappear. So, you normally 'rest' the binoculars on something; the car window frame, a tree, a gatepost or something similar. Such is the case with 'close-up' photography. For successful close-up flower photography work, you will need to support the camera in much the same way. As most picturesque flowers are not within reach of a gate-post or the like, you will need to improvise with some other solid, stable object. (You may even like to use a photographic tripod if you really want top-class results) I have even supported my camera on a nearby brick. Once when desperate, I took off one of my boots, laid it on it's side, and used that! Top left is a pair of Aubrieta flowers - at ground level, more or less. Centre is a pair of Hypericum flowers - at 40cm from the ground, and Right, a Camellia at 1.8m from the ground. The larger photo is the 'innards' of a Lily flower. I actually got pollen on the lens taking this one! All of these photographs were taken with the camera supported on a tripod. Quite a flashy tripod, which will support the camera at anywhere between ground level and 2m high. The reason why support is necessary, is because when your camera is in close-up mode, the lens aperture is closed right down to a hole the size of a pin head or so. To compensate for the lack of light getting in through the lens - a small window lets in less light than a large window - the shutter speed is set at a slow setting to compensate. So, you get less light through the aperture, but for a longer period. Therefore any movement of the camera during this period transfers itself on to the film in the way of 'blur'. (Technically known as 'camera shake'. That's original!) Technical Note The best example of this, would be to do a close-up photograph a daisy flower, full frontal, with all of the petals more or less the same distance from the camera lens. You would end up with a picture of a flower that was very sharp - every petal. If however, you photograph the daisy at an angle, either the petals nearest the lens, or the petals furthest away from the lens will be sharp; but not both. Now have a close look at the Coneflower picture at the top of the page carefully, you will see the effects of this narrow band of focus (Depth of field) in close-up work. Click here to carry on with 'garden views' and the importance of 'light' To follow shortly!
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