Question on Photography of our flowering bulbs
Jane McGary (Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:40:23 PST)

Because I deal with a lot of plant photos in the journal and books I
edit, I think I can advise Justin although I'm not a professional
photographer myself.

He wrote:

Often macro photos are not as useful for publication as photos that
show more than just the flower. Macros can be very artistic, but
readers tend to like photos that also show the leaves and some
background so they get an idea of what the plant may look like in the
garden or in nature.

You should always remove debris that is impeding the view of the
plant, provided you can do so without damaging other valuable plants
or damaging the object itself. A blade of grass may not look to you
like an obstacle when you see it in reality, but when it shows up in
the photo, it will make the difference between a prize-winning or
publishable photo and one that the editor sadly rejects.

Another problem that often occurs with garden photos is that the
photographer doesn't consider what's in the background. It may be an
unattractive building (or even a perfectly normal-looking house),
cars, power lines, the kids' wading pool, and so on. You should
always try to keep unrelated and manufactured objects out of your
plant photos, unless they are ornamental and integral to the garden.
If photographing a plant at the roadside, keep the road out of the frame.

Another thing that bothers me is getting a digital photo that has
been color-enhanced so that the flower appears to be a color that it
never displays in nature. You see this in commercial catalogs a lot
(crocuses the color of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, e.g.), but a reader
or editor who has seen the actual plant will know what you've been up to.

When I photograph plants in pots, I sometimes lift the pots and then
sink them in a sand pile near my bulb frames so they will be isolated
and look more like they're in the ground. You can improve the
lighting this way too. Professional plant photographers use big
reflectors to improve the lighting.

I run an annual photo contest for the Rock Garden Quarterly, with
different judges from year to year, and the different people tend to
have varying standards and pet peeves. However, it has given me some
perspective on what works and what doesn't, and has also improved my
own very amateur photography. (The digital SLR is what improved it
the most, though.)

Jane McGary