WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PLANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Plant photography can be really frustrating, you find a beautiful copy, worthy of admiration and display and you capture it with your camera. When you get home and download the image on the computer you realize that all the beauty has vanished, why? ... This is one of the frustrations of the photographer, especially in the beginning. But don't worry, that in this blog we work to avoid warming you up. In today's post I will tell you everything you need to know to get more beautiful images.

What do you need?
Climatology
The best hours of the day
Some practical advice
Where to find the plants
Curiosities
Links of interest
Caring for the environment

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

In addition to your camera ... obvious, right? You will need the following. They are not essential accessories, but they will help you get more stunning photos.

Objectives: the ideals for this type of photography would be a macro and / or a telephoto lens . The TV will help you isolate your copy of the background, leaving the latter totally blurred and highlighting the plant. With the macro you can capture all the tiny details of the plant. You will see it better in the following examples. Watch the background blur with the TV and see the details captured by the macro in the second image.

Image taken with telephoto lens.

Image taken with macro lens.

Tripod: one of the main problems that arise with this type of photography is the trepidation (or what is the same, that the image is moved). To avoid this effect it is best to use a tripod (if you are thinking of buying one, I recommend you read this before). The ideal for these cases is one that has an easy articulation and that can be adjusted to a low level, at the same level of the plant. A trick , for very low or small plants you can support your camera in a bag or sack filled with rice or similar. (Check out this bricophotography article, in it you will discover how to make a homemade tripod and other accessories). And if you also shoot with the timer or with a remote trigger, you will avoid any movement, at least, caused by pressing the button.
Flash: it will be of great help when there is not enough light or to fill in the shadows when the opposite happens, that the light is very intense.
Reflectors: serve to fill the shadows. You can use the typical reflectors or agency yourself with an aluminum foil, the inside of a tetrabrick or a white cardboard.

CLIMATOLOGY

By now you will know how important light is in photography and, in this sense, you should also know that a very sunny and cloudless day is not exactly the best time to capture images of plants. Why? Because this type of light causes many shadows and brightness that cause details of what we want to photograph to be lost. Contrary to what you can imagine, a cloudy day is much more appropriate in which the light is much softer and will be distributed much more evenly. If you want to know what I mean by hard light and soft light, here Iaio explains it very clearly, and you can check it in the following images: Other moments that are not at all advisable are windy days, as it is one of the greatest enemies of this type of photography. Any movement caused by air will spoil your photo. If necessary, to combat it you can use a mat or cardboard that protects your plant from the wind. Or shoot in burst and then discard those that do not serve you. And, believe it or not, rainy days can be a good opportunity. If you don't believe me, read this article to convince yourself.

THE BEST HOURS OF THE DAY

In relation to what I said in the previous point, it is important that you know that in the central hours of the day the resulting light is much harder, especially at noon. The best hours for photography in general, and in this one in particular, are the first and last of the day. And if what you want is to find that golden tone that gives a magical point to the photographs, take advantage of the sunrise and sunset, what is known as the «golden hour». You will get images like this.

Golden hour

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE

Take care of the background.You can put a colored cardboard behind the plant. You can also use the sky as a background, you just have to change the perspective and shoot at "ant view."
Choose the appropriate time based on the result you expect.
Use a large aperture to blur the background or what is the same, a small depth of field . If you are still not clear about all this, do not miss this video:
Shoot with a low ISO to better capture details and sharper.
If your camera has the option, lock the mirror so that when you get up it does not cause shaking.
Always carry a notebook and a pen to take notes, the names of the plants, where you found them ...
If you cannot choose the schedule and you have to photograph some plants with hard light, you can use the fill flash, reflectors or photograph the plants you find in the shade.
Plan the framing. The good thing in these cases is that the plants, if not for the wind, do not move (and in this case they will not go very far ). Which means you can take the time you want to study the framing because the scene is not going to change.
Shoot from several angles to get different results.
Practice shooting at different times of the day to compare the results.
Take advantage of sunrise dew or raindrops. If it is not possible, you can also take a sprayer and spray the plant with it.
Branch with dew drops
Try editing your photos in black and white.
Try editing your photographs of black and white plants
Shoot backlight to capture the silhouette of your plant.
Highlights the siluteta shooting backlit
Use black or white backgrounds to get some poster images.

Be very patient. Do not despair at the first exchange. It may be a bit frustrating at first, but if you keep practicing and you take the tip you will feel great satisfaction!

WHERE TO FIND THE PLANTS

If you want to find exotic specimens like these, you will have to travel to New Zealand or Canada.

Trumpets of the Eastern US and Canada

New Zealand giant fern

However, you may not have to travel so far. Is there a Botanical Garden in your city or country? In places like this you will find an immense variety of plants without the need to travel or search with magnifying glass through the field rare or colorful specimens. You can also serve a nursery, a florist or a university faculty with botany subjects that have gardens for study. This carnivorous plant was photographed in a Botanical Garden.

Carnivorous plant in Botanical Garden

CURIOSITIES

Did you know that the first illustrated book in history was a book of plants from the herbaria of botanist and photographer Anna Atkins ?
There is a photographer who has dedicated himself to photograph what he considers the aura of plants. His name is Robert Buelteman .

TAKE CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Finally, I beg you to be respectful of plants. They are "heritage" of planet Earth, they are living beings that we must care for and pamper. Portray them, but do not harm them, or their environment. I will not tire of repeating that if you do not practice you do not learn. Words are blown away, erased by memory or lost in virtual space, but practice is what solidifies knowledge, which makes you learn. Find your camera and put into practice what you have read here. And if you have found it useful, I would appreciate it if you would give this article a "like" or share it with your friends

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