Knot Garden at Barnsdale

This is another picture that I took on the Photography course at Barnsdale at the weekend.  This photo is trying to emulate one taken by the instructor, although it is not exactly the same (different camera, different lens, different photographer).

The idea is that the Knot Garden is unique to Barnsdale, and, hence photos showing this garden may sell well to anyone writing about these gardens.

In terms of composition, the lines are meant to lead the eye back to the statue in the foreground.  This part of the picture should be sharp and show the details of the ammonites etc on the sculpture, whilst the background is less sharp, but sharp enough to show the context of the garden (although mine is, by dint of being taken using my Ixus much sharper than his photo).

I don’t know whether it is just me, but, a bit like the previous photo, I find the picture a little dull.  I don’t think it is the exposure and lighting, just the subject and composition.

I think I want to take photos that are a little less formulaic, although how easy that is in a garden where the designer wants you to see a particular image and where the garden is often roped off, I am not sure.  Maybe I just need to take the photo that I see, and not just follow someone else’s composition.

In case you are interested, settings were ISO 200, 1/640 secs, f/3.5, focal length of 8.46mm.

Yellow Rose in a Country Garden

This weekend I went on a Garden Photography Workshop at Barnsdale Gardens. I didn’t really know what to expect from either the course or the gardens. The day also clouded over somewhat and the light was a little flat. I know I need to improve both my composition and technique, but I think that this is a matter of practice and looking at my photos and other people’s and deciding what works, what doesn’t and why.

I did take a few things away from the course, two of them are illustrated in the above photo. Firstly, a picture of a flower does not have to be a stunning close up macro or portrait shot, if it is put into context, a more distant shot can be just as effective, this rose was in front of a set of table and chairs. Unfortunately I can’t take all of the credit as the instructor did point the shot out to us.

Secondly, taking garden photos doesn’t always require a small aperture and large depth of field. This photo was taken (ISO 100) with my 100mm macro lens, handheld at 1/400secs (the sun came out for a moment) and an amazingly large aperture of f/3.2.