But for sure.
Just do it - with your digital camera.
Try different environmental conditions (daytimes)
and try even flashlight in full sun.
I have good experiences with that.

And be sure:
It can take A LOT OF recordings, jusqu'Ã ce que you discover the very one which you find to focuse in the most pronounced manner the essential features...
of one plant or one flower stand or even one single bloom
...you had (perhaps) the vision to express within your photo.

From that you can guess that I estimate photographing as a serious kind of art production.
In my opinion this kind of art demands far more carefull inspection of the photographic object of raveousness/voracity than... technical expertise.

And, funny, and believe me or not:
I am meanwhile capable of making a mediocre or even inferior amaryllis SHINE a little bit better than it looks in reality - because I change my orientation / my "point of view" (in the direct sense of the word) until i finally find the best position to extract this maximum performance I had the vision of.
But nota bene: That has nothing to do with these contumelious or should I be saying bare faced exaggerations in these lousy commercial photos.

These concoctions respire pure razor sharp marketing motivation (taking the consumer for stupidly-easily to be desinformed) - and lack any littke grain of love for the plant per se

Hans-Werner

Ummm, I don't think I understand the post above...but I photograph A LOT.

What kind of camera are you going to use for this? Are you using auto focus and exposure?

Without knowing what kind of camera you are using its difficult to give exact advice....but I can give you some gerneral advice.

I like having a plain background......so I use a piece of dark green velvet behind most of my flower pics. This will usually come out looking black in the photos. This also prevents unwanted distractions.

Lighting is everything.....I prefer natural lighting comming in a window or being outdoors.......If outdoors make sure not to be in high sunlight....morning or evening is best, or on an over cast day. Also use fill flash if there is lots of dark shadows.

For composition....basically set up different angles and take a few different pics......you might find that you prefer one angle over another....and the next time you take pics....you can take more from that angle.

Good luck and I am looking forward to seeing your pics!
Sierra

Yes I agree particularly as regards to naturall sunlight as basis light. not to forget that it serves for the secure adjustement of the autofocus. (Although I would prefer to have a disable-able autofocus in order to do the setting myself)
BTW.
Sierra, What, did you say, did you not understand (particularly){{gwi:413338}}

Well, I Understand Hans-Werner in terms of you can show anything you want in a photo. If you are good with PhotoShop then you can make it far better than it ever was. I do a lot of photography through a microscope and it is true what they say......tell me what you want to see and I can get it in the pic.....

Having said that.....I agree with what was said above....take your pics on an overcast day as this eliminates harsh sunlight. If you have a good camera and you are comfortable using it then do not use auto anything....get a good macro lens so that you can get the phenominal shots of the inner workings of the plant or those really nice tight shots of a small flower. While I used to do this a lot with my old SLR it has been awhile...but I have no need for publication quality photos at this stage in my life.

I also agree about the background....in general, you want a black background to eliminate distraction....again, if you are decent at all with PhotoShop you can extract the image you want and drop it onto a black background to make the image pop off the page...you can then take the photo anywhere you want and create your background later...this is trivial to do if you have the program.

You can spend an inordinate amount of time taking photos of your plants if you have the desire.....the real glossy catalogues spend a lot of money to get the right shot to convince us all that we just have to have that plant that looks nothing like the picture in the catalogue once it is in your yard....as Hans-Werner says. I actually know a guy that is buying thousands of $$ worth of plants to be able to bloom them and take pics for publications because it is cheaper to buy the plants and grow them than to pay for copyrighted photos.

Point and Shoot camera...overcast day.....PhotoShop....tons of photos to get just what you are looking for......my recommendation :o) Dan

Take as many shots as you can - then go back and take some more! I try to photograph the flowers at all stages, not just when the buds are fully open.

Sorry if I offended anyone.....that wasn't my intent.

I take pics for publication and I agree....flowers can be made look better than what they actually are....but that is not what the original poster is asking about here.

I don't use auto on my cameras.....but many people have point and shoot cameras and only use auto....so if this was the case...I didn't see any point in giving specifics for none auto. I also do not depend on photoshop to make my pics great. Many photographers these days just take medeocher pics and then try to make them presentable with photoshop.....The best pics are taken by photographers that know how to use their cameras....and only use photoshop for touchups and such. But again...this has nothing to do with the question from the original poster, who wants to take pics of their collection of amaryllis.

So back on topic....Amaryll...good luck with your photos..I look forward to seeing all your beautiful flowers.

Sierra

OOOPS
Sierra:
I assure you did not offend,
no no

and I think DAN has hit the point
"What you get is what you... want" (achieved by
1)choosing an exceptional position of view (using the term "exceptional" in its bad sense now being equal to "not represenrtative") and
2)by mercy-less (towards the reality) using the glorious features of image file postprocessing software...

Liebe Gruesse
Hans-Werner

guttation of Tradescantia spathacea
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clickable th_

Just a digital camera. How do you organize the photos after you take them?

The camera should come with software that allows you to do simple editing and organizing. You can also get PhotoShop Elements (a simplified version of Photoshop) that includes features for editing and organizing your files..

Thanks. I was wondering if anyone did anything like scrapbooking with notes. I have that book Amaryllis which is basically photos and notes of one grower's season. I don't want to just take the photos and end up with a bunch of images on my computer when I could do something more in the way of notes, but not quite a journal. I just wondered how people kept their photos over time. It seems like an opportunity to take notes about growing methods and how they turn out. Is there digital photo software that lets you saves notes related to the photo?

Hello Amaryll and everyone else...

I got into photography with my digital camera a few yrs ago and was inspired to do lots of macro photography of my amaryllis as they came in to bloom. The inspiration was from an amaryllis book I got around that time. The author did the photographpy herself and had some wonderful shots. I'm including a link here to take you to a web page a good friend did for me...it has most of the pictures I've taken.

http://www.mosaictilecreations.com/Gerards%20Gallery/index.html

I agree that one should try to use their camera to take the best shots they can before going to photoshop but in my experience..one can't always do that especially with the lower end cameras...so photoshop comes in real handy to help tweak the picture to represent the true colour of the blooms etc. It's all a process and I don't think there is one right or wrong way :-).

Let me know what you think

It's so great we have our own forum now! YIPPEEEE...

G.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gerard's Amaryllis Gallery

Amaryll,

Have a look at the program, PhotoShop Elements 4.0. Its a fairly new program .....that has the tools for scrapbooking plus the organizer/photo album.....This might be what you are looking for.

Have fun,
Sierra

Thanks all. I will check out that Photoshop Elements program.
Cuddlyotter - That's a beautiful site. How sophisticated a camera are you working with there? I am not working with anything fancy; just your typical big box store digital camera.

Amaryll, just to toss in my 2 cents; you can insert photos into a Word document, so you can have as many pics as you want with as many notes as you want. Occam's Razor rules!

Korina (I only do African violets, really! The three Amaryllis are only a coincidence, like the book 'Amaryllis'. Honest.)

Hi:
Bored, just reading the post,I take pictures with an old
Minolta 360.35 mm SLR camera, that works fine and see no reason to buy a new digital toy.
I take a lot of pictures of my roses,some good some bad,
but wish to enjoy the pictures that I have taken,and I
would not enjoy them if they were phony pictures, all
reconfigured with a software program,not saying that the
process wouldnt be okay for other applications, such as
ones occupation.
I use manual and bracket my pictures,hoping one would be
right on,giving the right colours etc. Sometimes shadows
really make a picture or backlighting..
So now I think I will take some Amaryllis pictures, this
year..thanks for the idea.
For close ups I have a reverse ring that I use with my reg
52 lens, which in effect you turn the 52 around and fasten it to the reverse ring.Think I have it right, been years
since I have done this..
Have Happy New Year Jack

Rosegrower....the reverse ring and reverse lens makes for some nice and interesting macro shots. I would be interested in seeing some of your flower shots with this technique.

I have used this method of photography as well.....just not with flowers.

Sierra

Santa was good to me and now I have a nicer digital camera. I am going to start experimenting this weekend with the bulbs that I have in bloom, which are mostly amaryllis and hyacinth. Any suggestions for a background when filing indoors?

I would use colored backgrounds with the exception of red, probably. White and red tend to burn out in pictures and they easily and readily alter the colors around them.