Taking Photographs

bobinfrance · Post by **bobinfrance** » Dec 05, 2007 12:37 pm

My project for next year is to take pictures of all my Hostas(200+) and would like some advise on back grounds, they are all in pots so no problem in moving them, I thought against a black background what do you think? And secondly is it possible to put pictures on a XCEL spread sheet that I use at the moment for my Hosta list, Not so hot on computers.

Bob

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » Dec 05, 2007 12:40 pm

Welcome, Bob!

Hope you are enjoying the forum so far. Lots of fun folks and good advice here.

I think black would be nice.

Perhaps a groundcover that is a complimentary color to the individual hosta? Or set in the midst of other companion plants, such as ferns, astilbe, and heucheras.

Again, welcome!

Post by **Chris_W** » Dec 05, 2007 12:56 pm

Hi Bob,

I often take pictures in the late evening using the flash to get a dark background, but that really only works best if you are taking individual leaf pictures. Otherwise I just try to take them on a cloudy day to avoid shadows and they seem to have truer colors that way. But my plants are mostly in the ground so I have to live with the background they already have. In your case a nice groundcover might work, or just move complimenting hostas together?

I don't know if you can add pictures to excel. I've never tried it

sugar · Post by **sugar** » Dec 05, 2007 2:06 pm

I would not advice flash, unless you have a very good flash installation (off-camera flash & softboxes). Direct Flash will create harsh shadows and if the camera isn't up to level, you will have issues getting a correct white balance as well . On top of that, for plants with shiny leaves, direct flash will create nasty reflections.

And the background? Whatever you like best : white, black, green,... Just experiment and pick out what you like best.

Post by **Chris_W** » Dec 05, 2007 3:00 pm

That's true, depending on the camera sometimes the flash can cause problems. I'm really happy with the one I have, though, and use the flash all the time, but sometimes I do set up an alternate light source as well.

poppi · Post by **poppi** » Dec 05, 2007 3:34 pm

What do you want from your photo's? Are you thinking about hosta clumps or leaf pics? Leaf pics may have other leaves as their background, but you do need to decide if you want the background in focus or not. (depth of field issue). If you're shooting the entire clump you probably want to get close enough so you can see some detail in which case there probably won't be alot of background and black or just mulched ground would be a nice contrast.

Hope this helps.

sugar · Post by **sugar** » Dec 05, 2007 3:49 pm

I think Hosta clumps are in general less interesting pictures.

The geometry of hosta allow to make really nice pictures from plant details...

Just 3 examples...

thy · Post by **thy** » Dec 05, 2007 7:15 pm

Black is a good background, flash can change he colors extremly.. cream look pure white most times.

I am a fool with the camera, but play around and see what you like. hole plants, details, leafs, tips.. go for your pleasure.

Just realiced, you live in France. One more Welcome... pretty sure you are our first French member... French speeking Quebec people will go nuts

Pia

largosmom · Post by **largosmom** » Dec 05, 2007 8:49 pm

I take pics to document the plant's stages throughout the season, it is my "notebook" for what it looks like and when it flowers. I take more pics when the weather is cool and the mosquitos are not out in numbers. I take mine in the morning, typically, taking about 10-15 minutes before I leave for work. I try and get all of my plants and the broader view of the beds about once a month, and can put together a progression in that way.

This winter, I want to create a document for each cultivar, with a "table of contents" linking them together in html. I will either use MS Word, or MS One Note (probably), on Windows, or use the "Pages" software on my Mac, which is new to me. It will take time, but I figure I will have it during the holidays when I'm watching seeds grow.

Laura

jobranch · Post by **jobranch** » Dec 05, 2007 9:42 pm

Bobinfrance, you are doing yourself a favor by checking out Sugar's link to some of the best hosta photography I have seen. You can add photo's to Excel, but I am not sure this is the best software to catalog your hostas. Click the "Insert" drop down and select "picture" and then choose one of the options. You will often have to resize the photo once it is in Excel which is easy to do. - Jeff

largosmom · Post by **largosmom** » Dec 05, 2007 11:21 pm

I just looked at Sugar's pictures...stunning. I especially loved the fall pics, and one of a plant with a mix of yellow and greens.

Laura

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » Dec 06, 2007 1:11 am

largosmom wrote:I just looked at Sugar's pictures...stunning. I especially loved the fall pics, and one of a plant with a mix of yellow and greens.

Laura

Ditto! I like the very last pic - fall colored leaf.

Very nice, Sugar.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Dec 06, 2007 3:17 am

hey are all in pots so no problem in moving them, I thought against a black background what do you think?

Salut Bob!

Strictly from a colour perspective black would be the best choice for use as a background as it would cause the least amount of colour shift, but, depending on how much of the background you actually will see in the picture, you may find that the auto exposure is off. The pictures will be too light. Auto exposure settings are interpreted to a reference of an 18% grey card and if there is too much of the background in the picture the camera will overexpose the shot. So, your best bet when doing a catalogue of your collection is to first off use a tripod for best sharpness and secondly take a series of shots of each plant with each consecutive shot using an exposure reduction of 1/3 f-stop. When the camera is stationary you can be assured that when you make the compensation, each resulting shot will have the exact same perspective.

Your best light for shooting pictures is diffused daylight, be that in the shade on a sunny day or just waiting for an overcast day. And you may find the auto white balance is not necessarily the best setting to be used. Yes, it's quick and easy, but I think you will find you get the best overall colour balance when you use manual white balance settings in accordance with the lighting condition you are shooting.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Dec 06, 2007 10:56 am

I took a look at Sugar's photos too and they are lovely.

But I think when you photograph your Hostas you need to think about why you are doing it. Are you making art photos? (I would suggest most of Sugar's are in this category). Or are you recording the growth, the bloom time, colour, etc. and the size of the plant from year to year.

Like laura, I use my photos to keep a record of my plants. I tried last summer to photograph each one about once a week from the time they first started poking up. Many of them are not fabulous photos, but the sheer quantity has cause me to think about why some are better than others. Certainly the more you take, the better the chance of getting really good ones.

Like Chris said, avoiding harsh sunlight is important to avoid unwanted shadows. A cloudy day is perfect. Most of my are in the garden so I didn't worry about background although taking photos from different angles may produce more pleasing shots of the area around the plant. I've also been known to remove extra tree leaves, hoses, etc. from the background of my plants.

Just a few thoughts.

Ann

bobinfrance · Post by **bobinfrance** » Dec 06, 2007 5:37 pm

Thanks every one, Merci a tous

Some very interesting ideas and lots to think about before the growing season, my enitial idea was just to put a picture to a name on a list but I can see this could snowball(seasonal) into so much more, allthough I can't see that I will have the time to take a photo of every Hosta once a week.
Merci Bob

tsbccowboy · Post by **tsbccowboy** » Dec 06, 2007 6:48 pm

Bob,

This is what I keep in an Excel spreadsheet for Hostas I have purchased: Hosta name, Nursery where purchased, Size at maturity, Leaf color, Flower color, Any comment, Price paid for each, Quantity puchased, Date received & size of plant received. When I first order a Hosta, I put three zzz's in front of the Hosta name in this list. This keeps any Hosta I haven't received yet at the end of the list (in case I do any sorts by Hosta name). I take one "Z" out when I make the label and all zzz's out when the Hosta is planted.

Imageevent.com is used to store all my photos. I take photos of mail-order Hostas when they arrive and put these photos in one section in Imageevent.com account for each year. I randomly take Hosta and garden photos throughout the Summer. These photos are arranged by Month, then day of the Month and alphabetically for each Day (I also sort in Daylily and garden shots after Hosta photos for each Day of photos).

This works for me. Keep looking at what other people do & do your recordings the way you want (& have time for).

John

Click on the Photo for a sample of July, '07 photos in Imageevent.com

Papou · Post by **Papou** » Dec 07, 2007 2:15 pm

It's easy to insert pictures in a Word document or on an Excel spreadsheet. With Word the inserted pic will take the full width of the page, whereas with Excel, the inserted pic will be the size of the pic you took with your camera. One advantage with Excel is that there are "handles" which you use to change the shape of the pic...you can reduce it to any size. Of course, with the very large pic, you can see much better details.

If you can manage a database software, this would be the ultimate best. I use Microsoft Excess database. With a database the possibilities are endless.

Papou

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Dec 07, 2007 4:17 pm

Unlike most of you, I use WordPerfect as I feel it is a much better program than Word. Haven't tried using Word, but in WordPerfect, it is quite easy to insert a picture into a table and the size of the table cell will limit the width of the picture. The height will adjust automatically.

Ann