So, I’ve had a few people ask me about how I photograph plants. My response is pretty simple. I just press the button. 🙂 HA!
Recently, fellow garden-plant-homie-dude Derek, who is the author of the wonderful plant blog Plantgasm (twitter: @Plantgasm) suggested I do a post on my set up. This is actually a post that I’ve been wanting to do for a couple weeks, and thanks to his encouragement, I’m putting this up.
I gotta mention – below is what works for me. I encourage you to try, experiment, learn, and just play around to see what works best for you! I would love to also hear about your photo experiences too. I have to also tell you that I am NOT a professional photographer. Just a dude who likes to take a lot of pictures.
THE GEAR:
So, when I shoot, I use digital SLR (SLR = Single Lens Reflex) cameras, or DSLR’s for short. I favor shooting with these types of camera because of the control and flexibility they provide for photography. I won’t bore you about all the details here, but you can always check out the wiki and the google and read up about DLSR’s for yourself. I started out while back just using point and shoots. On the left is my very first DSLR camera that I still do use from time to time. It’s a Canon XTi that I’ve had for a few years. On the right is a Canon 7d. Now: bear in mind it’s not the camera or brand that makes the shot. It’s really about who’s behind that view finder, capturing a vision, then conveying it in the photo. There’s always going to be debate on which brand is best, or which gear is best. To me, it’s not about that but rather what the final product is. Some people think the more expensive the camera, the better the photo. Well, it’s not all about the “bling” factor of your gear. Just use what you have! 🙂
Those rings above – are actually little macro lens adapters. This allows me to get closer to my subject. It’s a rather inexpensive way to get a nice close up photo without spending so much on a macro lens. It comes in varying powers that attach to your lens. The higher the number, the closer you can get to your subject. You can combine them too. Now, if you decide to go this route, make sure that the diameter of your lens matches up with the adapters. For example, this is my 50 mm lens that I use a lot, and the diameter is 52mm. Often times it’s reflected as the “Ø” symbol.  Depending how close I want to get, I’ll change it up from not using an adapter at all, to combining all of them.
Here’s a photo of the nifty 50mm with the +2 adapter on.
One of the things I really love about photography with these camera’s is being able to control the depth of field, or “DOF”. This is that “background blurred out” effect you see . For example, in the photo above of my lens, you see how the focus is on the adapter itself and how the rest of the photo is kind of blurred out? That’s an example of a somewhat shallow depth of field. You can control this by adjusting your f-stop on the camera. This is the number you see next to the “f”. Above photo was shot at f 4. The lower the number, the shallower the depth of field. The larger the number, the more foreground to background you can see. For something more comprehensive that won’t bore you like I probably am doing, here’s a pretty straightforward video.
ON TO THE SET!
Some folks have asked about the black background in the photos. So, what do I use? I use various things actually that are solid black – one of which, is just poster board that I painted with black chalkboard paint The chalkboard paint was leftover from a co-workers building project. He asked if I wanted it and I figured out a good use for it!
I try to use something that has a matte type finish so that it minimizes the light reflection.  I’ve used things such as the black back of clipboard, to the flat black luggage inserts. The board in the above photo needs some retouching though. I’ll probably repaint it this weekend or something. Others I know use things like… black velvet, black cloth, landscape fabric… Hey, whatever works!
Oh, you see white piece of paper in the shot? That’s actually my reflector! With some shots, I’ll hold the paper just outside the shot to reflect the light back onto the subject. It brightens it up a bit.
The time of day is important too. Shooting when lighting is even is best. Morning, dusk, or cloudy days are great times to photograph because you won’t get that strong lighting and strong contrasting shadows.  A lot of times, I’ll take my photos during these periods.
Another thing I wanted to point out in my photo above is that this was mid day with the sun high. This gave me some issues, but I’m still able to work around it. When the lighting is even, I don’t have a problem with the background. When the lighting is strong, I have to angle the board away from the sun so that the black side is shaded. Otherwise if it’s facing the sun, or has excess light reflecting on it, I’ll have a grayish cast in the background. I’ll still throw a few photos up this way, but I always feel lazy when I do. Ha! Notice in the photo that I’ve angled the board away from the sun and just left it propped up so that the black side is shaded.
Next, I take the camera, and move in on the subject and frame the shot. I composed both of the shots of this plant below with the main focus in the upper third of the frame. Photo composure adds some visual interest to the photos. For example, you can read about it here. In the photos below, I AM holding the paper outside the shot underneath the flower and pitcher to brighten it up a bit. The photo below of the pitcher has a really bright hood just because it was shot mid day and the noon sun was blazing on it. I would of liked to shoot it in more even lighting, but I guess for illustrative purposes, the photos will do. 🙂
THE SHOTS:
Sarracenia hybrid
Sarracenia hybrid
I hope you all liked this little look behind the scenes – now get out there, grow something, and shoot it!
Derek, thanks again for your kind encouragement and prodding to post this process!
