The PhotoBotanic Guide to Photographing Roses is finally published !
Coming from thirty years of garden photography and eight rose books, distilled here in 92 pages of tips and techniques, the ebook is available for the bargain price of $14.95. Discount coupons below for better bargains.
The Photographing Roses guide, continuing the series of PhotoBotanic garden photography workshop books, is the first to be published both as an e-book and softcover.
And, like all PhotoBotanic ebooks, the various lessons can be found here as articles in the Living Books section of the website as the Guide was being written.
The book was inspired by American Rose Society members who encouraged me to put down my lecture notes into a book on how to photograph roses. While the lessons in the book are no guarantee of winning a photo prize at an ARS meeting, I have considered their guidelines and added my own.
Here is a sample chapter, Lesson One: Working in the Garden
Country garden with roses
Table of Contents
The PhotoBotanic Guide to Photographing Roses
CHAPTER ONE: WORKING IN THE GARDEN is an overview. “We are not looking just to capture the flower but it’s place in the garden.”
• Appreciate the garden and how the roses are used.
• Compose a good, balanced picture using the whole frame.
• Learn how to use the light.
• Tell a story, don’t just grab a shot.
CHAPTER TWO: THE ROSE HERO SHOT
Twin yellow roses, macro with diffused light
“Here I really want to talk about the hero rose, the single glorious rose portrait, when the flower itself is the sole subject of the photograph is the sole subject of the photograph.”
• Get the Gear for Close-ups
• Find the Rose – Watch the Background
• Use a Tripod
• Composition
• Depth of Field
• Macro Close-up
• A Final Word on Composition
CHAPTER THREE: LIGHT AND COLOR
“Besides finding a fine rose to photograph, the single most important thing for making that beautiful rose into a beautiful photograph is good light.”
• Finding the Light
• True Color
• White Balance in the Camera
• True Light and Scrim
• Studio Light
• Special Circumstances – Computer Fixes
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ROSE BOUQUET
Rose bouquet, floral arrangement outdoors in Sally Roberston garden
“A beautiful bouquet of roses can inspire the photographer no matter who grew them, and indeed many photographers don’t have gardens at all.”
• Making a Floral Arrangement
• ‘Pascali’ – Rule of Thirds
• ‘Tiffany’ – Careful Props
• ‘Jacques Cartier’ – Point of View
• ‘White Delight’ – Making a Background
• Species Rose – Simple Bouquet
• ‘Summer Fashion’ – Multiple Views
• Sally Robertson – Artist Bouquets
• ‘Bewitched’ – Let the Roses be Roses
CHAPTER FIVE: SPECIAL TECHNIQUES
Rambling rose Rosa ‘Apple Blossom” flower truss photobotanic silhouette
“I will show the botanic illustration technique I used when photographing the Smith & Hawken rose books with rosarian Clair Martin, a focus stacking technique to create incredible depth of field with close-up photography, and then show you the PhotoBotanic extraction process whereby the rose is illustrated within its garden setting.”
• Photo Illustration -Smith & Hawken meets Redouté
• Focus Stacking
• PhotoBotanic Extractions – ‘Apple Blossom’
From The PhotoBotanic Guide to Photographing Roses
The PhotoBotanic Guide to Photographing Roses is available for $14.95. And for those of you who have read this entire outline and now really want the ebook, Thank You – here is a 25% discount coupon code to be used at check out for the ebook: “rose25”
The softcover book is available only through my Blurb storefront and is $29.95.
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