Photographers: Spill your guts here...

[leatherback]

If a Stewartia is by far best one ever seen on here

Not stewartia. Jabuticaba.

 

[Mikecheck123]

One thing that is so important and it is simple, but an enigma to most folks is exposure compensation.

As you can see on my photographs a very dark or very light background makes wonders. So why is it that it looks so lousy when folks try it?Bbecause they don't undersea d that their super smart camera is really dumb like a brick, When you put it in front of a bonsai with black background it decides that the black is very dark and therefore the photograph must be exposed less to make it right. The result is a washed out bonsai that often cannot be reuscued. iI you take a very light background the camera decides that this is too light and makes the bonsai much darker. The result is a way too dark tree that looks lousy but you see it so often.

You have to be smarter than the camera. There is something in EVERY reasonable camera, even on your smart phone which is called

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. You must get familiar with this. It is in the instructions - you bet.

I most of the time correct the automatic exposure by plus 0.7 with white backgrounds and minus 0.7 with black backgrounds. It makes a tremendous difference!!!

Walter, how do you keep track of which photos are of which trees when you have so many trees and so many photos?

 

[Walter Pall]

Walter, how do you keep track of which photos are of which trees when you have so many trees and so many photos?

It's just good organization and discipline. Notbing secrret or special.. Anybody can do it. - or could do it.

 

[leatherback]

Walter, how do you keep track of which photos are of which trees when you have so many trees and so many photos?

I am not @Walter Pall, but here is how I do it.

Each of my trees get a virtual label, consisting of the species and serial number. My first zelkova serrata would be ZS01

All my photo's are in Adobe Lightroom, where I do adjustments, but also archive: You can add keywords. So the pictures get the labels of the individual tree in them, so ZS01 is added to my keywords. In lightroom I can therefore always find pretty much all pictures of a specific tree. Except for my laziness where I get sloppy adding keywords.

Twice a year, once summer, once winter, I shoot of all my trees. After adding in lightroom and adjusting/labelling I do a small-version export of the pictures of all my trees. Naming starts with a year/month/day label to sort them by date taken. These are dropped into my digital bonsai folders. One folder for each tree. labelled ZS01_zelkova_serrata. If I am really good, the folder also holds a document with purchase date, price, previous owner etc. But that I have been lazy filling .

It is a lot of work. But I have come to realize that sorting through thousands of pictures to see what the roots on tree X looked like when I first got it, is really more work. And in winter I like to flip through the pictures to see how individual trees developed.

 

[Graft]

It is a lot of work. But I have come to realize that sorting through thousands of pictures to see what the roots on tree X looked like when I first got it, is really more work.

This!

 

[Clicio]

If a Stewartia is by far best one ever seen on here.

It's a Jaboticaba. Nice, isn't it?

 

[Clicio]

I do all my organization work on Lightroom also. Keywords are the...key.

 

[Mikecheck123]

One thing that is so important and it is simple, but an enigma to most folks is exposure compensation.

As you can see on my photographs a very dark or very light background makes wonders. So why is it that it looks so lousy when folks try it?Bbecause they don't undersea d that their super smart camera is really dumb like a brick, When you put it in front of a bonsai with black background it decides that the black is very dark and therefore the photograph must be exposed less to make it right. The result is a washed out bonsai that often cannot be reuscued. iI you take a very light background the camera decides that this is too light and makes the bonsai much darker. The result is a way too dark tree that looks lousy but you see it so often.

You have to be smarter than the camera. There is something in EVERY reasonable camera, even on your smart phone which is called

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. You must get familiar with this. It is in the instructions - you bet.

I most of the time correct the automatic exposure by plus 0.7 with white backgrounds and minus 0.7 with black backgrounds. It makes a tremendous difference!!!

You don't get enough credit for your photography skills that have nothing to do with bonsai.

 

[Djtommy]

What colour of background does everyone like?

 

[Forsoothe!]

Black by a long shot.

 

[leatherback]

What colour of background does everyone like?

i like black anddark grey. But I am getting to like a dark yellow..

 

[Gustavo Martins]

If you understand a little bit of photography you can use the zoning system to correctly exposure your photography. It’s not a big deal, although it may sound daunting for less experienced folks.
In most situations it is also critical to have light on the tree (either natural or flash) while keeping it out of your background. This will make your tree stand out more.

 

[_#1_]

View attachment 343272

This is pretty bad photo editing

 

[leatherback]

This is pretty bad photo editing

feel free to post an example of your work to illustrate proper work.

 

[Clicio]

This is pretty bad photo editing

This is pretty bad manners

 

[Paradox]

I think the challenge lies in trying to adequately represent a 3D object (tree) that has depth on a 2D medium (photo).

In my own experience, I prefer a black back ground and lighting from a diagonal angle that isnt too bright or harsh because it adds too much contrast between lit areas and shadows.

This is probably the best picture of a tree I have taken. The black background really makes you focus on the tree pop and the lighting makes the green pop but isnt so harsh so that the shadows are not overly dark, but muted to allow you to see details in them. IMO

 

[_#1_]

This is pretty bad photo editing

This is pretty bad manners

feel free to post an example of your work to illustrate proper work.

Ah man, reading my previous post again, I did sound like an A hole. Sorry, I should have explained myself.

I sometimes use Photoshop to edit pics too. And I believe what was used to delete the BG was the "wand" tool. Problem with this is when the color shade is close enough, the tool will select area you don't want selected. As the case with the photo.

RED circles - chopped petals
BLUE circles - background remnants
ORANGE circle - chopped petal and partial missing pot
YELLOW circles - unknown missing area

There are other areas I missed I'm sure.


For me, I like contrast BG to focused area of a subject. Third one was tricky though. I've posted these before but these are just quick examples of style I prefer for myself.

 

[Graft]

Other tips:

If you have a tripod USE IT. Eliminates Camera shake.
Use the timer so your hands can't move the camera (or use a remote control if you have one).
It is basically a 3rd and 4th hand.

If you have a flash that can use bounce use that too, you can bounce the light off a wall or a reflector to give side lighting. Even better if you have a wireless flash unit, then you can really have fun making dramatic lighting or soft lighting scenarios.

If your camera has a setting called HDR (High Dynamic Range) try it. It basically takes 2 photos one exposed for the light tones and one exposed for the dark tones and lays them on top of each other. This does make getting a fully black background more difficult but it is possible. Achieve this in editing by bringing in the shadows until the background is black.

I know this is probably over kill for most people who just want to document progress. But if you are entering photograph based competitions a good photo could be the difference you need.

 

[Graft]

i like black anddark grey. But I am getting to like a dark yellow..

Hi @leatherback It really complements the bark and has nice contrast with the flowers. I like it. Love the pot and the tree too, makes a nice juxtaposition between the delicate flowers and the strong pot.

 

[Clicio]

Sorry, I should have explained myself.
I like contrast BG to focused area of a subject. Third one was tricky though. I've posted these before but these are just quick examples of style I prefer for myself.
View attachment 343370

Nice Photoshop, and yes, the "magic wand" is a pretty bad selection tool.
Thanks for the examples!