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Botanical Landscapes What really got me started in photography was the Whitetail Deer. After pursuing them for many years during archery season, it was a natural movement to try and capture them with a camera. The camera was a good excuse for me to get out in all seasons. But to my surprise I began to notice other subjects in our Northern forests, bogs and marshes.
My two lenses of choice for botanical landscapes are either my Nikon 12-24mm or 28-70mm lenses. What I consider to be one of the most important criteria for a botanical landscape to work is that the subject must be in a very photogenic environment. But once I have determined that, here are some tips that I use to take this type of image.
Sky: Sometimes we have to work around this, but like all photographers I have a preference for different sky conditions depending if I am in the woods or prairie. In the forest I want overcast sky. This gives a natural diffusion of the light. With sunny conditions there is just too much contrast with the bright areas and shady areas. However in a prairie I usually like sunny skies especially if the sky has some nice puffy white clouds to help keep the sky interesting. However if the sky is bland, I usually try to eliminate the sky in the image. Composition: This is a personal taste, but I believe that the composition can make or break your image. One of the most important things to remember in a botanical landscape is to emphasis the subject in its native habitat. If my subject is say, a group of wildflowers, I generally will place them in the bottom 1/3 of the frame. However, just like any landscape photography, try to show depth to your image by placing your subject properly and keeping interest in foreground, middle ground and background. I almost always have on a
Depth-of-field: In my landscape photography I like to have depth from corner to corner of the image. That does not mean that my aperture is always set at F-22. Much of my botanical landscapes are at F-11 or F-16. What is definitely important is that the foreground should always be sharp. Any out-of-focus area in the foreground will ruin your image. One of the guides I use when doing this type of photography is to remember that depth-of-field is generally 1/3 foreground and 2/3 background. So many times I will focus on a spot about a little less than 1/3 into the frame. So if there is any softness it will be far into the background which is not nearly as offensive. Many times your aperture will be determined by the weather conditions - if wind is present, sometimes a faster shutter speed is required. Opening the aperture or using a higher digital ISO is the only way to do this, but remembering the depth-of-field can sometimes make this work.
There is much more to good botanical landscapes (cable releases, tripods etc.) but if you have not been doing any botanical landscapes, next time you come across a nice group of native orchids put away the macro and grab your wide angle lens and you may surprise yourself on your creativity. Good Shooting Technical Data:
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