Digital Photography - The Art of Flower and Garden Photography

The Art of Flower and Garden Photography

From stately gardens to fields of wildflowers, from a single bloom to panoramic views. Do you enjoy photographing the beauty of flowers and gardens? Have you dreamed of creating flower and garden photographs as stunning as those used in gardening and home magazines?

In this series of articles, I shall introduce you to some of the basic skills and technniques used in capturing images of plants and flowers, from what equipment to use to the best way of photographing flowers, gardens, trees, grand landscapes and indoor plants.

In the first part, Getting Started, I shall introduce you to the equipment you will need and to some of the basic principles you can use to start capturing stunning flower and garden photographs.

Colour Changes in Natural and Artificial Light

Perhaps the most important lesson to begin with when photographing outdoors is that natural daylight can change in an instant. When a cloud obscures the sun the colours will change. For example, changes from sunny to cloudy skies can turn the bright greens in trees and leaves dark. It can also produce a cool, blue cast in your images.

As with film, the image sensors in digital cameras have been optimized for mid-day light. This means, if you are looking for true colours in your images you will need to seek out natural daylight found between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the summer for the best results.

However, if you are adopting a more creative approach to your flower and garden photography, light at other times of the day may be more suitable and offer the preferred effect - especially dawn and dusk.

When shooting indoor plants under artificial light, you will need to determine whether the artificial light source is incandescent, daylight or flourescent bulbs, and select the appropriate white balance setting on your camera. More on selecting the correct white balance for an image later.

Coping with Contrast

Today’s digital cameras are capable of capturing a wide range of tones very well. However, they cannot record extremes of both dark or light areas within the same frame adequately enough. If the light is fairly even, the image will show acceptable overall detail. But if the scene is high-contrast, such as woodlands with dappled light, it is difficult to capture enough detail in both areas.

When shooting under high-contrast conditions, you will need to decide whether to expose the image for the dark, shadowy areas or for the brighter sunlit areas. For example, when taking photographs in a woodland or forest with dark floor and bright overhead tree canopy, you would need to expose the image for the dark floor and allow the brightly lit canopy to be overexposed.

Using Light Meters

Most digital cameras have built-in light meters that accurately measure the light passing through the lens and read the amount of light reaching the image sensor. Generally, this makes the use of separate handheld light meters unnecessary.

There are times when compensation may be needed for a good exposure. For example, if the subject is surrounded by an extremely bright sky, a built-in TTL metering system measuring the full frame may produce a dark image. In such a situation, using the camera’s spot metering mode will direct the camera to measure the light on the smaller area rather than on the surrounding sky.

The camera’s built-in TTL meter can also be fooled by ‘glare’. A brightly lit beach or a snow scene may result in underexposure. In this case, you will need to compensate by overexposing by as much as 2 stops. If you have a dark object surrounded by white, you will need to compensate for the glare by overexposing by 1 stop.

As an alternative to trusting the camera to make any compensation for glare, it is often a good idea to ‘bracket’ a series of three exposures. For example, shooting a snow scene at 1 stop over the camera’s meter reading, then 1 1/2 stops over, and finally 2 stops over. This should produce at least one well exposed image.

Lenses

There is no one universal lens that is capable of functioning like the human eye. Most digital cameras have lenses that focus from infinity to between two and three feet in clear detail.

Close-up: To get closer than the two or three feet offered by most digital camera lenses you will need to use a macro lens. These lenses will allow you to get within inches of your subject. An alternative to using a macro lens is a set of close-up extension tubes, which can be mounted between the camera body and the lens, allowing the lens to focus closer. When taking close-up shots, there is very little depth of field. The wider the lens aperture, the shorter this becomes. Generally, it is best to open the lens no wider than f/11 for close-ups of plants and flowers. Although, you can achieve some very creative visual effects by closing the lens right down to f/5.6 or lower so that only a tiny area is in focus.
Telephoto: Telephoto lenses distort distances between plants and flowers. This is not necessarily the result you want to achieve, as it will result in images in which plants in a scene may appear much closer than they actually are. Alternatively, the dramatic telescoping effect may well be the effect you are looking to achieve.
Wide angle: Here too, wide angle shots can result in a distorted image. However, a 28mm wide angle lens is particularly useful to show the overall design of a garden. To avoid distortion you will need to shoot from a high elevation.

Accessories

The key to good horticultural photography is simplicity.

Tripod: It is quite likely that the majority of flower and garden photography is shot using camera mounted on a tripod. When working a shutters speeds of lower than 1/60 second, a tripod is essential to ensure sharp images. Some public gardens do not allow the use of tripoids without a permit. By they may allow monopods.
Cable release: A cable release allows you to expose an image without touching the camera body. This helps to avoid any movement, whoever slight, that might blur the image.
Filters: Of the many dozens of filters available, you may want to consider the skylight filter, soft-focus attachment and a polarizer. When shooting in shade, natural light can be too blue. This means that light coloured subjects such as white flowers will photograph with a blue cast. A skylight filter attached to the lens will help record truer colours and screen out UV radiation. Occassionally, you may want to create images of flowers with a soft, diffused, misty effect. These effects are achieved with different types of soft-focus attachments. Finally, using a polarizer eliminates reflected glare and improves scenes in which water is a predominant feature. It removes surface glare so the image sensor can record deep into the water. A polarizer also helps improve dark green foliage. Polarizers are also good for darkening blue sky.

Top Tip: How to Avoid Blurred Images

The most critical quality in any horticultural photograph is sharpness. This is achieved in several ways.

Narrow focus: Avoid setting the lens on infinity, except for the landscape shots. For sharp focus it is usually best to focus on an object, either in the foreground or middle ground.
Low ISO: For maximum image quality and sharpness, choose a low ISO. An ISO of 100 will exhibit the least loss of definition when the image is printed.
Aperture settings: For good depth of field, choose aperture settings such as f/11, f/16, f22 or f/32.
Know your lenses: Choose the appropriate lens for the job. For overall views, use a standard lens (50mm). For close-up shots use a macro lens.
Keep lenses clean: Wipe the lens surface with a non-abrasive, lint-free cloth. Never start a shoot without checking your lenses for water spots or smudges. When poking a lens through leaves and flowers, pollen, dust and dew can settle on the lens surface and blur the images.
Tripod support: For crisp images, or for achieving faster shutter speeds of 1/60 and 1/100 second, use a tripod to support your camera.

That just about covers everything to be getting on with for now. Equipped with the right kit and few basic techniques, you are sure to be able to capture some striking flower and garden images.

Next Time: Top 20 Most Photogenic Garden Flowers

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