I grow bonsai
Jan 4, 2017 11:19:37 #
My Name is Vance Wood I grow bonsai trees and I photograph all of them so that I can share the images with friends. This one is a Mugo Pine I started working on in 1972. This photograph was taken this summer. I am always looking for ways to improve this pictures and welcome advise. These guys are particularly difficult to photograph.
Jan 4, 2017 11:26:25 #
Welcome to the forum. Beautiful bonsai. That shot is very good, might want to get some information on stacking.
Jan 4, 2017 11:42:16 #
Welcome. These little trees fascinate me, and I love this one.
What you might try for setting this off a little more is to place it in bright morning or afternoon light with really deep shadows behind. Another thing I've used with flower arrangements is to put a piece of black cloth or foamcore (something that's dark but not shiny) behind to isolate them. They really pop with the dark background and there are no distractions. I would love to see how that works with this tree. Thanks for sharing.
What you might try for setting this off a little more is to place it in bright morning or afternoon light with really deep shadows behind. Another thing I've used with flower arrangements is to put a piece of black cloth or foamcore (something that's dark but not shiny) behind to isolate them. They really pop with the dark background and there are no distractions. I would love to see how that works with this tree. Thanks for sharing.
Jan 4, 2017 11:59:15 #
Jan 4, 2017 12:24:05 #
Wonderful hobby/profession. I also would like to see this tree with a dark background. Welcome to the forum.
Jan 4, 2017 13:27:24 #
Jan 4, 2017 13:41:20 #
Before I replied, I knew people would talk about the background. The standard professional--or traditional--photographer is going to want the subject popping out, in several ways. One is to have a big difference in exposure. The background can be darker or lighter (high key). Second, the background can be out of focus (more so than here), either by being farther away, by using a bigger lens aperture, or shooting closer to the subject. The background might even move--using a moving train as background. Some people even stress about "bokeh," a made-up word about the way some lenses (due to the blades of their apertures) make the unfocused backgrounds dreamier, creamier, or anyway less screamier. Third, the background can be plainer, less busy with distracting things in it, or perhaps ideally, nothing recognizable or interesting. A plain or indifferently textured backdrop could be used such as a big card or the sky.
Part of the artistic decision is the genre--pictorial like Strand or, later, Adams, journalistic like Capa or Eisenstaedt, snap-shot movement like Eggleston, or other platforms and movements.
The rules are set for two main traditions--product photography and portraiture. The product jumps out, while the background is suppressed as above. However, both products and people can be photographed on entirely different principles. A product can be shown within its usual (or unusual) surroundings, which may be crystal clear. To some degree, traditional bonsai are surrounded by a mini-environment that seems natural to them, at least until they reach the pot, which is a sort of frame. A human model may be shown at the Eiffel Tower or the Grand canyon, again f-64 sharp and clear. Ansel Adams' textbook shows a portrait of a woman, full figure in wide angle lens, in her beautiful garden--which proved to many people that Adams was no portrait photographer. But the joke is on them.
The possibilities with bonsai are endless--and grand. A tiny pine with the trunk of a mighty pine as its background is just a thought. Or a forest of trunks behind it, in a variety of different lighting contexts and compositions. I am not sure what to do with a group-portrait for bonsai--they must not be lost in a maze (or perhaps they should be, in a large print?) If a Lexus can be photographed with a pretty model, so can a bonsai, yes? Or a lizard contemplating a bonsai might look like Godzilla has returned. One might set up a basic stage, such as a rustic bench or a modern one. Lighting, focus, and perspectives are always considered, but the general practice need not be worn like a crown of thorns. We first look at what everybody does (and ask, Why?) and then we look another way (and ask, Why not?) The common rules give us a diving board from which we may spring--not necessarily a sofa to lie down upon.
Part of the artistic decision is the genre--pictorial like Strand or, later, Adams, journalistic like Capa or Eisenstaedt, snap-shot movement like Eggleston, or other platforms and movements.
The rules are set for two main traditions--product photography and portraiture. The product jumps out, while the background is suppressed as above. However, both products and people can be photographed on entirely different principles. A product can be shown within its usual (or unusual) surroundings, which may be crystal clear. To some degree, traditional bonsai are surrounded by a mini-environment that seems natural to them, at least until they reach the pot, which is a sort of frame. A human model may be shown at the Eiffel Tower or the Grand canyon, again f-64 sharp and clear. Ansel Adams' textbook shows a portrait of a woman, full figure in wide angle lens, in her beautiful garden--which proved to many people that Adams was no portrait photographer. But the joke is on them.
The possibilities with bonsai are endless--and grand. A tiny pine with the trunk of a mighty pine as its background is just a thought. Or a forest of trunks behind it, in a variety of different lighting contexts and compositions. I am not sure what to do with a group-portrait for bonsai--they must not be lost in a maze (or perhaps they should be, in a large print?) If a Lexus can be photographed with a pretty model, so can a bonsai, yes? Or a lizard contemplating a bonsai might look like Godzilla has returned. One might set up a basic stage, such as a rustic bench or a modern one. Lighting, focus, and perspectives are always considered, but the general practice need not be worn like a crown of thorns. We first look at what everybody does (and ask, Why?) and then we look another way (and ask, Why not?) The common rules give us a diving board from which we may spring--not necessarily a sofa to lie down upon.
Jan 4, 2017 14:51:34 #
Jan 4, 2017 14:53:27 #
Bonsai can be a lifetime commitment if you let be so, and I have. I started this tree from a garden nursery tree I obtained from Bondines Nursery in 1972, and have worked on it since.
Jan 4, 2017 15:36:56 #
I am not sure I know what stacking is? I learned bonsai pretty much by the seat of my pants and I would say photography followed in my hip pocket.
Jan 5, 2017 07:01:39 #
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Jan 5, 2017 09:48:31 #
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