I've been trying to get good shots of The Apothecary's Rose for days. I give up! My photos are pretty much just images of blurry, hot pink mush. Sigh. Carol

The weather will have to cooperate for this method but it works…. take your pictures on an overcast day.

Another way is to reflect light to lighten up the dark areas. Try hanging a white pillow case such that it reflects the light but does not enter into the picture. I’m sure you’ve seen people taking pictures while holding a flash unit in their other hand, same principle. Light coming from the side can bring out more detail than light straight on.

Also, don’t let your shadow block out the light or enter into the picture.

That’s my 2 cents, hope it helps….

More 2 cents…. If you have a camera that allows you to adjust the film speed then set it to a high value (I believe they call it ISO). That is the same as setting the shutter speed on the older type cameras. The faster the picture is taken the less chance for them to turn out blurry. You may want to practice taking a deep breath just before you get ready to click the camera. That assures your body is not moving.

Also, your camera may allow you to turn on a feature that takes care of the shaking etc. Look into your manual.

ok so as of this weekend I purchased a "real" camera. It was not a super fancy one, just a Cannon EOS t7 and I had no better luck than with my phone. It is true I have no photography experience and this probably influence my results with whichever camera I use. They told me if I didn't like the pictures I took I could return it and I might have to do just that. Maybe it takes an expensive camera to get those fantastic magazine pictures?

benjamin Britten

It is nice to know that everyone has trouble taking pictures of red roses. It is tough to get the color right on Munstead Wood for me and Maroon 8.

For those magazine pictures I expect it takes a tripod, an expensive camera and umpteen different lenses. For what it's worth, I see very acceptable pictures here of even the difficult to capture roses. Quite a few pictures of roses in different posts are actually breath-taking. I've never tried using my phone as a camera since I'm used to my Sony camera, but I've seen scads of wonderful photos taken with a phone.

Ingrid, I agree with you.

Besides the tripod….etc… they also take umpteen shots of the same rose, then pick out the best one. If any background is showing you can bet it was gone over with a fine tooth comb to make sure it didn’t have one piece of mulch out of place.

But who really cares on this forum, right Ingrid……I’ve seen the good, the bad, and you-name-it pictures and could care less if they are not perfect. So folks enjoy your roses and pictures and don’t worry about us not liking them.

BTW that Cannon EOS t7 camera is a nice little unit….

Reds are definitely the hardest color for me. I recently got a new camera and while it does a better job in terms of sharpness, I still can't capture Mister Lincoln's deep rich red. He still looks orange like on my iPhone. I know it's best to take photos in early morning or late evening but somehow it just doesn't work for this rose. Sorry if I blinded you!

Some of the darker reds photograph well for me like this one of Tradescant that I took with my iPhone last year. The photo is a bit underexposed but it captures a lot of Tradescant's deep wine color and velvety texture.

Since I got my new camera, I've decided to work towards getting at least one or two "perfect" shots of each rose I have. I have a feeling this project is going to take years but one day I'm going to get the perfect Mister Lincoln photo!

Ann

toolbelt, you're so right, that's another difference between the experts and us. We're not going to be crouching in front of one rose to take umpteen shots so that one will surely be perfect. And that's really fine, there's something about the more casual garden shots that we take which is just right for our purposes, and they have a charm of their own that I'd miss.

I can't say about the color of Mr. Lincoln since I don't grow it, but the clarity of that shot is phenomenal. I have to ask, what is that pretty pink rose in the background? Tradescant looks perfect in every way.

@Dianeala - here's my best photos of Benjamin Britten. He's one of my favourites, but the colour is very hard to catch, because of the orange, pink and then the white reverse. Many of the photos I've taken look washed out or have a glare.

Grief, all of them Dilly. The last time I had a camera was when we bought rolls of film and sent them off to be developed. I finally caved and bought a little digital Canon s200 - (I know this because it is right in front of me, still plugged into the PC)., O the relief of just pointing randomly at something, and statistically (after hundreds of clicks) something will be vaguely recognisable and not totally blurred or my thumb, is thrilling. I just have to try to remember to take it with me.

Hi Ingrid - thanks for your comment! The pink rose in the background of Mister Lincoln is the David Austin rose Strawberry Hill. It's a climber that I haven't supported so it tends to collapse from the weight of the blooms as it ages. I don't have a photo from this spring but here's one from last year.

Ann

Does it smell like strawberries?
Carla in Sac

That is a charming rose, Ann, and I rather like the "collapsed" look.

Thanks Ingrid!

Carla - Strawberry Hill has a sweet myrrh fragrance. It's The Alnwick Rose that's known for a raspberry scent but sadly mine is often scentless.

Ann

Dianela, there's usually tons of tutorial videos on you tube for different cameras. Thats where I learned to use my new one although I admit to still using my phone 90% of the time, just because its handy lol.

Blondie those are pretty awesome pictures of Benjamin. =) He sure is my today ghost rose to get right.

Sultry I think my expectations were too hight. I thought, buy a real camera and all pictures will come out perfect lol. It turns out like everything there is a good learning curve for taking great pictures and I am not there yet. I have at this point returned the Cannon t7 and will postpone getting another until I know a bit more about it, so I can pick the correct one for me ( camera for dummies )

toolbelt the t7 certainly seemed to be a nice compact camera. The problem was my lack of knowledge. Maybe in the future I will give a real camera another try and commit myself to learn.

I think Ingrid is right to take photos at dawn or dusk and have the sun behind you to get the best photo. The camera could be an iphone. The light is so important. Midday, the photos won't have that special quality. Into the light, the glare is bad.

Dianela,

One more 2 cents…. when you are gaining your knowledge about cameras make sure you fully understand how ISO works.

Before digital cameras you purchased film based on the film speed (ISO). A good choice was ISO of 100. That gave you a very nice picture, however you couldn’t allow much movement when taking the picture so to compensate you increased the speed the lens opened and closed or you increased the amount of light that entered while the lens was open.

OR, you purchased a higher ISO type film. Of course the higher you went with that the grainer the picture became. Are you confused yet…. lol Now you see why I’m saying really pay attention when the subject is addressed in any class you may take. Digital allows you to reset the ISO but you can’t control the speed the lens opens. That is controlled by the camera based on the ISO value.

have fun….

Thank you toolbelt, yes I will have to certainly take some time before I can make an educated choice based on my needs. You seem to be very knowledgeable on this subject. Is there any “magic” camera out there for excellen red color reproduction? Based on what I have read all cameras have slight to big deviations on color reproduction, have you ever had one that could perfectly reproduce reds and magenta, without adobe photoshop tweaking?

Light certainly makes a huge difference. Here is my best shot so far of dark desire’s true color. I took the bloom inside and used my iphones hdr feature. I tried with Darcey and Benjamin and the results were mediocre, once you throw in more purple or hot pink all bets are off.

Reds and purples are always the hardest for me to photograph. The colors never seem quite right. But white can burn out on me a lot of times too. I rarely have a problem with pinks unless they're the glow in the dark kind, lol!

I do always photograph my flowers in the Program Shift setting on my camera, That allows me to stop down some depending on the light. I like to take my pictures a little on the darker side. I can always lighten them a touch in photoshop but an over exposed picture is pretty hard to correct and is usually food for the little garbage can icon.

I have still not managed to capture the dark, velvety colour of Munstead Wood. It is in bud, so I will try again in a few weeks. This was a big, gorgeous bloom, but the colour is completely off.

Funny thing is that in another hobby of mine, antique Persian rugs, we complain of the same thing. The reds often don’t turn out well, and as certain kinds of red are indicative of chemical dyes, and so newer and less traditional rugs, that can be a big problem. So here rugs and roses meet ;-).

Sorry Dianela but my days of picture taking was way back in the days of film. I know just enough about camera to be dangerous so the answer to your question is ‘I don’t know’…..

Someone who take gorgeous pictures on here (forget who) suggested a blue background to compensate. I haven't tried that having found light is the biggest factor.

My biggest problem is my phone camera always focuses on the background, not the rose. Can anyone suggest a way to fix this? Other than filling the entire screen with the bloom?
Carla in Sac

Carla, on my iphone I can tap the screen so the phone camera will focus on the rose I tap instead of the backround.

gdinieontario, I have Oriental rugs in almost every room in the house, although they were all new except for one vintage one I recently bought. I hadn't thought about it, but in many some of the colors are similar to what we see in roses. Unfortunately, just as with the reddish/purple roses, the camera doesn't get close to capturing the richness of the colors in this vintage carpet. I so envy you having antique Orientals, and would love to see some of them. I don't think anyone here would mind. Beauty should be celebrated.

Wow, Ingrid, that is quite the carpet! Beautiful. My rugs are much smaller, mostly the fronts of bags for donkeys and sometimes camels. Sizes around 2’x3’ or 3’x5’ etc. A few for fun, last one is a small Chinese mat:

And I see Chinese porcelain?! I have loved that from my high school years onward, though we never had any when I grew up. Our family lived in Korea in the eighties, so we have some Korean furniture and pottery, the latter mostly celadon. The small bowl on top of the books is “kitchen Ch’ing”? My husband has a small collection of that. Not refined, but interesting and cheerful. We got that here in Canada. Some of our Korean pottery, mostly modern (though by now vintage, like us, lol):

MG! I've been collecting since I was a teenager in Belgium.... well, I had my parents do it for me when we travelled while living in Belgium. Almost all of mine are Persian, both floral and tribal of varying quality, but I love them all! Now I collect roses! : ))o envy your celadon and Korean pottery. As a potter I've read every book and visited every museum and exhibit on the subject, but can only imagine the thrill of holding one in one's hand! I think roses, carpets and pottery along with literature and poetry represent the depth of human expression. through a strictly functional form;; a yearning for beauty in. the everyday

Another rug collector! I kind of specialize in Baluch and Jaff, though I have some others as well. Many I got from Holland.

Good quality celadon is incredible, old as well as new. One of the best celadon glazes we have, is on a little $2 water dropper from a Korean reject store ;-).

I wish I could say I collect roses, but I have too many other plants I love. But with peonies, hostas and hellebores, they are well represented in my 50’x30’. I used to want a larger yard, now I am glad I have one I can keep on top of. More or less.

Camera light sensors are notorious for misreading the amount of exposure needed from red things. The easiest thing to do to get a better photo of the red roses is to reduce the exposure by a couple of f-stops. Of course color will vary also depending upon your screen. You can do some adjusting in iPhoto or on your phone to get it closer also. This photo gives me a pretty good representation of what my 'Munstead Wood' looks like. Shot with my Nikon D700, an older DSLR.

Beautiful carpets! natural red dyes must be similar to the reds of roses. I scanned back through all the photos in this post and there are some incredibly beautiful red and purple roses! I have a hand woven, all natural dyes (or so I was told) Turkish carpet, picked up in Turkey in the 90s. So I went to see if I could take a picture with my iPhone, that got the colors right, but it looked way too yellow until I used a cool filter. Here is the result, which is close, but in person it seems more muted. Yes, I too, love to be surrounded by beautiful things.

I think we are all peas in a pod! :-)

I think the difference between Nikon and Canon beyond f-stop adjustments, and beneath the semi-professional or professional level gear, Noseometer, is the interpretation of red, until one uses a newer higher-end camera from Canon. I think that your camera, being higher end and a Nikon, has greater abilities with red than many cameras. I have always wanted a Nikon as a supplemental camera because it does a better job with reds, even with their lower level camera versus the Canon at a similar level. What I have seen is that the Canons tend to do a better job with skin tone and warmth. We have always stuck with Canon for photography because all of our glass is for it... but one day in the near future I will get a Nikon and probably the next latest greatest from another manufacturer...

I do not photoshop a thing! I am very busy and capture too many images for that...What I actually find the time to do is change the numeric description to the rose name, so if I look at or post an image from 2013, I know the rose is what I think it is...

The newer smartphones take great images nowadays! There are even little mono pod-like devices that can be used with them to increase stability and improve images...

How funny, I have been wanting a Canon! When I was young, my father (a professional photographer) told me that if I ever bought anything other than Nikon, that he would disown me. Of course I bought a Canon, and was much happier with how much more intuitive it was. I found that the Canon was much better for action shots and NIkon was better for studio shots. This was way back in film days, so I don't know what modern Canon is like to shoot with. Of course now I have a lot of Nikon glass, so I don't know if I will get a Canon. But I'm tempted.

I don't Photoshop either. Photoshop has done something with their programming so that the program "expires" after a while and is unusable and you have to buy the latest version. It's very annoying. I'm too busy anyway, so I decided not to buy Photoshop at all. I also change the image number to the rose name, so that I can do a search for a single rose and see how it has progressed from the time I bought it.

The new smartphone cameras are amazing, I agree. The smartphone camera is still a tiny wide-angle lens but the photo quality is really really good now. I'm totally impressed and don't even carry a "real" camera for many trips. If I want really good photos though, I still bring a full-size camera. I find that I use both.

That is too funny, Noseometer! Once upon a time it was Canon or Nikon, with Olympus lagging behind, but now with the products being produced by Sony, Panasonic and a couple others I cannot think of right now, the field is widening... and regarding video, it seems as though the latest, greatest is changing every nine months to a year. I have a Canon point and shoot as a back up for travel because it is smaller, and a T5 or T6... something like that... My husband earned a degree in photography (prior to his dad telling him that he needed to focus upon something where he could earn a "real" living.. right away). His (my... here and there) gear is semi and professional...of course... :) Some of my images show that even with great cameras, if you do not use them properly, the result is not full potential images. I hate carrying tripods.... etc... especially when it is hot...probably should.

Your rose images are often incredibly gorgeous! My Abraham Darby thanks you :)

dianela - After reading about your experience with your Canon, I remembered this YouTube video I watched a couple of months ago when I was figuring out what camera to buy as an upgrade from my iPhone. You are definitely not alone in not finding a good bridge camera which according to this video is a major hole in the camera market. The Northrups predicted that the perfect bridge camera will be a Canon. I hope one of the manufacturers fills this niche soon and that it takes great photos of red roses!

$500 camera

I started out with a Nikon film camera that I got as a high school graduation present in the early '70s. It served me well for decades. I never liked the digital point and shoot cameras but I do like my iPhone. I was in the same boat of figuring out what "real" camera to buy. After much research I decided on the Fujifilm X-T3 because the "vintage" manual dials instantly reminded me of my film camera. I don't like struggling through the software menus in modern cameras. If I want to change a setting like the ISO, it's quicker and easier to turn the ISO dial rather than bring up a menu and change it.

I didn't know that film is still considered higher quality than digital. The camera store people said the cost of a roll of film and developing was about $30. I'm thinking about having my Nikon camera and lenses cleaned up and taking a few shots. Maybe Mister Lincoln will look better with the film camera.

Ann

gdinie and Stephanie, thank you for showing us your beautiful Oriental rugs. I'm always full of wonder at how tribal people created beauty in their lives by having useful pieces that we now view as works of art.

I have a few "fake" Oriental porcelains such as the large vases you can see in the photo, but my main focus has been 18th and a few 19th century Chinese export porcelains, along with some Tang terra cotta figures that I simply love. I do think that the common thread that unites those who love the old roses, and the modern roses that have that particular look, is the love of beauty, and that carries over into many other aspects of life.

A T’ang horse! I love horses, and when I discovered Chinese art in high school, I wanted one so badly. Lovely!

Ingrid, you've surpassed yourself! I'd have a hard time doing anything in your house, but stare at all the beauty.

Thank you, I do stare also, and then I start moving things around. A little while ago I was rearranging the paintings on the walls in two rooms. All better now (for a while)!

Wow thank you for sharing all the beautiful pictures of the oriental rugs and all that fantastic art. They are glorious. It is amazing to see how many interesting and cool hobbies others here have =). I seriously considered getting a degree in Art history when I was in college. It was fascinating to learn how through art we can gain a better understanding of the people, and society in which they were commissioned. I can't even begin to imagine how wonderful it must be to have an original piece and wonder at all the history that you know hold in your hands.

Ann thank you for sharing that video. I also would like to ask you how well does your Fujifilm X-T3 handle roses like Munstead Wood or similar coloration? After doing a lot of research I came across the Fujifil xt30 (cheaper version), and xt3 as some of those with great color reproduction. I also love the vintage look and the dials, and never expected to find someone who actually owns one these.

Edit*** part of my post never posted. Ann your transcendants picture is awesome. Those dark velvety roses are very hard to photograph. Was it difficult to get that color with you Fuji? I don’t want to have to alter the pictures with software.

Noseo your shot of Munstead wood is very nice and I that’s what I am hopping to be able to get. I will look into that camera.

I still have my old Pentax k1000 and some lenses from my high school photography course lol. I love that camera..they are such workhorses and can take so much abuse lol. Ive had many new cameras since but I will probably always keep my old Pentax. My kids used it in school too.

Hi dianela - I think it's cool that you're interested in the X-T30. I considered getting it but it wasn't available when I wanted to buy a camera in early March. Here's an article I found - X-T3 and X-T30 comparison. The price difference of $600 would allow you to buy a great lens with some change leftover. One of the reasons I went with Fuji was because their high quality lens cost a lot less than comparable ones from Nikon and Canon. When you mentioned the dials, I remembered that their are people who never worked with SLR film cameras and are intimidated by the Fuji dials. It's the camera equivalent of a rotary phone! :))

I took this photo of William Shakespeare 2000 with the X-T3, 23mm lens (35mm full frame equivalent). The settings were 400 ISO, shutter speed 60, aperture at 7.1. If you own WS2000 and think that the camera made him more purple than usual, that's not the case. Our unsunny spring resulted in roses being darker and paler than typical.

I don't think the camera or lens matters so much as the lighting. I've concluded that as a beginner, whether the camera has dials or software settings, it might be a good idea to set the shutter speed and ISO (light sensitivity) to A for automatic. Then work with the aperture control which on the Fuji involves turning the aperture ring on the lens. I set the aperture control typically for 5.6 and see what the camera decides the shutter speed and ISO should be. If the shutter speed drops below 60, I turn either the aperture control ring or exposure compensation dial to let more light which should raise the shutter speed to at least 60, a speed at which I can hold the camera still enough without blurring. I use the autofocus by pressing the shutter release halfway and see if I get a green square letting me know if the subject is in focus. I usually take a few photos then check the display screen to see if I like them, then make adjustments to my position or angle the camera accordingly.

Are you working with any software program that lets you crop or adjust images? I started a subscription to Lightroom Classic and Photoshop for $10/month. Since my number one priority with the camera is to have fun, that means I want to spend more time taking photos and minimal time processing images. I try really hard to take a good photo so all I need to do is use Lightroom to crop or maybe slightly improve the lighting or sharpness.

Hope that helps!

Ann

Wow, Ann, in one paragraph you have given us a camera lesson that should be required reading by anyone who owns a camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My 2 cents is for everyone to copy what you just wrote, print and save it next to your camera!!!

You take beautiful images with your Fuji, Ann! Your attention to detail, patience, and skill definitely show that the most expensive gear is not required to produce quality images.

I second that lenses are important... good glass can definitely make a difference!

I always look forward to viewing images of the roses you post. Your WS2000 is beautiful!

Wow Ann Thank you so much for taking the time. I want pictures like that of those dark purple/red roses. Thank you, thank you again for the detailed explanation, I will be saving it to experiment. I really really like the way the Fuji looks with the ability to change exposure with dials (etc). I am currently trying to do a bit of research on what lens should be a priority for my garden/rose picture taking if I do go with the fuji. It seem the wide lenses are good for landscape photography overall and a macro lens may be a great idea for some very detail close ups. I never realized how much good glass could cost before.

I have never used anything to adjust photos besides my iphone's *enhance button and don't really enjoy having to play with software, but I might be willing to try it some time for some basics things.

Nice shooting, Ann! That one is worthy of a magazine article. I like your description of your technique. How would you compare the photo color with what your eyes saw?

Thank you toolbelt68! I wrote a summary of things I learned from YouTube that helped me but I appreciate your praise!

Desertgarden - thank you for your kind words! I enjoy sharing my photos with people who "speak rose". I share these photos sometimes on Facebook with friends and family and who like them but it's nice to share with folks who instantly know who Abraham Darby is. :))

noseometer - the photo color is very accurate. I review and discard pics as I take them if I don't capture what I'm seeing. I was seeing this rose rom the house and didn't recognize it until I went outside since he's normally not as purple as Munstead Wood. Thanks for your kind comments!

dianela - you're very welcome - happy to help! The reason I wrote that for you was because I remembered a woman who complimented me on a photo that I posted on Facebook. She told me that she and her husband enjoyed smartphone photography so much they had just bought an X-T30. Unfortunately they discovered it wasn't as easy to use as a smartphone and didn't know what to do. I advised her to go to YouTube and watch an X-T30 tutorial. I felt badly for her and remembered about the $500 camera video that described people who are all jazzed about photography, buy a camera and it sits on the shelf because they can't figure out how to use it. I didn't want to be one of those people so I came up with a plan to help me take photos right away. However, given the complexity of the camera, I've given myself a year to learn all the menus and options; many of the features I'll never use but I'd like to know about them. Photography should be FUN not work!

I love my 23mm f2 lens wide angle lens. You might go to the DP Reviews website to read about any cameras or lenses you're interested in. You don't need a program like Lightroom. The images or jpgs will be recorded onto to an SD card; you'll need to take it out and transfer them to your computer. I've transferred the SD card images to the Apple program that's for the iPhone instead of Lightroom for editing. If you're uploading images directly from your phone to Houzz, you'll need to learn to transfer the images from the camera to your phone using the Fuji app which I've heard isn't very good. I'm not sure if there is a camera that lets users upload directly to the internet but that would be a great feature to have if you are used to sharing photos through your phone.

So good luck dianela! Let us know eventually what you decide. I don't think there's any rush so just take your time and do your due diligence. People seem to sell their camera gear a lot so you might be able to get something used at a good price sometimes sold by camera stores or online with a warranty. Also, the X-T2 is very comparable to the X-T3 and selling at a good discount because it's been displaced. So you might consider that if you're thinking Fuji. You could save money and apply it to buying a great lens for it.

Ann