Easy - get my husband to take all photos, lol.

Bracketing photos, taking a series of the same subject, usually ensures at least one good photo. Use different angles and distances. Taking the same photo at different times of day can produce varied results. The sunlight factor changes a lot as the sun travels across the sky. I, too, have a lot of trouble with light bounce because of the strength of the sun here.

Lorna

Move all the background hoses, pots, kids toys for an uncluttered background.

Take photos early in the morning before the sun is too bright.

Take lots of photos!

From a viewer's perspective: I love shots of the whole bed when possible...then maybe a closeup of a particular plant that is the star at the moment.

I get lots of great ideas from the combinations.

I have a new Panasonic DMC-FZ8 that I still have not begun to master. So my only advice is no full sun.

I have a new Canon PowerShot SD1000, so I'm still in the process of figuring it out. I, too, have a foliage setting that I like best. The pictures stay in focus better with that setting. I also prefer using it for closeups rather than the macro setting. I use the Vivid setting for colors as all the colors seem to pop with that setting. I have tried taking pictures at all times of the day and everyone is right, mornings and evenings are best. I have been experimenting with the Cloudy and Daylight settings, because one of them (can't remember which) darkens the pictures up some.

I haven't figured out yet how to get good shots of white flowers. They just become one big blur. If anyone has some advice about that, please let me know.

Mary

I'm still researching new cameras as I'm hoping to get a DSL soon. So right now I have a Cybershot, roughly five years old.

Definitely be wary of your background and the framing of your photo. Don't be afraid to get down on the ground, or at least kneel down, for a shot. Try some from different angles; angles you wouldn't normally try. Those are often my favourite photos.

Early morning photos are best for me because of the angle of the sun in our neighborhood. Cloudy days are nice, too. I find the colors more vibrant in my photos then.

I use my macro setting a lot to capture all the little details. For full-bed shot, instead of taking them straight on I walk to one end and take the shot from an angle. It makes the beds look more lush!!

Tracy

a2z, can I borrow your husband? Once I get everything edged, mulched, pruned, etc.?

Seriously, Experience with film: bracketing!!! If your camera allows you to control, try one stop of under- and over- exposing. Seems to me the best thing about digital is you don't have to save it, feel free to experiment. Depth of field comes into play: the wider the lens is open, the less will be in focus. This can be a good thing to isolate your subject, but focus becomes more important.

Mary with the white flowers: would you think it cheating to set up a colored umbrella near by, something out of the photo which could lend some highlights.

Ana

I love to take pictures when its foggy and after a rain. The raindrops enhance the flowers and foliage and the mulch or soil looks so fresh.

The secret is, patience. Lot's of patience. I like to photograph animals, most especially bees and butterflies. Three years I've tried in vain to get a good shot of my Anise Hummer. No luck yet.

Photoshop is wonderful tool as well. I use it to crop my photos.

Edna

I'm sure some of the other photographers have better tips than mine, but this is my experience.

Here are photos of white flowers that I took last week with my little Canon. I think I just used foliage and macro settings for these. Bright sunlight will wash them out. Evening, early morning, cloudy days work best for white. It is easier, IMHO, to take a close up of a white than a long view of a white.

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The long view of the white irises (different clumps) doesn't have the same impact as my close-ups:

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My son is a professional photographer, and he said overcast is the best time to take pics.

Gorgeous photos Cameron! You could win an award for your beautiful garden.

Wonbyherwits, those are stunning photos.

Solana, I warn you, hubby is great at photo taking (garden and people) but supremely unhandy.

I agree that overcast or early evening is the best time for photo taking.

Here's a photo of a miniature rose that was recently planted:

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Taking the photo during the day, all you get is a washed out haze.

You could always be like my significant other, he isn't so great at taking pictures... so he bought a really nice camera that makes even his photos good... lol

I love photography, so I'm happy to have around a nicer digital camera (mine was so-so). I have a great film camera, but I only use it for certain things and projects.

Kim

Great subject and pictures.

here is a link with several other retated subjects on photography.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farnorth/gal1107540927689.html

have fun! Karyn

Here is a link that might be useful: lessons

Thanks Happy, for bringing up that assignment. lol. Yes we did try playing around with some assignments for a while, but found there wasn't enough interest to keep it going.

Something I want to point out is that yes there are better times of day to take pics....but professional photographers who work on assignment, have to work with the available light. They can't wait around for a cloudy day. So its a matter of knowing all the functions on your camera and what they do. There are a couple of books that will help you understand exposure and shutter speed. Bryan Peterson has penned both these books. Understanding Exposure and Understanding shutter speed. You can also use your camera manual to learn the functions on your camera...it explains each one and what it does. You could try picking one function and practice taking pictures with it till you are comfortable and then pick another one and practice....this will make you more comfortable with your camera and its capabilites. Evenually you will know what functions to use where.

A quick tip for white flowers is dial down your exposure by 1/2 to 1 full stop. In extreme cases maybe even 1 and 1/2 stops. This is done by using the exposure compensation button. Also if your pics are blurred use a tripod. If your camera won't give you a focus, you are standing to close to the subject. Either switch to macro mode or back away from your subject.

If you are taking pics of pink or red flowers and the colour is looking weird.....again dial down using the exposure compensation button....till the colours look right.

For uncluttered back ground, get a piece of foam core and paint it or tape some material to it....and place behind your subject. This will give you a solid clutter free background.

Sierra

Agreed about pro photographers having to work with what they get. However, as a pro, you know when to bring in additional light or when to use a scrim to soften the glare.

Early morning and late evening are the best times to capture the beauty in the garden. I prefer early morning because the flowers are fresh from their night's sleep.

My last pro tip is to take a LOT of exposures. LOL It gives you lots of choices. You can always delete any you don't like and keep only the breath-taking ones.

Did anybody mention taking photos at night? I found my hyacinth beds photographed well at night, with a flash.

I agree with Glenda about the viewer's perspective.
A wider shot and a closeup of one or two spectacular plants in the composition helps us determine how plantings work.

When a photo has a caption identifying the plants, I really appreciate it.
Even familiar plants are hard to distinguish in a pic, sometimes.

Nell

Sierra,

I thought those were great assignments and would love to see them alive again, I found them at the tail end and missed most of them. I went back to relook at them and most of the photos are gone. Perhaps a good project for this summer when there are lots of things to discover. There seems to be interest here now. :)

Karyn

I agree that early morning is the best time for garden photo taking. In fact, I always take photos of my garden in the morning when the sun is still down and everything looks their best.

I believe steadiness is important to good photo taking. I don't have a tripod to mount the camera so I try to keep steady by pressing both of my arms against my body to keep from shaking when taking photos. Sometimes I rest my arms/hands on something, too. This is especially important when taking close-ups with Macro mode.

Also, sometimes by accident, I have unwanted objects in the photo. So I use the "Paint" program included in my PC software to erase them. It makes my photos look "clean".
By the way, here's a photo of my garden taken this early morning. I got rid of a bamboo pole as trellis for the vine on the right in this photo using Paint.

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I also find it's quite effective to "work out" the photos a bit after taking. My camera (Sony Cybershot) includes software to fix brightness, sharpness, etc. I use the "Contrast" function quite often to make the photo looks "sharp" i.e. there's depth and things look more real.

The photo below has been enhanced with "Contrast".

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Xuan

My favorite time is just before and after sunset - no direct light, but sometimes very nice reflections from the clouds. Especially for white and blue flowers.
If sunny, keep the sun to your side or front - with sun behind you, it can look "flat".
Narrow focus and blurred backgrounds are good for detail shots.

Karyn, I don't have time in the summer to put together the photography assignments. Perhaps HappyinTexas would like to do the assignments for this forum?

Sierra

Sierra
I understand time....

Karyn