Flower Garden Photography

A guide to photographing flowers and gardens, offering guidance on selective focus, use of color, light, composition, equipment, and other aspects of plant photography, and including an introduction to the digital darkroom.

Make great photos of flowers, gardens, landscapes and the beautiful world around us

Gardens are everywhere, all around us. In this long-awaited guide to garden photography, noted botanical photographer and author Harold Davis tackles the subject of garden photography with an expansive brush. In this book, you’ll find techniques for photographing extreme macro subjects while becoming a better landscape photographer. From tiny flowers to vast landscapes, your photography can be enhanced using the techniques you will discover in Creative Garden Photography.

What is a garden? The topic of garden photography encompasses a huge range of photographic styles and techniques that can be applied to almost any kind of photography. Learn to use this toolset from one of the acknowledged modern masters of photography.

• Explore gardens, types of gardens, and how best to photograph them

• Create stunning floral macros and high-key imagery

• Learn techniques for adding impressionism to your photos

• Use light and creative exposures to enhance your imagery

• Master close-up focusing, depth-of-field, and focus stacking

• Create your own custom field studio “in a bucket”

• Complete exposure data and the story behind every photo

“My goal as a photography teacher and writer about photography is to inspire and to help you become the best and most creative photographer and image-maker that you can be.”
—Harold Davis

“Harold Davis’s etherial floral arrangements have a purity and translucence that borders on the spiritual.”
—Popular Photo Magazine

“Davis is a pioneer and a new art form—part photographer, part digital illusionist.”
—Rangefinder Magazine

“Harold Davis’s Creative Photography series is a great way to start a photography library.”
—PhotoFidelity

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ENTERING THE GARDEN
Understanding Gardens
Garden Styles and Purposes
Different Kinds of Garden Photography
Garden Purpose and Design Informs Photography

OF LIGHT AND GARDEN
Sunrise, Sunset, Blue Hours, Golden Hour

ON LOCATION: THE ROMANTIC GARDEN, SCHWETZINGEN AT SUNRISE, GERMANY

ON THE IPHONE: SNAPSEED

USING A TRIPOD
Using a Tripod for More Creative Options
Tripods for Garden Photography: Materials, Legs, Types of Heads
Tripod Tips and Tricks

BLENDING EXPOSURES TO EXTEND RANGE

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE GARDEN
Photographing the Zen Garden

ON LOCATION: IMPERIAL GARDENS OF OLD NARA, JAPAN

CONVERTING TO BLACK AND WHITE

IMPRESSIONISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Camera in Motion
Subject in Motion with Camera Stationary
Creative Exposures
In-Camera Multiple Exposures
Post-Production

ON LOCATION: PHOTOGRAPHING MONET'S GIVERNY, FRANCE

ON THE IPHONE: WATERLOGUE

FOCUSING ON REPETITION
Compositions with Repeating Garden Elements and Patterned Spaces
Best Practices in Focus
Depth of Field

ON LOCATION: THE PARC DE SCEAUX, FRANCE

FOCUS STACKING

DRAGONFLIES, BEES, AND WASPS
Stopping Motion
Getting Close
Dealing with Those that Sting
Auxiliary Lighting: Reflectors, Macro Strobes, LED Lighting

WATER DROPS AND SPIDER WEBS
Refractions in Close-Up Photography
Spider-Web Studio

MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR

GARDENS OF THE MIND

PRINTING GARDEN PHOTOS

NOTES & RESOURCES
Off-Beat Garden Photography Tools
Places to Practice Garden Photography
Recommended iPhone Apps for Garden Photography
iPhone Workflow
ImageBlender

NOTES AND RESOURCES
GLOSSARY
INDEX

"Fell, an award-winning garden writer, has numerous books, magazine articles, and popular calendars to his credit, most illustrated with his own photographs....an insider's view of professional garden photography that encompasses a host of aesthetic concerns as well as the nuts-and-bolts aspects of taking pictures in various camera formats. A wealth of enticing images accompanies Fell's informative explanations of personal experiences and solid advice on the selection of subject matter, generating and marketing one's work, and how to stay on top of the many details involved in the gratifying business of photographing flowers, gardens, and landscapes."--"Booklist." ..".is a 'must-have'..."--"Photo Techniques." ..".a soup-to-nuts treatment..."--"Photo District News."

This beautiful book explains the basics of composition and using your camera, but quickly moves on to show you how to try many different flower photography techniques, both indoors and out. Through clear step-by-step guides and stunning examples, it shows you how to capture the smallest flower portrait through to broad garden landscapes. There are ideas on how to develop a creative eye using available light, colour and background. The most important rules of flower photography are explained, and also how to break them. It shows how to use a light box in your home for flower portrait photography and still life and explains how to edit your photos and take them to another level. As well as practical advice it provides inspiration through a monthly photo gallery giving ideas of botanical subjects to capture throughout the year.

A master photographer shares his wisdom on the special challenges and possibilities flowers offer.

Learning the art of composition. Making the most of garden features. Capturing the spirit of a garden. Photographing close-ups and vistas. Exploring the magic of light and colour. Choosing and using cameras and accessories. -- Cover, page [4]

Capture stunning macro floral images with this gorgeous guide by acclaimed photographer Harold Davis. You'll learn about different types of flowers, macro equipment basics, and the intricacies of shooting different floral varieties in the field and in the studio. Harold also shows you techniques in the Photoshop darkroom that can be applied to flower photography to help you get the most out of your images. Beautiful and authoritative, this guide to photographing flowers is a must-read for every photographer interested in flower photography. Photographing Flowers will also win a place in the hearts of those who simply love striking floral imagery.

From Versailles to the home vegetable garden, from worlds imagined by artists to food production recorded by journalists, The Photographer in the Garden traces the garden's rich history in photography and delights readers with spectacular photographs. An informative essay from curator Jamie M. Allen and commentaries by Sarah Anne McNear broaden our understanding of photography and explore our unique relationship with nature through the garden. This is a sublime book bringing together some of history's most stunning photography.