Photography pointers

[cirillonb]

I am an avid reader of the forum and occasionally I will put in my 2 cents. I was wondering whether anyone would care to give a brief tutorial on taking pictures of plants in the window. Several proud growers do so but they are so badly exposed as to make the plant of interest too dark to appreciate.
In a brief review of the topic lists I did not find one devoted to photography and stand corrected if I misplaced this note.
Nick

[cb977]

Hi Nick

We do have a Photography forum around here somewhere

Now, where did I put that darned thing?

Oh! Here it is:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/photography/



All I do is take point and shoot pictures so I can't help with the photography questions but we have some wonderful photographers on this site...enjoy

[Ross]

Nick, check out the forum Sue pointed you to. There are lots of pointers scattered about through that forum.

Taking pictures on a bright windowsill can be very disappointing, at best. The contrast between the brightness of the outside light and the darkness of the room are more than most film and digital imagers can handle. I usually move mine down to the basement where I have a studio in my woodworking shop. Much easier. Actually outside in the shade is an even better spot. Be sure your camera has a close-up mode or that you use special close-up adapters or lenses designed to focus very closely. I see a lot of extremely close photos here that are so fuzzy I can't see what is going on. If you can't get real close, take the largest file size your camera stores (usually called TIFF) and then crop it down to the flower in your camera software. If you have specific or detailed/technical questions, why not visit the photography forum and post a thread with the question in the subject line? Lots of Orchid Board photogs will usually respond. Hope this helps.

[ronaldhanko]

I agree with Ross that trying to take pictures on a windowsill is usually very disappointing. I, too, take mine in an area where I can set things up so that I get decent pictures. I would suggest using a black or dark background (you'll also need something to hold it in place, perhaps a bit of string and some clothespins). I would suggest some good lighting source as well. You don't need anything expensive - a couple of incandescent bulbs or floods in the aluminum clip-on shades will do. I would also suggest a tripod - even a cheap one will get you better pictures. Take several exposures to make sure you get what you want. I've attached a picture of a white phalaenopsis I took recently using a very basic set-up something like I've described. Indeed, I've taken all my pictures using a similar set-up, even when I was photographer for the Southwest Regional Judging Center. If you want to see some of the pictures I've taken using this kind of a set-up you can find a number of them at Picasa Web Albums - Ron.