Photography class, part one.

[william9in]

Thanks for the info

[ellisonk001]

Paul,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share you expertise with us. This is very well written and easy to follow. It made me think hard to remember things that I had learned in Photo class in high school, lets just say a loooong time ago. I normally just use a point an shoot, but will see about using my daughter camera to try some of the things you suggest.

Thanks again for sharing!!!

[sunbelle]

Personally, I don't like the look of photos with a very shallow depth of field. It's a matter of taste, but sometimes the backgrounds can be used for stunning effect. Trent used to teach a photography class at Palm Beach Photographic Center. It's funny because I'm the one shooting photos of the plants, and the professional photographer gives me feedback. Over the years I have taken thousands and thousands of photographs of our collection and nursery. Trent is happiest with the plant photos when they look like an image on slide film. I think the "look" Trent adores is really somewhere between snapshot and botanical illustration. He likes when the photograph is not too fussy but almost as if classical music could be playing.

Good lighting is the key for me. I will observe the plant in different light levels to see when the lighting is most attractive. I wait days sometimes.

I also like being able to capture the personality of the plant. It's important for me to try different angles or points of view as I try to find "the good side" of a pitcher, or the entire plant which is always more difficult. No one likes a sideways pitcher. Often I will spray r/o mist on the leaves and pitchers, wait for the color to become vibrant in that perfect lighting I've been waiting for, and magic can happen.

It's always interesting to share info like this...
Paul, thanks for posting on the topic, keep going.
Michelle

[sunbelle]

Here's a little tip or pointer for you Paul... the hanging basket in the photo above is very distracting, with the little bits of mix showing through. In many ways the basket is more "busy" than the background.

Another pointer would be: try and make sure the entire peristome stays in focus.

[paulbarden]

Aug 11, 2012 21:38:19 GMT 7 sunbelle said:

Here's a little tip or pointer for you Paul... the hanging basket in the photo above is very distracting, with the little bits of mix showing through. In many ways the basket is more "busy" than the background.

Another pointer would be: try and make sure the entire peristome stays in focus.

Michelle brings up two excellent points! She is quite right in pointing out that the soil mix visible through the slatted container is visually "noisy", and an unpleasant distraction. Ideally, you would want to make an effort to play down this kind of noise, either by positioning your key subject matter (in this case the pitcher at center forefront) in such a way as to separate it from the pot, or "dress up" the pot to correct the problem. It would likely be easiest to manipulate the pitcher into a position away from the problem area, and isolate it from its surroundings more. IE: some stiff wire could be used to lift the leaf away from the container, allowing you to isolate the pitcher and get closer to make it the sole feature.

The second point Michelle makes is the lack of sharpness towards the back of the peristome; the depth of field in this instance is not sufficient to do that properly. However, in the context of this "lesson" it wasn't my intent to produce a "finished" image, but to simply illustrate a single tool a photographer might consider when approaching his subject. If it was my intention to male this a finished piece, I would definitely have chosen a greater depth of field (smaller aperture) in order to sharpen the details of the peristome, rather than allow the rear 2/3 to drop completely out of focus. So please keep in mind that, as a single exercise, I wanted to talk about one feature of lens function, not do a complete walk-thorough whose goal was to end with a completed work. I'll make an effort in the future to be more clear about the goals of any information I present in similar context ;-)


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[william9in]

Paul I have used your info to improve my photos.

[hotsummer]

The second picture is beautiful.

[william9in]

Photography class, part one info is gone! What happened to Paul???