Flower Photography
Flower Photography is rewarding in many ways. Using flower photography to simply record your own garden is worthwhile and rewarding. Flower photography and garden photography of gardens visited can serve as a source of inspiration or a record of your travels. Equipment for Flower photography can be simple and inexpensive, or it can involve sophisticated equipment. Determine what you wish to achieve before you start, flower photography is rewarding on many levels, and it gets you out into the garden, which is always a good thing.
Flower Photography and Close Up Flower Photography (The basics)
Flower Photography at professional level is now almost entirely done with digital SLR cameras. However you do not need to a professional photographer to enjoy the pleasures of flowers photographs.
Photographs can be discarded on the spot if they are unsatisfactory and with no costs until you actually print a photograph flower photography is within the reach of all.
Equipment for flower photography
What equipment do you need for successful flower photography?
Equipment required for flower photography may include:
- A compact digital camera and a basic computer with free photo editing software.
Or for those wanting to to take flower photography to the next level
- Digital SLR camera body
- a range of lenses including close up
- tripod and cable release
- flash units, maybe a macro flash unit
- computer
- oto editing software
A full frame Digital SLR camera with close up lens, tripod, flash unit etc may cost thousands of Dollars, however before you spend the family fortune first determine what you wish to achieve.
One of my neighbors, a keen gardener, like to record his garden and the plants he puts in. He uses a basic digital camera, a 8 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix L19 Digital Camera. He downloads to his PC, performs basic editing using a free photo editing software and uses a number system so that he 'knows what is growing where'. He already had the computer so the total cost was a few hundred dollars. It does what he requires.
A professional photographer who specialises in garden and flower photography, and sometimes works for us, has a different set up. She uses a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, the body alone would cost more than 5 times my neighbours total cost. She also has 7 lenses including 3 close up lenses. A tripod, flash units including a Canon MT-24EX, Macro Twin Lite Flash Unit and more. However you will see her work on the front cover of gardening magazines and books. The edits her photographs using Adobe Photoshop, uses a custom data base driven indexing system and uses an Apple Mac Pro with 16GB SDRAM. This system is worth as much as small car, but it does what she needs it to do.
A similar system can easily be put together using Nikon camera equipment, or a PC, or notebook computer.
We work mainly for the internet, and in the UK our system sits in the middle. Canon EOS 40D, 1 close up lens, two zoom lenses a tripod and we edit using using Adobe Photoshop on an iMac with 8GB RAM. It does what we need it to do.
So if you are keen to get into flower photography first determine what you wish to achieve. A simple record of your own garden, or professional flower photographs for the commercial market, or anywhere in between. You will need a camera, and you will need a computer, however you do not have to spend a fortune to start with when you are looking at flower photography.
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