How do I photograph my garden and lawn?

I came, I saw, I clicked

The grass is always greener when you take a good picture…

World Photography Day on August 19^th is an annual, worldwide celebration of the art, craft, science and history of photography. Photographs can convey a feeling, capture a place, an experience, an idea. Even a moment in time. For this reason, it’s rightly said that a picture is worth a thousand words. For over 150 years photography has been a wonderful part of our lives and with today’s technology has become something that connects us all. World Photography Day reminds us of the value of photography whether you are using a mobile phone, GoPro, DSLR or even a real camera with old school film! This day is all about encouraging everyone to try their hand and participate.

Take a look at the event’s  website or go to Facebook to take part:

https://www.worldphotographyday.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/608712019820673/

Photographing your garden or lawn

“Ok, that’s all well and good” you say, “but why would I want to photograph my garden or lawn?”

• You can use the photos for planning – track what grew well & where, where your garden gets the sun and at what time, what worked well so you can do it again (or not if it was a hot mess…)
• You can use photos as digital backgrounds for your social media or anything else you fancy
• Share your hard earned, fabulous garden with family & friends… and maybe just boast a little
• If you’re particularly proud of a picture you can get images printed on a whole range of items such as a wall canvas, cushion covers, T Shirts, coasters – the list goes on!
• If you’re planning to sell your home and move away, photographing the garden and lawn through the seasons is a fantastic way to show prospective buyers what it looks like all year round
• How about entering a local Gardening Club competition? A knockout shot of your garden could win you prizes in your local Flower or Garden Club contests.

We have a Lawn Showcase page on the Lawntech website, for clients to show off their magnificent lawns. We offer a £25.00 John Lewis voucher for any lawns that make it to the Showcase, so why not click on the link and submit your finest lawn pics today?

Lawntech’s top tips to get the best out of your garden photography

You don’t need to be David Bailey or Rankin to get a decent photo – just treat going out into the garden as a great opportunity to practice landscape, nature, still life and even macro photography. As you’d expect there are copious resources on the web and in books from beginner to expert level, but in reality you just need to remember a few basic things:

• Keep your lens clean! – yes, very bloomin’ obvious but it makes all the difference
• Keep it interesting – shoot a number of subjects such as flowers, plants, leaves, fruits, pots, statues, ponds, pets, family, even garden equipment can be interesting if you get creative!
• Take photos that go from big to small – wide-angles/panoramic will give an overall view of your garden, medium shots will emphasize specific areas and close-ups (macro photography) are perfect for picking out beautiful details.
• Shoot early in the morning & and at sunset for the best light. Especially during what the pros call ‘Golden Hour’. This is a bit of a misnomer, as it lasts for around 20 minutes just after sunrise and after sunset. It’s when the natural light is softer and warmer, adding stunning effects to your pictures
• Change your perspective – use a ladder, lie on your stomach or on your back
• Take seasonal shots of your garden – why not record the changing seasons and the effect they have on your garden, by standing in the same spot and taking the same picture once a month or even once a quarter?
• Take your shots in both landscape and portrait formats if you’re looking to share them online – We naturally take pictures of our gardens in landscape format to get as much into the frame as possible, but Social media is now more geared to images in portrait format as they display well on mobiles devices.

Experiment – framing, light direction and post production (cropping/filters) can do amazing things!

Kew Gardens have a number of helpful articles on how to photograph your gardens, plants & flowers that are worth a look – as you’d expect, Kew’s experts have some great tips; www.kew/org

Finishing tweaks to full-blown effects…

Crop it like it’s hot…

Mobiles not only have remarkable cameras now, there’s also a huge range of effects that can be used to tidy up and improve your original photos. In the first instance, don’t forget to check the filters that come with the pre-installed camera on your phone as you might be surprised what it can already do.

However, if you’re looking to get a little more creative, we’d recommend the following apps that can take your photography to the next level:

• Good ‘all rounders’ – VSCO, Snapseed and don’t forget Instagram!
• Good for long/night exposures – Average CamPro
• Good for macro photography – Snapseed
• Good for textures/overlays – DistressedFX, Mextures
• Good for artistic lens/lighting effects – Lens Distortions

Be inspired by the professionals

It’s always helpful to see how others compose, frame and finish their images and a little inspiration can go a long way. You never know, if you get really motivated, you might even consider entering a competition!

Kew Gardens – International Garden Photographer of the Year

Run in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, this annual competition is open to amateurs and professionals alike, attracting 20,000 entries every year. The main competition closes on October 31 with winners announced the following February. There are 9 regular categories each year including favourites such as ‘The Beauty of Plants’, ‘Beautiful Gardens’ and ‘Abstract Views’ plus there are 4 photo projects and numerous seasonal special awards including ‘Captured at Kew’.

Even if you don’t enter, you can get inspired by viewing the archives of previous competitions, cleverly displayed in close up, beautiful, clear digital galleries. https://igpoty.com/

The Professional Garden Photographers website also has a huge range of ‘Image of the Month’ archives for some truly incredible photographs. https://www.professionalgardenphotographers.com/

Our eye has also been taken over the past couple of years by two excellent photography programmes on TV;

BBC TV’s Great British Photography Challenge

This is a photographic Masterclass across all its forms, as 6 promising snappers are taken under the wing of top fashion and portrait photographer Rankin;  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wfcy

SKY TV’s Master of Photography

Judged by world-renowned photographers including Oliviero Toscani, talent from all over Europe compete for the Master of Photography title;

https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/f1e397e3-9c89-4232-9664-2d5b0005f950/master-of-photography

Both of these are inspirational to watch, featuring very high levels of photography yet showing how achievable those fabulous images are. In 2021, the mobile phone manufacturers have put immense photographic power into our pockets and made it accessible to millions. It has never been so easy to take great pictures, with the machines doing all the work for us!

If your lawn needs a little help to make our Lawn Showcase, you can always visit our website and get an instant, no-obligation quote for Lawntech to make it look its best for those eye-catching pictures you’ll be taking;