Photographing Plants

Photographing plants is easy. Just point the camera a flower and shoot. Well, that’s what many people seem to think, and although you will get some sort of image with that approach, the chances are that it won’t be what you are looking for. A little more care and attention to detail will yield far better results, and with the high quality of even the simplest modern photographic equipment, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get superb pictures.Plant knowledgeKnowing your subject well is important in any type of photography. Such knowledge allows you to present the subject at its best and also lets you know when to break the rules and try something different.Understanding why a plant appeals and knowing what you want to show is vitally important yet often overlooked. That I have had little trouble selling my plant photographs I put down to years of experience with plants and gardeners rather than photographic talent. Working in nurseries gave me an appreciation of what gardeners and plant enthusiasts find attractive and interesting.Without that experience you may struggle to produce shots that convey your feeling for the subject. The only answer is to stick at it: keep on taking photographs, seek others' opinions of them, and improve your plant knowledge through observation and reading.Photographic equipmentCameraIt goes without saying that to take photographs you’ll need a camera, but which type? For plant photographers the answer is usually an SLR (single lens reflex) camera. SLRs allow you, by way of a moving mirror, to view the scene through the lens. This is a great advantage over the point and shoot or rangefinder camera where you view the scene through an auxiliary viewfinder. While a rangefinder is suitable for distance shots, when you move in close to the subject the difference between the viewfinder and lens images (parallax) becomes more apparent — something you never have to worry about with an SLR.It says something for the rapid advance of technology, that if you are buying a new camera today there is really no reason to even consider a film camera - digital is the way to go. Consumer level digital SLR camera bodies come in two basic forms: those with smaller than 35mm film size sensors and those with sensors the same size a 35mm film, known as full-frame or just FF. The main difference is that lenses perform differently depending on the sensor size. The smaller sensors use only part of the image that a full-frame lens can project, hence the resulting image is cropped somewhat. This cropping factor is usually mentioned in the camera specifications and is typically around 1.5-1.6 times, meaning that a 100mm lens will produce an image similar to that of a 150-160mm lens on a full-frame camera.The cropping factor is not really a concern in camera selection because full-frame cameras cost that much more that price is more likely to determine which you buy, but it is important when choosing lenses.As a beginner there’s no need to go for an expensive professional model camera, indeed the most basic models are fine for garden photography, but there are a few features that your camera should have.* Ease of handling. Provided the camera does the basics this overrides everything else because you have to be comfortable with the camera.* Several light metering modes. All modern SLRs have built-in light meters that register the light passing through the lens (TTL). This eliminates the need to adjust the exposure for filters, lens extension and the like. At a minimum you will need a camera that offers manual metering and aperture priority (you set the lens aperture, the camera sets the shutter speed). Other modes are handy at times but not essential.* Wide range of shutter speeds. You’ll often be working with small lens apertures, which necessitate slow shutter speeds. While you won’t have much use for speeds over 1/1000th of a second in garden photography, you will need a good range of slow speeds, including a bulb setting (the shutter remains open as long a you keep pressure on the button). Many modern cameras offer metered speeds down to 30 seconds — 8 seconds is fine, 4 will do.* Remote or cable shutter release. Camera shake is one of the most common causes of blurred photographs. Mounting your camera on a tripod will get rid of the shaking hands but even the most gentle touch of a finger on the shutter button is likely to cause a tremor — your camera must be able to take an electronic or cable-operated shutter release.* Dedicated TTL flash. This is one of the greatest advances in modern photography. By measuring the light falling on the film during a flash exposure, the camera can adjust the flash output. This entirely eliminates the tedious calculations and guesswork that used to be required. Consider it essential.* Depth of field preview. When you look through the viewfinder you see an image through a wide open lens. This is useful because it gives you the brightest possible image for focussing and composition. A depth of field preview button or lever enables you to close down the lens to the taking aperture and view the depth of field as it will appear in the photograph. However, a smaller viewing aperture means a darker viewfinder image, which somewhat negates the benefit of the preview, though it is still a very useful feature to have and one you will use regularly.* Mirror lock-up. An SLR allows you to view the image through the lens by reflecting it into the viewfinder via a mirror. This mirror has to flip up out of the way at exposure time to allow the light to reach the sensor or film. When it reaches the top of its travel the mirror comes to a sudden stop that can set up vibrations in the camera. Mirror lock-up allows you to flip the mirror out the way well before firing the shutter thus eliminating a possible source of vibration.LensesSLR cameras have interchangeable lenses and every lens has different properties. The most important is focal length. This is measured in millimetres — why is not important at this stage. The shorter the focal length the wider the view, the longer the focal length the narrower or more magnified the view.Bear in mind that the information here refers to full-frame sensors, for cropped sensors you will need to multiply the focal length by the cropping factor, so instead of 50 mm being a normal lens it becomes a very short telephoto. The usually slightly wide 35 mm assumes the charcteristics of a 50 mm when used on a small sensor camera.The 50 mm lens is widely regarded as the standard lens for a 35 mm camera. Lenses shorter than this are wide angles and those longer are telephotos. In practice the wide angle effect is not noticeable above 35 mm focal length and 100 m is the minimum for any kind of telephoto effect.Probably more important for plant photographers is the lens’ minimum focussing distance. To achieve anything like a close-up it has to be able to focus close enough to provide a magnification of 1:4, that is the image on the film is one quarter of its real life size. Macro lens (Nikon calls them micro lenses) is a term used for a lens that focuses to at least 1:2. All will focus closer still with accessories and many will go to life size (1:1) unaided.How close this is to the subject depends on the lens’ focal length. The longer the focal length the greater the distance between lens and subject at the same magnification. To attain a magnification of 1:2 with a 50 mm lens the film plane (rear of the camera) will be around 22 cm from the focal plane (subject); a 100 mm lens gives 45 cm and a 200 mm, 90 cm. Short macro lenses force you to work almost right on top of the subject, while long macro lenses tend to rather heavy and unwieldy. For most purposes a macro lens in the 90–105 mm range offers the best combination of close focusing, reasonable working distance and light weight.Your basic lens kit should include a 28 or 35 mm lens (the 28–80 mm zoom that comes as standard with many cameras is fine) and something in the 85–135 mm range, preferably a macro. If you cannot afford a true macro lens, consider obtaining some extension tubes to make your conventional lenses focus closer.TripodI haven’t a good word to say for tripods, except that they keep the camera rock-steady and enable you to take great photographs that would otherwise not be possible. Tripods are unwieldy, heavy and tiresome to carry and setup, but they are indispensable for just about any type of nature photography, especially close-ups.Choose a tripod that is sturdy, rigid and has enough stability to stop it moving in the breeze. It should also be very flexible: able to fit into awkward positions and open all the way down to ground level.Technical basicsThis is a quick look at the physics and optics of taking a photograph: things you can’t alter but which you need to be aware of to get the best from your camera, lenses and film.Depth of fieldIn very simple terms this is how much of the photograph is in focus other than just the plane of focus. This is largely determined by the setting of the lens aperture.ApertureAll but a very few camera lenses contain an aperture diaphragm. It is the collection of wafer thin metal blades within the lens, and is opened or closed by a lever at the rear of the lens, or in some cases electronically.What are the effects of opening or closing the aperture? First it obviously alters the amount of light passing through the lens. Why would you want to close down the aperture if it lowers the light level? Well, that brings us to the second effect of the aperture: variable depth of field. Wide open apertures give shallow depth of field — little in focus but the point of focus — while small apertures give greater depth of field — most of the frame is in focus.Fair enough, but how? The first thing to realise is that a lens is not capable of resolving of focusing a point of light as a point of light, instead it will always be resolved as a small circle. However, when in focus these circles are so tiny that we perceive them as focused points of light. The larger the circles, the more out of focus an image appears. The circles are known as ‘circles of confusion’ because of the way they confuse our perception.While scarcely the correct technical reason, it’s probably easiest to think of the aperture as a circle of confusion sieve. Smaller apertures will sieve out the large circles and more of the image appears in focus, larger apertures let them through resulting in less of the image being in focus. The exact plane of focus does not vary, but the effect of how much of the image appears to be in focus does.So generally you choose to close or stop down the aperture to get more of the image in focus, and open it up when you need as fast a shutter speed as possible.You will notice that the aperture settings of the lens are measured by a series of numbers that seem rather unusual. Unlike the clear progression of shutter speeds (1/250th, 1/500th, 1/1000th of a second, etc), aperture settings (1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6 and so on) seem an unusual collection of numbers. In fact they follow a very similar progression: each succeeding setting allows through half the light of the one preceding it.The question is, if each succeeding number lets through half the light why isn’t it half the size? Well, the aperture diaphragm creates a near-circular hole and simple geometry says that we can find the area of a circle by using the formula pi X r², which means that to halve the area of a circle, we have to lessen the radius by a factor of 1/1.4. For example, if we have a 100 mm lens it will be at full aperture (f1) with a diaphragm 100 mm wide, giving an area of 31,415 mm². To halve that area we have to reduce the radius of the aperture to around 70.1 mm or approximately 100/1.4. To get a quarter of the original area we have to reduce the radius to 50 mm or 100/2.While a little confusing at first, the beauty of this system is that it is consistent across all lenses. So when focussing a group of lenses of equal clarity at infinity, set at the same aperture and pointed at the same object, the light meter in the camera should give the same reading for all of the lenses.Other factorsImage magnification and lens focal lengths also affect how we perceive depth of field. But to avoid getting too technical and carried away on perception versus reality, it’s probably best that I recommend further reading rather than try and cover such things here.Shutter speedSmall apertures mean less light reaches the film. Unlike out eyes, which cannot discern objects if there is insufficient light, film can compensate for low light by being exposed for longer. So, small apertures require longer shutter speeds to provide the right exposure. However, long shutter speeds lead to problems with camera and subject movement. While we can eliminate camera movement by using a tripod, foliage and flowers are continually ruffled by the breeze. There are times when I feel that I spend most of my time waiting for the breeze to die down.You can try shooting early in the morning or in the evening when the conditions are less breezy. You can also try carry small bamboo stakes and ties to restrain foliage. You can even carry a small enclosure of translucent plastic as a windbreak. But whatever you do, you’ll need to be patient.Film speedFilms are rated at varying speeds according to their sensitivity to light. Fast films are more sensitive than slow films. At any given light level, fast films allow you to use smaller lens apertures or faster shutter speeds than slow films. This speed rating is measured using ISO numbers, typically 100, 200, 400 and 800, and it has been carried over for use on digital cameras as a measure of the light sensitivity of the sensor, All sensors have a "native" film speed and the higher speeds are not as sharp and clear as the lower speeds. This is due to an changes in the signal to noise ratio and results in what are known as "noisy" images, an effect similar to the grain seen in high-speed films, though usually less intrusive.CompositionComposition is simply how the elements of a photograph are arranged within the frame. Vital as good composition is, it is just a matter of deciding what to include and what to leave out. However, unlike painters, who can pick and choose when it comes to deciding how to depict a scene, photographers cannot shift or greatly modify the scenery.We have to carefully consider many elements in the composition of our photographs. Some are simple matters of observation: making sure nothing unwanted intrudes into the scene, some are technical: the camera position and degree of magnification, and others are artistic: the lighting and the arrangement of the flowers and foliage.All of these aspects are tightly interwoven and combine to form the final image. Any attempt to analyse a photograph by dissecting its composition and the photographic techniques involved is very difficult. We all know a good photograph when we see one, but that doesn’t mean that we can simply slot all the parts together to come up with a good shot. Like painting by numbers, the results of such an attempt usually look lifeless and contrived. The personal touch makes the difference that sets apart the mechanical from the inspired. Because of this, nothing defines the style of a photographer more than the way he or she composes a photograph.Common problems, like why flowers that looked so huge in the viewfinder are so tiny on the film, and intruding power pole or wires, result from not looking closely enough before firing the shutter. Scan the whole viewfinder to make sure it's filled as well as possible and use your depth-of-field preview to check out for unwelcome intrusions that may show up later.Although experience eliminates most problems and inevitably comes with time, you have to start somewhere, and there are a few vital points to consider when composing your photographs.Avoid high-contrast lighting, especially for close-ups. Sunlight provides plenty of light and allows for fast shutter speeds with small lens apertures, but it leads to high contrast photographs that are seldom satisfying. Film is just not capable of recording the full range of light intensity from bright sun to deep shade. If you expose for the shadows, the highlights (sunny parts) appear washed out and over exposed, but if you expose for the highlights, the shadows will be underexposed and very dark. Overcast skies provide soft diffused light that eliminates the contrast problem. You can also modify bright sunlight by using diffusers (muslin, translucent plastic sheet or something similar). An alternative is to use a reflector or a burst of light from a flash to “fill” the shadows with light. Some cameras offer automated fill-flash or you can do it manually with a little experimenting.There are exceptions to this rule. Long shots that show an entire tree or garden scene are often better taken in sunlight. Taking such photographs on cloudy days tends to result in washed out skies that take up a large part of the shot. Provided there is not too much dark shade to distract from the sunlit scene, blue skies will look better. Also, plants from hot, sunny areas often look more at home in a sunlit scene. Again reflectors or fill-flash can be useful to slightly tone down the contrast.Don’t place the main subject in the centre of the frame. It may make focussing easier but if you always put the subject in the middle all of your photographs will look the same. Although I’m against arbitrary composition rules, consider the rule of thirds. Dividing the frame into three even parts horizontally and vertically gives a frame with a nine-part grid. Moving your subject away from the centre, towards one of the outer part of the grid will lessen the “bullseye” look of your photographs.Balance the frame. Shifting your subject away from the centre leaves the top or bottom or one side of the frame to fill. Try to avoid blank or “dead” areas in the frame. When photographing a flower balance it with some foliage, or take a group of flowers rather than an isolated individual.Consider the lines that cut across the frame. Because we are conditioned to having everything square and regular, diagonal lines tend to add quite an impact to a photograph. Now I’m not suggesting you tilt the horizon or have trees growing sideways, just consider your use of diagonals when arranging arching stems or shooting flower beds.Consider lines that lead into the frame. The S curve, a line the meanders in an s-pattern from the front to the back of a shot, is one of the great photographic cliches. Nevertheless it is very effective and certainly leads the viewer into the picture. Things like garden paths often provide sweeping curves and you can often achieve a similar effect with branches, stems and leaves.Remember, there are no rules of composition, only guides. If something appeals to you, photograph it. Even if the shot ends up in the bin, you will have gained a little more experience that could make all the difference next time.Close-upsMacro lenses make taking close-ups easy, but bear in mind that the closer you get, the more abstract your subject becomes and the more explanation the photograph will require. Often a shot from further back is actually better because it is more self-explanatory. Consider what you are trying to achieve with a close-up. If you are trying a show a rarely seen aspect of a plant or a botanical study (a record of dissection), fine. But if you’re just getting closer for the sake of it or as a way of filling the frame, think about how a casual viewer would interpret the scene. Is it immediately understandable or easily explained?*********Regardless of your results or how little you may understand of the technical side of photography, keep on taking photographs. The more you shoot, the more you’ll appreciate what you’re doing right and where you’re going wrong. Experience, practice and critical analysis through comparing your work with the best on offer in books and magazines are the best ways to advance.

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