How to Photograph a Spring Garden

The Keukenhoff, Amsterdam

I have always thought that planting a spring garden is the ultimate statement of hope. You plant the bulbs deep in the ground and they get covered with snow and leaves. For months they are only nurtured by your hope and Mother Nature. Then your hope is paid off as you finally see a poke of green through the leaves and within days your garden is covered in color. Photographing your garden is an excellent task for a beginning photographer. Plants move a lot slower than people and other animals. However, colors can become too saturated and shadows and lighting are critical elements to manage in garden photography. So get your camera and tripod--spring blooms don't last long!

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A camera
• A tripod
• Patience

1. A Bad Garden Picture

   Always ask yourself: "What am I taking a picture of?" The colors are dramatic, but your pictures still need to follow the basic rules of composition. This is a bad picture of a garden. It tells no story, it's not real dramatic and some of the colors are washed out since it was taken in full sun. It doesn't at all comply with standard composition according to the Rule of Thirds. There is no reason not to use a tripod to take garden pictures. That way you can select the depth of field and shutter speed that work best. Remember, plants do move. Bugs landing on blooms, wind blowing blooms and condensation can all cause plants to move while you are shooting.

2. Plan the Eye Flow

   This is a better picture, but far from a perfect garden shot. Keep in mind the eye flow of the viewer as they look at the image. The lighting is better in this picture and the colors are more dramatic; however, it does not have good eye flow to tell a story. The depth of field is too great in this image and the ground stands out as much as the crocus blooms.

3. Crocus in Bloom

   This picture of crocus blooms is a much better image. The ground is blurred out due to a shallower depth of field and the picture is properly exposed. Here you can see the details of the flower and there is no doubt that this is a picture of a crocus in bloom.

4. Difficult Colors

   Some colors are almost impossible to reproduce. This is a picture of grape hyacinths in bloom. I have not corrected the color in Photoshop to demonstrate how automatic white balance will impact some colors. The true color of this bloom is almost impossible to photograph with automatic white balance. To correct it without using Photoshop you should take multiple exposures, manually adjusting the white balance between shots. If you can, shoot a color patch or grey exposure patch in the picture. Select the best one in the camera while comparing it to the actual flower.

5. Use a Telephoto Lens

   Use a close up adapter or a telephoto lens to isolate a single flower. Pictures of single blooms really show the composition of the flower. Try to also isolate a bee or another insect on a bloom to add some dramatic tension to the image. Hummingbirds are attracted to red flowers. I have been trying to get a good picture of a hummingbird on a bloom for years. Let me know if you have any success at this.

6. A Good Garden Picture

   Try to get a variety of colors in one image. This is a beautiful image of lilies that shows off the wide color variations of the species. Notice how the background is blurred with a limited depth of field to make the colors stand out. Timing is everything in all photography. Notice there are no spent blooms in the image and lots of buds. This conveys an image of a garden in full bloom.

Tips & Warnings

• Use photographing your garden as a training exercise on how to use your tripod.

• Select the depth of field by adjusting your f-stop first and then adjust shutter speed for proper exposure.

• If your shutter speed is less than 30, you may get some blur from plant movement.

• If you use manual white balance, don't forget to set it back to automatic when you are done with your session.