Tag Archives | photobotanic garden photography workshop

Think Like a Gardener

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This photographer sees a flower.

If you want to be a garden photographer you need to think like a gardener.  You are not just taking a picture of a landscape, you are photographing a garden.

This may seem obvious, but it is important to keep it in mind as you look at a scene and try to tell your story.  What is it about the scene in front of you that makes it a garden ?  What is it, within your own gardening experience, that you want to say and share ?  Remember, the camera always lies, and it is you the photographer that determines what the camera sees. Continue Reading →

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Seeing the Garden 2.6 – Details and Vignettes

frost leaves on meadow lawn

When you set out to photograph a garden, don’t miss the details and vignettes. Often the essence of what you see can be distilled down to distinct details, details that tell the story of what you feel.

This is the last lesson in “Seeing the Garden”, chapter two of the PhotoBotanic Garden Photography Workshop.  Throughout this chapter I have been talking about seeing the garden with a camera, how to compose, how to use focal points, space and shape, points of view, leading lines when you go looking for photos. Continue Reading →

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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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