Take the advice of these local photography and garden experts to
make your pictures shine
In the chilly days of winter when trees are bare and flowers are dormant, a reminder of summer’s blooming splendor can be just the ticket. Taking pictures of friends and family in your home garden – or taking pictures of the garden itself – can be a great way to keep a little taste of summer year-round.
South Valley photography and garden experts weighed in with tips on taking pictures that will best capture your home garden.
Lighting
– “A lot of people think if they’re taking a picture of someone outdoors, they need to have the sun in the person’s face to illuminate them, but that’s not true,” said Rebecca Little, owner of Portraits by Rebecca in Morgan Hill. “I prefer to take pictures of people in open shade, so their faces will be fully lit, but they won’t be squinting. Watch out for dappled light, and avoid dense shade. You don’t want the person in the picture to be in the dark.”
– “People in the shade is best – full sun makes people squint, it washes out their skin, and it shows any imperfections in their face,” said Bob Morneau, the photography teacher at Gilroy High School. “If a picture can’t be taken in the shade, then the photographer should use the flash. It’s called a ‘fill flash,’ and most digital cameras have a setting for it.”
When taking pictures in full sun, Morneau recommended seating people so the sun is shining on them from the side or from the back, then using the flash on a camera to fill in the shadows.
“It’s much more flattering that way, but a lot of people think that because they’re outdoors, they don’t need a flash,” he explained. “Flowers and their petals are a lot like people’s skin tone. Full sun directly on them can be unflattering, so taking pictures of flowers in the shade is best, too.”
– When taking pictures of flowers, Little recommends playing with light. Try getting light coming through the petals from behind or using light in other ways capture different dimensions of a flower.
Camera Settings
– “Try taking your camera off automatic and playing with the settings on manual to get different looks in your pictures,” Little said. “If your camera is always on auto, you won’t ever really know what the settings do and how adjusting them can change the look of a picture.”
– “Read the manual for your camera and practice with it,” Morneau recommended. “If it’s a digital camera, you can just bang away with your card in there. Because there isn’t any film, you don’t have to worry about processing anything. You can just delete anything that doesn’t come out right. Practice, practice, practice. There are a lot of resources out there for people to do research on how to take pictures of people outdoors or how to take pictures of flowers and gardens. Try www.photo.com for tips, or go to the library. Kodak has put out manuals for years.”
Props
– “I think gazing globes are a great thing to have in garden pictures,” said Caryn Paidl, owner of Paidl Gardens & Accents in Hollister. Gazing globes are round metal orbs that reflect light and are often placed in the garden. “They come in every color you can think of, although I like the lighter colors, and you can take pictures of them reflecting your garden. I also took a picture of my granddaughter gazing into my gazing globe, and it came out really cool. It not only reflected her, but my garden behind her.”
Ponds or waterfalls also make great backgrounds for pictures, Paidl said.
– Gilroy resident Zenaida Alonzo said she uses her koi fish pond and waterfall as a background for family pictures often, and also uses it as the subject of her pictures.
“The fish jump and swim over each other, and it’s like they’re making a show for me,” Alonzo said. “My pond looks beautiful in pictures.”
Sometimes, things you wouldn’t immediately think would be good props can work surprisingly well in outdoor photographs, Paidl said.
“When I do my advertisements, I put my granddaughter in a rustic-looking wheelbarrow or a wagon, and then I put a bunch of plants around her and it looks great,” she explained. “Even an old bicycle works. I’ve got an old Schwinn, and I put flowers in the basket and around the tires and everyone loves it.”
Background
– “Sometimes you need to get lower to the ground in a backyard to avoid getting fence lines in your picture,” Little said. “Don’t be afraid to have people sit down or to take the pictures from different angles to make sure you get the best background possible.”
– “Always be aware of the background in a picture,” Morneau said. “Make sure it’s not too busy and there isn’t too much going on back there. Also, make sure you don’t have a branch or a tree appearing to come out of someone’s head in a picture. Take note of where things are in relation to the person in the picture.”
– One of Alonzo’s favorite places to take pictures of her family is in front of her orchid cacti, she said. By using them as a background, she not only gets a great picture of her family with the big blooms behind them, she also gets to take pictures of her favorite plants in her garden.
People Pictures
– Try black and white pictures. Some pictures, particularly of people, can look best in black and white.
– When taking pictures of heavy-set people, try looking down slightly on them – take the picture from just above eye level, for example – for a more flattering picture, Morneau said.
– When taking pictures of thin-faced people, try looking up at them slightly to fill them out a little more.
– “If you’re photographing children outdoors, sit them down in an area and give them some toys or something to engage them,” Little said. “Make it fun for them. Don’t train them to sit there, pose and say ‘cheese.’ You can get a much more incisive picture of a child’s personality if they’re not looking at the camera. You don’t get their personality when their sitting there saying ‘cheese.'”
– Avoid stiff or stilted poses. Take advantage of the more relaxed atmosphere of a garden, and try to capture your subject in a comfortable pose.
Extra Expert Tips
– Try different angles of your subject. Try looking down from above them, looking up from below them or taking the picture from the side.
– Move in close to flowers.
– “Get out of the mode of standing there and going ‘click!,’ Morneau said, making a point-and-shoot gesture. “Get out of the habit of taking snapshots and trying taking photographs. You want people to say, ‘Wow, this is a really great picture you took,’ rather than having them just flip by it.”
