PhotograClare » rose http://www.photograclare.co.uk Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:37:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 Garden Photography http://www.photograclare.co.uk/garden-photography.htm http://www.photograclare.co.uk/garden-photography.htm#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:28:26 +0000 Clare Topping http://www.photograclare.co.uk/?p=237 Yellow Rose in a Country Garden

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.

]]> http://www.photograclare.co.uk/garden-photography.htm/feed 0 Rose – Beyond the Pale http://www.photograclare.co.uk/rose-beyond-the-pale.htm http://www.photograclare.co.uk/rose-beyond-the-pale.htm#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:04:13 +0000 Clare Topping http://www.photograclare.co.uk/?p=134
Pale Pink Rose

Pale Pink Rose

This is another photograph that I took at Ryton Organic Gardens. I am hoping to create a calendar of flowers as a Christmas present for my mum next year and as Ryton has a new garden filled with roses it seemed ideal. Photographing a rose should be relatively easy, and is, if you cut it from the plant and photograph it in a studio. Standing in a rose garden, intoxicated by the scent (which seems to be missing from so many garden centre roses) there is a bit of decision overload, so many roses, which one to photograph. I settled on this one as I liked the shape and the pale colour. However, I did encounter some problems, firstly the wind. Although a rose is a pretty sturdy plant, when you start looking through a macro lens you realise how much everything, including yourself, is moving. The second problem was the sun, or should I say, the clouds. Although the sun was quite bright and potentially a bit harsh, I had several frustrating attempts whereby I was all set to press the shutter, the clouds moved and the light changed in an instant. A final problem, one encountered when photographing anything white is that it is easy to overexpose and lose some of the detail – I think I am there or thereabouts with this photo.
This is the one I settled on in the end, hand held, 100mm Canon macro lens, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 100. From a composition point of view, I like the shape and where it sits in the frame, it is slightly cropped which takes some of the leaf away on the left, but it removes a little of the distraction of the other roses in the background which, in an ideal world, wouldn’t be there.

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