Garden Photography Tips
Plants provide food, oxygen, and shelter. But they also give us magic, avisual poetry, and a sense of wonder. It is this beauty many photographers tryto convey within their photos. Sometimes the beauty is subtle. Sometimes it isbrazen. The beauty is always there, but it takes time to discover it. Here aresome garden photography tips that can help you capture the beauty ofgardens.
Don’t shoot at noon
Do not shoot when the sun is high. This is one of the rules of thumb ingarden photography. Shooting at noon when the sun is shining fiercely canbleach out your photos, making them too contrasty, with very little visibledetail.
So when is the best time to shoot? You can shoot early in the morning orlate in the afternoon. You can also shoot when the sun’s rays are slanted andmore inviting or on overcast days. Taking photos of your garden around thistime will yield a photo that shows rich color and detail. In case you want tocapture that bright blue sky as background, you should capture your subjectwith your back to the sun. This is unless you want to achieve a backliteffect.
Use weather elements
You can create dramatic effects in your garden photos by using the elementsof the weather. A misty early morning will leave droplets of water on flowerpetals, leaves, and cobwebs. You can also use garden objects like statues,posts, and fountains to create striking silhouette images at sundown.
The subject matter in garden photography is demanding since plants andflowers have ephemeral beauty, and thus you should capture them at the perfecttime and in best weather and light.
Capture other creatures/things
Gardens are not just about flowers, leaves, roots, and twigs. They are alsoabout insects, small birds, and other types of wildlife that wander into thegarden. These creatures make a beautiful image. Also consider shooting thingslike benches, sprinklers, statues, fountains, or gardening tools. They addcharacter to your garden.
Compose your shot carefully
Good composition is key in garden photography. Compose the shot carefully,especially in close-ups. Make sure that there are no off-putting objects (suchas debris, discolored leaves, sticks and stakes, etc.) in your shot. But youcan always use these distracting objects as your subjects, if you want. Youmust also avoid patches of plain dirt.