Backlighting dark-coloured flowers, like this Rhododendron 'Anah Krusche', makes them appear to glow.

Digital Photography for Gardeners

by Ron Knight
Images © Ron Knight

Over the past 30 years, I have owned three very good Pentax 35mm single lens reflex cameras. They have produced a lot of excellent slides and prints. However, despite reading photography books and getting helpful hints from friends, my results have been inconsistent, especially with close-up garden shots. Moreover, I've often been disappointed after developing a roll of film, to find that some less-than-satisfactory rhododendron photographs that I took a week ago couldn't be retaken until the following spring because the plants had passed their peak bloom time. Another annoyance was having to carry a pencil and paper with me to record the rhododendron name and exposure setting that I used for each photograph. And film and developing costs were expensive.

These tiny Rhododendron campylogynum flowers were photographed with the macro setting, using a black umbrella to create the dark background.

All of these problems have disappeared with my new Canon Powershot G5 (5 megapixel) digital camera. When I focus on a scene, it appears "live" and in colour on a screen that folds out beside the camera. I can adjust the white balance to suit every imaginable lighting situation. I can force the camera to select the exposure setting from a single flower, while ignoring the background lighting. As with my Pentax, I can shoot in automatic mode, set the aperture or shutter speed manually, and overexpose or underexpose to accommodate difficult lighting conditions. But in all of these situations, the "live" screen image changes to show me exactly what my finished photograph will look like - before I actually click the shutter button.

The Canon lens allows me to zoom in tight on a single flower or take wide- angle shots of the full garden. A macro setting lets me move the camera to within six inches of a plant and clearly focus on individual leaf hairs. I am able to change the film speed to duplicate ASA settings of 50 to 400. There is a built-in flash with a red eye reduction feature and a terminal to attach a larger external flash. I can take continuous shots at two images per second, as well as movies, both interesting but relatively useless features. Best of all, however, after taking a rhododendron photograph, I can say the name of the plant into a built-in microphone and it is recorded in addition to all of the exposure setting information.

This photo of Rhododendron 'Warlock' was manually underexposed by a full f-stop.

After taking a number of shots of a certain rhododendron using various exposure settings, I can play back each of the images on the screen and erase all but the best one. I can also plug the camera directly into my television set, see the photographs on the large screen, and hear the name of each rhododendron come through my stereo system. As an alternative, I can use a USB cable to connect the camera to my computer to download, view, and modify the photographs using Photoshop Elements. Photographs that I choose to print on 8 1/2" X 11" photo paper are reproduced on my inkjet printer with professional-looking results.

My photographs are recorded by the camera onto a tiny CF card and the 256K card, which I prefer, stores 130 to 150 images. After transferring the images to my computer, the card can be reused. With the battery fully charged, the camera will take over 300 images before I have to plug it into a wall outlet. In order to save the battery when I use the camera with my computer or television set, I run off normal household current. When I am travelling and unable to recharge, I carry an extra battery.

Rhododendron 'Apricot Fantasy' was photographed in early morning light so that the flowers' delicate shading would not be washed out.

New five-megapixel cameras by Canon, Nikon, or Olympus sell for around $900 at London Drugs. Unless you plan to print gigantic posters or do a lot of computer editing, you won't need more than five megapixels. CF cards (256K) are $80 at Costco. If you have your own inkjet printer, there should be no further costs after your initial outlay.

My digital camera has completely changed the way I approach garden photography. My pictures are far better than what I usually produced with my Pentax cameras and I am much more consistent. The camera functions were easy to learn and fun to use. With the Canon G5 set on "automatic", I was able to take good quality photographs immediately. As a result of attending an evening workshop and reading a digital photography book, I am starting to successfully handle some of the more difficult garden lighting situations with the manual functions.

Some things I've learned are:

• Always use a tripod when photographing flowers.
• An old umbrella lying sideways on the ground can help keep trusses still on windy days.
• Set the camera at the highest resolution and compression and the lowest ASA setting.
• Never use the digital zoom feature because picture quality is sacrificed.
• The best lighting occurs on cloudy days and in early mornings; full sunlight is the worst.
• Setting the camera's white balance for "cloudy day light" enhances the colour in yellow flowers.
• White, very deep red, and pale pink and yellow trusses usually look best when manually underexposed.
• Backlighting purple and maroon flowers makes them appear to glow.
• Using flash with close-ups often produces harsh contrasts.

I've included a few sample photographs with this article, taken at Caron Gardens this spring, in early morning light, at very low aperature settings. All have been cropped and resized in Photoshop Elements, but none has been enhanced.

Ron Knight is a retired biology teacher, past-president of the Vancouver Rhododendron Society, and a confirmed rhodoholic. Ron and his wife Carla are the creators of Caron Gardens where they display over 450 different rhododendrons and companion perennial plants in a natural woodland setting on Hotel Lake. They also sell award-winning rhododendrons and use their garden and classroom to offer workshops which are advertised in the Pender Harbour Community School newsletter and the SCRD magazine. Detailed information on several upcoming workshops is available online. You can contact Ron at 604-883-9807 or by e-mail at carongardens@telus.net.