rchids are to me one of the lovelyest subjects to photograph. I can’t take the credit for, all the lovely photographs of my orchids; As I am only the assistant. You see I grow the orchids and my husband, Richard takes the photographs. As the assistant, it is a very important job…. I am the one that sets the orchid on the table and turns the plant, just right so that the amazing photos shine.

Then the true photographer steps in!

To get a decent picture you will need a fairly good camera. You can find a fairly good camera for $300.00 to $500.00.
I have a Nikon D70 which is a SLR but you do not need to give $1200.00 for a decent camera.
As for lenses I have different lenses. I have a Nikon 18-70 mm an 70-300mm zoom lens, for some close up shots you might add to your lenses a macro lens. Lenses can be very pricey, do some home work before you purchase your new lens. Cheap lens are cheap lens, some lens are real high because of the aperture settings.
Say a 28 by 300 lens with macro (which will be my next lens) with a 2.8 aperture will be a lot higher, then the same lens say with a 3.5 aperture. If you have lighting you cam get by with a 3.5 aperture and save a couple hundred dollars.

If you are coming from a film to digital, remember that digital cost nothing to shoot. So take lots of pictures, experiment and just delete the bad ones. I have taken the same picture in ever aperture setting on the camera and wrote down each picture with each setting, to see which one was the best. So play! Have fun! And Experiment! Keep what you like delete the rest, remember it’s free!

A very important piece of equipment to add is a good tripod, believe me when I say…good… it is true here you get what you paid for. You need to buy tripods that match the weight of your camera, more is better. A low end tripod will not support the weight of some cameras, then you add on the weight of your lenses, and now you are talking a camera that needs a good support from a good tripod.
I purchased, more tripods trying to find just the right one for my camera before learning the saying,…you get what you pay for.. is very true when it comes to tripods. I now use a Silk Pro 400DX that gives me lots of flexible setting, and holds the weight of not only the camera but the added weight of the lens.

Good lighting is as important as a good camera. The most common mistake I see is setting your plant right in the window to take the picture. The camera picks up the light from the window and makes the orchids dark. Therefore a light set up is very helpful. I use 2 lights of 150 watts, on each side towards the front, and an over head light of 60 watts. Nothing beats outdoor lighting. Went taking outdoor photographs set your plants in the sun or shade, preferable shade, as bright sun will generally wash out the colors. Do not have shade on one part of the plant and sun on the other. The sun side will be blown out. If you want exact colors you need some kind of photo editing software, I use Photoshop cs2. But Photoshop Elements or Paintshop Pro will work just as good.


As for some shooting tips,

When you take the photo you should fill the lens with the subject.

And don’t forget the most important tip of all is you need a good assistant.
By
Richard & Laura Poore