About Saxon Holt

Saxon Holt is the owner of PhotoBotanic, a garden picture resource for photographs, workshops, and garden photography stories. A landscape photographer and award winning photojournalist with more than 20 garden books, he lives and gardens in Northern California.

Author Archive | Saxon Holt

Photos Tell a Story

Feather grass enveloping Phormiums

We finish the chapter on ‘Good Garden Photography’ with part six – telling stories.  I will have a whole chapter, ‘Think Like a Gardener’ that is about finding the themes that can be found in all good gardens, but for now and as you review your year’s images, think about what you are saying with your images.  What was the garden saying to you ?

We started the chapter with good composition, filling your entire frame with just those elements that bring balance to the photo.  We talked about light, and paying homage to what you see in a gardens.  A good photo will do all this and then tell a story, state an opinion, communicate what you really saw. Continue Reading →

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Photos that Provoke and Intrigue

This photo of tall succulents in a narrow bed against a white stucco wall was taken in bright sun to accent the shadows. The intriguing composition is meant to provoke thinking about plant design and sun light.

A good garden photo is more than a nice composition, it should tell a story.  Sometimes the story is no more than communicating good garden technique, for which all our lessons thus far on composition, balance, framing, and light help the photographer concentrate on simply expressing garden appreciation. Continue Reading →

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Photography – Space and Shape

Lesson 2.3 in PhotoBotanic Garden Photography Workshop

Most of us see in three dimensions but the camera sees in two.  In this chapter, as we learn how to Think Like a Camera, we will need to understand how the camera flattens shapes and how to use those spaces we see in three dimensions to become building blocks of our compositions in two dimensions. Continue Reading →

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Autumn Focal Points

Seeing as how most of the Northern Hemisphere is now experiencing autumn at one level or another, I figured it would make this next lesson on garden photography a bit more relevant if I actually show some fall photos.  (Yes, California has fall color too…)

The focal point of a picture is its subject, the story of the photograph.  It is often the focus point as well (the focus point being the point of sharpest focus), but for our lesson in composition, I want you to think about what you are trying to say with your photo.  Organize the frame so that your viewer can’t help but see your focal point. Continue Reading →

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Seeing the Garden – Framing

Bed of Tulips Framed by Garden Balustrade; Juxtaposition and Forced Perspective

No, it is not tulip time, at least not here in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is time for more garden photography tips and lessons from the e-book I am writing, and teasing you with excerpts right here on Gardening Gone Wild.  Time to begin Chapter Two.

Chapter Two is “Seeing the Garden”, how to use your camera and find a photo that communicates your story.  Much of this chapter will deal with tools and concepts that help you compose your image – somewhat universal artistic ideas that most photography instruction will cover, but here illustrated with gardens.

We  will assume you love gardens, are inspired by something you see, have a story to tell, and need a few tips to put the photo together.  In Chapter Three we will talk about how to find the story to tell when you are overwhelmed by possibilities, how to think like a gardener, and how to find your own voice as a garden photographer, but for now let’s think like a camera.

And once the book is done you might even to choose to read that chapter first.  Heck, my editor may even re-arrange the whole thing.  Right now I need to get to work …. Continue Reading →

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