Creative Garden Photography: Making Great Photos of Flowers, Gardens, Landscapes, and the Beautiful World Around Us

Make great photos of flowers, gardens, landscapes and the beautiful world around us!
Gardens are everywhere, all around us. In this long-awaited guide to garden and flower photography, noted photographer and author Harold Davis tackles the subject of garden photography with an expansive brush. In this book, you’ll find techniques ranging from photographing vast formal gardens to photographing flowers for transparency on a light box. You’ll learn about closeup photography and how to become a better landscape photographer.
Whether you’re photographing tiny flowers or grand landscapes, wandering outside in the garden or bringing the garden indoors, your photography will be enhanced using the many techniques in Creative Garden Photography. Garden photography includes a huge range of photographic styles and technical information that can be applied to almost any kind of photography. In this book, you will learn to use an incredible range of tools from one of the acknowledged modern masters of photography.
• Explore gardens, types of gardens, and how best to photograph them
• Learn about light, light direction and quality, and controlling light in your photography
• Work with your camera and tripod to achieve optimal focus
• Use creative exposures to make beautiful imagery
• Photograph flowers on a light box for transparency
• Learn techniques for creating impressionistic photos
• Master close-up focusing, depth of field, and focus stacking
• Explore complete exposure data and the story behind every photo

“My goal as a photography teacher and writer about photography is to inspire and to help you become the best and most creative photographer and image-maker that you can be.”
―Harold Davis
“Harold Davis’s ethereal floral arrangements have a purity and translucence that borders on the spiritual.”
―Popular Photography Magazine
“Harold Davis is a force of nature―a man of astonishing eclectic skills and accomplishments.”
―Rangefinder Magazine
“Harold Davis’s Creative Photography series is a great way to start a photography library.”
―PhotoFidelity


TABLE OF CONTENTS

What’s Not to Like about Gardens?

ENTERING THE GARDEN

Understanding Gardens
André Le Nôtre and the French Garden
Garden Styles
The Backyard as Garden
The Garden as Status
The Importance of Garden Design

PHOTOGRAPHING THE GARDEN AT LARGE

Of Light and the Garden
Intensity of Light
Diffusion
Light Direction
Checklist: Finding the Right Position
Understanding Reflectivity
Color and White Balance
Exposure and Light
Key Takeaways about Exposure
Special Times for Lighting
Using a Tripod
Creative Options with Tripods
Anatomy of a Tripod
Tripod Legs
Tripod Heads
Using the Tripod in the Garden
Focus and Depth of Field
Being in Focus
Soft Focus
Camera Position
Tilt-Shift Lenses
Focal Length
Types of Lenses
Focal Length and Depth of Focus
Manual and Autofocus
Depth of Field
Aperture and Depth of Field
Infinity and Hyperfocal Distance
The Garden in Black & White
Converting to Black & White
Extending Dynamic Range
Multi-RAW Processing
High-Dynamic Range (HDR)
Automated HDR
Hand-HDR
Impressionistic Photography
In-Camera Motion
Subject Motion
Out of Focus
Creative Exposures
In-Camera Multiple Exposures
Gardens of the Mind

TAKING THE GARDEN CLOSE-UP AND INSIDE

The Art of Transparency
How Light Box Photography Works
What Kind of Light Box Works Best?
Arranging Flowers on a Light Box
Light Box Photography
Post-Production of High-Key HDR Images
Inversions in Post-Production
Understanding LAB Color
Inverting a White Background to Black
Brightening Images after Inversion
Photography on Black
The Flower as Diva
Low-Key Photography in the Field and Studio
Low-Key HDR Post-Production
Macro Photography
Macro Photography Gear
Macro Lenses
Extension Tubes and Bellows
Close-Up Filters
Focusing Rails
Specialty Gear
Extreme-Macro Lenses
Macro Photography in the Garden
Focus Stacking
Focus Stacking in Photoshop
Photographing Water Drops
Approaching Water Drop Photography
Reflections and Refractions
Spider Web Studio
Photographing Little Critters
Getting Close
Stopping Motion
Focusing and Critters
Auxiliary Lighting
Modifying Light
Macro Lighting Tools

NOTES, RESOURCES & INDEX

Where to Go for More Info
Sensor Size Matters
About EXIF Data
Focal Length
Cameras and Lenses
List of Figures
Locations of Gardens Photographed
Botanical Glossary
Photographic Glossary
Index