5 Garden Photography Tips for Showing Off Your Green Thumb
If you consider yourself to have a 'green thumb,' then why not celebrate your gardening efforts in photographic style? Not only does it let you step back and appreciate all of your hard work, but taking photos of your garden can also preserve beautiful memories throughout the seasons as the foliage changes color or grows.
Thankfully, capturing stunning photos of your garden doesn’t have to be complicated, nor does it require expensive equipment or software to bring those photos to life.
If you’ve ever wondered “how do you take good photos outdoors?”, you’re in luck. We’ve rounded up our top 5 photography tips to help you celebrate your garden all year-round!
1. Embrace Color
Gardens are often dominated by shades of green, so in order to make your photo stand out, you’ll want to give it some pops of color. It might be as subtle as some amber leaves, or as full-on as a shrub cloaked in bright pink flowers.
Try to position this color so it draws the viewer’s eye in and makes the most impact on your photograph. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is by following the Rule of Thirds. To do this, use the grid lines within your viewfinder to place your colorful point of interest in a third of the frame.
You can achieve the Rule of Thirds during your photo editing process by using the Crop tool in BeFunky’s Photo Editor. Simply use the grid to line up your image’s colorful subject, then crop accordingly.
2. Get a Worm's-Eye-View
Sometimes, in order to get the most unique photo of your garden, you need to think like the critters who call it home. This involves ignoring the 'bigger picture' of your scene, and instead, focusing on its incredible little details on a macro level.
Macro photography simply refers to extreme close-up photography. It takes minute subjects, such as insects or the intricacies of a plant, for example, and captures them in a way that’s 'larger than life.'
If you’re taking garden photos on your phone, it should already have a macro photography feature built into it. This mode is often represented within your phone’s camera as a flower symbol. Alternatively, you may find the option for macro photography within your camera’s settings.
Be sure to focus on your macro subject manually and keep your phone or camera still while shooting.
To really enhance your subject, use BeFunky’s photo editing tools to boost the photo’s clarity. You can even use Funky Focus to create a tilt-shift effect, which is characteristic of macro photography.
3. Just Add Water
Professional nature photographers often use a simple hack when photographing plant life. They simply give the greenery a quick watering beforehand to create little drops of moisture on the leaves and flowers.
Doing so not only makes a garden appear fresher and more vibrant, but also creates a surface which light can reflect off. This helps you to create a garden photo that’s anything but dull or boring.
You can even use this hack when shooting your garden at a macro level, as the added droplets will create even more intrigue when shot as an extreme close-up.
4. Make Use of Magic Hours
When wanting to photograph your garden, you’ll no doubt be wondering: “what is the best time of day for outdoor photography?” This is one of the most common questions among those just beginning to venture into nature or garden photography, and for good reasons too. You see, poor lighting can create a dark and unappealing photograph, while lighting that is too bright can create unflattering shadows and simply too much contrast between the light and dark areas of your image.
The trick to capturing your garden in the most optimal lighting is using the Magic Hour. This is the golden period that occurs in the hour leading up to sunrise and the hour leading up to sunset. During these times of day, the lighting is soft and hazy, thus creating the most flattering and dream-like image.
These Magic Hours also create natural tones of pink, orange, or purple within your image, giving it a beautiful appearance without the need for a colored filter.
5. Use Fast Shutter Speeds to Capture Garden Wildlife
Your garden may also be frequented by animals, including native birds, squirrels, or even your beloved cat or dog. One way to instantly capture interesting and unique garden photos is to incorporate this wildlife into your shots.
Of course, no one wants a blurry image of an animal running away, so the trick is to use a fast shutter speed and manually zoom in as much as necessary. It may take a few tries, but once you’ve captured a beautiful image of an animal interacting with your garden, it’ll be totally worth it.
If your photo still contains a small amount of blur or noise, then these common problems can easily be fixed using BeFunky’s Photo Enhancer. Sharpen DLX counteracts blur, while Denoise DLX removes that grainy appearance.
Create Beautiful Garden Memories That Last
By following these 5 tips above, you’ll be capturing perfect garden photos every time! Remember, your garden will constantly be changing throughout the year due to the seasons, so try to embrace this change and regularly capture its beauty.
Of course, no photo is complete without a quick edit, so be sure to use BeFunky’s wide range of essential features to help you perfect your outdoor images.
Try the Photo Editor today to see how it can transform your garden photography!
