Tag Archives | photography

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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How Does That Make You Feel ?

Today is the first day I have picked up a camera or walked in my garden since I fell from the ladder.  Details for the morbidly curious below.

This is how I feel today. Continue Reading →

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Whimsy and Provocation

"SOL Grotto" light tubes from Solyndra in art exhibit

Detail of light tubes from “SOL Grotto”

We interrupt the regularly scheduled garden photography lesson to bring you some breaking news.  While I was writing this lesson in The PhotoBotanic Garden Photography Workshop, controversy erupted.

Provocation in the world of gardens and art !  National scandal in “hip, pretentious art” at the Berkeley Botanical Garden where an on-site art exhibit using recycled glass tubes became an example of “phony intellectualism”. Continue Reading →

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Appreciation and Mimicry

So far, in these lessons on garden photography, we have explored the rudiments of composition and light in making good garden photos.  In today’s lesson (1.4) we step back and begin to analyze why we take pictures so that we can begin to understand when to snap the shutter.

Let’s assume you are not content with simply documenting the garden – you want photos to share, not just jog your memory.  You will want to have something to say, a story to tell.  I hope it does not seem too obvious, but let’s start with appreciation and mimicry.  First, let’s show our appreciation of the wonder of gardens, then let’s try to find photos that might inform our own gardens with ideas we can mimic. Continue Reading →

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