A GOOD PHOTO BLOOMS FOREVER

[ronaldhanko]

A new story entry has been added:

A GOOD PHOTO BLOOMS FOREVER

ave you seen a photo of an orchid that made you say, "I wish I'd taken that"? Have you ever wished for photos of your own orchids that were not just average, but showed these exquisite flowers to their best advantage, photos that would remind you of your orchids when they were not blooming? Perhaps you've had such thoughts but have you somehow gotten the idea that really good photos are beyond your capabilities or financial resources? In this article I want to dispel some myths about orchid photography by way of showing that good pictures can be taken by anyone with a minimum of expense and expertise.
Good photographs of the orchids we grow are a record of the blooms and plants that provides a memory of their loveliness and of our success as growers. Good photographs give the grower and photographer an opportunity to show his or her success far beyond the local orchid society and visiting friends, and can even give the additional thrill of being published. I can remember the thrill of having my first photo published and remember as well the owners of orchids that had just been awarded hanging breathlessly over my shoulder to make sure that their plant was properly photographed, hoping that

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Ron

Thanks for the key tips and your encouragement.
I totally agree with you.

I am now scanning in pictures I took a long time ago of my orchids, gardens, and even pictures of my children's paintings of my orchids they did for Charity Fairs. All gone a long time ago.

Your suggestion about playing around with cropping pictures is really fun. You can even use the same picture for different occasions.

I don't know if you are aware of this but most of your picture links did not work for me. I did enjoy your gallery on this forum thought.

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by Sun rm.N.E.

Ron

Thanks for the key tips and your encouragement.
I totally agree with you.

I am now scanning in pictures I took a long time ago of my orchids, gardens, and even pictures of my children's paintings of my orchids they did for Charity Fairs. All gone a long time ago.

Your suggestion about playing around with cropping pictures is really fun. You can even use the same picture for different occasions.

I don't know if you are aware of this but most of your picture links did not work for me. I did enjoy your gallery on this forum thought.

The pictures should appear in the article now.

[Grandma M]

I need to go get another cup of coffee and be prepared for a long enjoyable session. I'm going to save this post so I can savor all the beauty at my leisure. Thanks - - Marilyn

[cb977]

Wonderful article! So informative...and beautiful!

Thanks for the great information

(I made a correction in the paragraph regarding
"The plant at right is a massive specimen plant of Dendrobium primulinum"...the system formatted the picture of this plant on the right, not the left as originally stated in the article. I changed the word "left" to "right", nothing else. I hope you don't mind )

[betoguerrero]

Thanks!!!! That article is very helpfull, I have 1 question... What kind of lenses do you use and what kind of digital camera do you have???
For the CLOSE UPS do you use a MACRO???
Do you makeup the flowers or the leaves????

[ronaldhanko]

Betoguerrero,
I have a Canon EOS Rebel with a 28-80 lens. I've always used a bellows for the tiny flowers, but my old bellows doesn't fit this camera, so I have to figure out something else and haven't decided yet what I want to do.

[AboutOrchids]

Thanks for the great advice for taking orchid photos. With the advent and improvement of digital cameras over the years, however, I seem to mostly rely on taking quality pictures by taking a large quantity and weeding out the bad ones. If I were still using a film camera, I'd be wasting a lot of film!

[IraGlacialis]

Extreme thanks for the tips.

One question: When using a white/pale background, do you ever experiment with back-lighting?

[Carl Austin]

A very informative article. Thank you.

Carl