Reproducing colors exactly from a plant to a digital camera and then to print is very difficult for many reasons. The time of day, the season that the photo is taken (spring vs summer vs fall) the light is reflected and absorbed in the garden and then backlit on the computer and reproduced in print and then interpreted by the eye. Lots of places it is changed although very slightly. Also the calibration of your monitor also affects the final color. It can appear perfect on your computer and still be off to the printers computer. Matching to paint samples will help as will your photo editor. If you are using a PC, I would suggest using Zoner editing software. It is much easier to use than Photoshop and is the most popular editor in Europe - but does not work on Macs. Like Photoshop, there is are temperature and vivid sliders to help get it correct but it takes time. Also taking the photos in shade - not full sun - will help the purples and blues. They are very difficult to render correctly! It is a matter of how the reds are recorded on digital media. To add to the confusion, the color that I call purple, may be magenta to the next person. I am a professional photographer, and painted for years and found that most color names are just approximations of the mix of primaries, red, green and yellow. Here is a link that might be useful: AccessibleGardens

Masha, I absolutely love your photos, so I thought I'd chime in. I have gotten better over time taking pictures. But you really need to know what your camera does in certain situations, as I recently found out with a new camera. Not all are the same. I actually prefer to take photos in full sun, as I think the colors are prettier and more full of life. In my particular situation, pictures taken in the shade get a bluish tinge which I sometimes try to remove. Some whites reflect too much sun and really need to be captured in the shade, however. You find that out quick enough. I have never used a tripod. I am too lazy. I try not to be out there in too much wind, though. I always use autofocus, also due to the laziness trait. What is important, also, in getting good pictures is shooting the rose at the right stage. I like it when the bud had just recently opened or is in the process. I don't like fully opened raggedy rose photos. I have seen some rose books where all the blooms looked old and over the hill. Also, cropping the photo is important. A huge field of green with a tiny rose in the center doesn't appeal to me. Anyway, this is just my experience and my two cents. Hope you get alot more comments and tips.

Quote:"your area is so full of wonderful subjects" Years ago I drove 18 wheelers covering the entire U.S.A. Every year Labor Day seemed to open the flood gates as people began their annual vacation migration in search of something to see. But what I found most amazing is that for every person that heads out of your community there is another traveling vast distances to come see your town. To that end I used to offer people a challenge. Take out a road map of your state and locate where you live then take a simple drawing compass and scribe circles at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 & 50 miles. Now locate all the communities within those circles and contact their chamber of commerce for information on sites to see in their community. You will find a vast wealth of sites to see, all within a short one hour commute of your house, and many of them are absolutely free of admission. Now consider how much money you can save in fuel, food and lodgings and you have just saved enough to pay for that camera or new lenses you been dreaming about, not mention that you can continue that project year around instead of trying to pack it all into two weeks. Now in regards to how long it takes to edit 1300 photos. Actually the problem is not as difficult as it might seem. I began my interest in photography with a Pentax Spotmatic, which was the first 35mm SLR to have a built in through the lens light meter. (The Nikon F offered a light meter in an accessory viewfinder and Canon had not yet got into the professional SLR market). Lenses were manual focus, manual aperture and exposure was controlled by manipulating the shutter speed and lens aperture to center a match needle indicator in the view finder. As if that was not enough, in those days most films had an ASA (ISO) rating ranging from 64 to 325. I can vividly remember when AGFA introduced a 1000 ASA B&W film for the first time, and Fuji film almost took over the industry with a 500asa high resolution color print film. In those days getting the correct exposure was at best a bit iffy so it was common practice amongst the pro's and advanced amateurs to use a technique called "Bracketing" In fact, Bracketing is an automatic feature on most DSLR's but most people fail to use it. Bracketing is a technique where you shoot one frame at the measured exposure, then a second frame one f-stop under and a third frame one f-stop over. We could then push or pull an additional f-stop in the darkroom if need be. In those days there was no "live view" or "instant replay" so that is how we could insure we would have a usable print when we processed the film. I still rely heavily on that technique when i am out in the field where it would be difficult to return and try again, especially when shooting birds or wildlife where the shots cannot be repeated. When shooting macro shots of plants & flowers on a windy day I often set the mode to "Sports" which is shutter priority mode keeping the shutter speed as high as possible. This has a two fold effect. 1. By keeping the shutter speed very high it assures stop action when the subject is moving in the wind and 2. it keeps the aperture open, limiting depth of field, which generally puts the background out of focus giving a nice soft pastel background that does not detract from the subject. Back in the days of film bracketing the exposures was rather expensive when you considered the cost of film and processing, but in this age of digital when i go in the field I carry 5 or 6 SD cards and 5 sets of batteries so I am not concerned about wasting a shot or two if I can be sure that I will ultimately have the shot i want. In addition, I generally do not take just one shot, but rather I like to shoot a series of shots that show different aspects of the subject. By example, I am attaching a series I took of the evolution of a Dandelion. My brother said i was as crazy as an outhouse rat for taking pictures of dandelions but I like the outcome. DANDILION PLANT IN BLOOM DANDILION BLOSSOM DANDILION IMMATURE SEED POD DANDILION MATURE SEED POD DANDILION MATURE SEED POD DANDILION SEEDS

"I'm all ears/eyes" is a great start. There is a book by Bryan Peterson called Understanding Exposure which is great to get your feet wet in, well....understanding exposure! :) Its a great book to begin your understanding of the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. There are many books available to read at your local bookstore or library. READ READ READ!!! Next is be all mouth. You will have questions that you feel dumb as a stump asking...ASK THEM! If you don't understand, ask again til you do. This is key...most people are more than willing to point you in the right direction. Find out if your local community college offers a beginners course or advanced course in photography. Hands on learning is great for this art. The one I took was $55 for five days and very well worth the money. I assume the D60 has an "Auto" mode. Don't become to reliant on that because at that point you only have a very expensive point and shoot camera that will limit your creativity. It will take some discipline to not let the camera do the work for you, but it will pay off ten fold when you can break out of it and let creativity take over. Learn some of the "rules" (a term used loosely) of photography. Google "rule of thirds" and "rules of photography" to get started. After learning the rules you will learn when to break them to get your desired result. Post pictures and ask for constructive criticism. This also helps, but sometimes you have to be thick skinned as some of the veteran 'togs can be harsh. Some are being goobs while most are simply trying to help. Most important advice ever is to have fun with your photography. After all it is YOUR photography. As long as you're not in it for money you only have one person to please and that's yourself! The more you learn and understand, the more you will be pleased with your results. This ended up being longer that I planned, so sorry! :) I really look forward to seeing some of your images posted, so get out and get to shootin! :) A