High noon. The sky is a blanket of baby blue. No clouds, no haze, not even a big ol’ crow in flight interrupts the downpour of sunshine.
Question: Is this a good time to grab your camera and snap some shots of your beautiful back yard?
Answer: No way.
Reason: “Midday with bright sunshine is probably the worst time to shoot pictures, especially if you are doing garden photography. Everything is washed out. You have a lot of green foliage, sometimes very dark green, and on top of that you might have white flowers. In bright sunlight, one or the other is going to be sacrificed.”
So speaks Walter Chandoha, professional garden photographer, garden writer, avid amateur gardener and avid conversationalist on all such matters.
Which makes him the perfect specimen for a Home section story, right about now, right about when readers who plan on entering the Chicago Tribune’s Garden Contest (see accompanying story for details on how to enter) should be taking camera in hand and plumbing the depths of their own back yard.
We asked Chandoha to share some tips and secrets for making winning garden pictures.
And we reminded him that most of us do not have his 30-plus years of experience behind a lens.
As a freelance photographer, Chandoha has landed his pictures of buds and blooms (and animals, his other forte) on the covers and pages of more than 300 magazines, newspapers, advertisements and catalogs. Organ-ic Gardening, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Country Journal and National Geographic are among his more notable placements.
Many of his pictures are shot in his own “back yard”–46 acres of rolling countryside in northwest New Jersey, where he sows his special, 1-acre’s worth of “photographic” gardens.
But he is not a camera snob.
Chandoha is a pro at making amateur photogs look good. Last spring he gave photography workshops at the New York Botanical Garden and the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., something he does for garden clubs and groups throughout the East Coast.
The beauty is in his philosophy: Keep it simple.
Camera and film
It starts with the equipment.
If you don’t have a fancy camera, don’t worry, says Chandoha. He is a big believer in the disposable varieties.
“If you use them within their limitations, the little throwaway or single-use cameras are excellent for gardens,” says Chandoha, who is putting together a workshop specifically for these easy-to-operate, easy-to-find cameras.
He goes on: “Most garden pictures are made at a distance beyond 5 feet.” Disposable cameras are very capable at this distance.
“The one limitation is you can’t use them closer than 4 feet (to your subject). You can’t take a closeup of a rose. But for the average garden scene where people are picking flowers or kids are smelling flowers, they are perfect.”
As for the type of film to use, the Home section’s contest specifies slide film. Chandoha recommends an ASA (film speed) of 200.
It gives good pictures in sunshine, clouds and overcast conditions.
Let there be light
We asked Chandoha what the most critical element in taking a good picture is.
“Probably light,” he answers after a thoughtful pause. “If everything else is right but the light is lousy, you are not going to have a good picture.”
The ideal conditions: “A sunlight that is diffused with very light clouds, so you can barely see a shadow.” Then, the contrasts are moderated. There are not bright-bright highlights and really dark shadows.
The general rules:
– Shoot early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky and not so harsh.
– Diffused sunlight–those cloudy days–always are great.
– Don’t be afraid of the rain. Chandoha simply wraps his camera in a plastic bag, making holes for the lens and viewfinder. “The nice thing about disposable cameras is if they get wet, it doesn’t matter,” says Chandoha.
For the more creative:
– Try backlighting for unusual effects any time of day. Instead of having the sun shine on the garden from over your shoulder, move around so that the sun faces you or shines on your subject from either side.
If your subject (the face of a person, a closeup of a flower, a bunch of pots on a patio) then appears dark or in a shadow, compensate by giving it more exposure. Open up the lens aperture one or two f-stops, says Chandoha.
If you have a disposable camera, reflect light onto those spots with a homemade foil reflector. Simply crumple up some foil and place it in front of the subject, but out of the range of the viewfinder.
Another option: Buy a disposable camera with a built-in flash.
– Use a sunshade or lens hood to avoid flare, especially if you are shooting into the sun. It need not be a fancy piece of equipment. Simply arch the palm of your hand over the lens. Or, stand in the shadow of a tree, or a friend. The idea is to shade the camera.
– And finally, experiment. Shoot the same shot in the morning, in the afternoon, at dusk, in the fog, in the haze. The different lighting conditions will make each an entirely different picture.
Chandoha is a great one for experimenting–both with his photography and his garden.
“One of the things I am most proud of are my ornamental grasses,” says Chandoha, the gardener, who has written gardening stories for The New York Times and is currently compiling a book that pairs his photographs with quotes from prominent people in history–people who also happened to know something about gardening. “The Literary Gardener” (Willow Creek Press, $19.50) will be out in the fall.
“They make a beautiful display all through the year,” he continues, getting back to the grasses, “but when they go to seed, they turn a beautiful beige color. They wave and rustle in the wind, so it’s not only a visual thing.”
Chandoha’s property includes lots of woods; a hay field; a field planted with Christmas trees (neighbors are invited to chop themselves a little gift during the holiday season); a barn that has been converted into a photo studio and a sprawling farmhouse home, the original part of which dates to 1732, the year George Washington was born. He and his wife raised six children here.
Now a widower, Chandoha lives on the 46 acres alone. One daughter, who works as his assistant, and three grandchildren are nearby.
So is his garden.
This is where his grasses grow, and his flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables–food for his table, fodder for his photographs. You will find the cameraman out early, at 6 or 7 a.m., when the dew still is glistening.
Composition
Like all good photographers, Chandoha does not go out and simply shoot big and broad pictures of his garden.
He finds a focal point. He frames it carefully. He moves about and finds the most interesting angle.
Developing an eye takes time and experience, but Chandoha spells out some of the basic rules that, if followed, can make a beginner look darn good.
– Try the one-third rule, a rule of composition which defies the notion that your subject or focal point should be centered and symmetrical. It also is a rule that photographers and great masters of art have followed for centuries.
Divide the picture in your viewfinder into thirds–horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Rather than putting important elements of the picture dead-center, place them one-third or two-thirds of the way into the picture from the top, bottom or either side.
For instance, “rather than shoot a trellis head on, smack in the middle, move it over so it is occupying two-thirds of the picture,” says Chandoha. Or, pull back and put it into one-third of the picture, with middle ground and sky occupying the other two-thirds.
Another way to look at it is to “visualize a tick-tack-toe board in the viewfinder,” explains Chandoha. Put your subject into one of those intersecting lines.
“Of course, the subject will dictate how you will frame the picture,” says Chandoha.
And, of course, the rule of one-third is meant to be broken.
“When I do my slide show (workshop), I go to great lengths about the one-third rule,” says Chandoha. “Then I show a picture of a beautiful tree, backlit with sun rays. Very, very symmetrical. When a subject lends itself to symmetry, by all means shoot it that way.”
– Keep backgrounds simple and uncluttered.
“Have your subject posed against a solid mass of shrubbery. Or, get low on the ground and shoot up, getting the sky as the background,” says Chandoha. “Or get a big expanse of grass in the background. Again, you’re eliminating the distracting elements.”
– Look for a focal point. “I like to zero in on some little element of the garden,” says Chandoha. It could be a sundial or a meandering path. “Wait for the right time of the day when there are nice shadows, early in the morning or late in the afternoon.”
– Don’t be stiff. Move around to find the right angle. Move right, move left, stand on something and shoot down, get down on the ground and shoot up.
– Remember, you can turn your camera and shoot verticals too.
– Look carefully through the viewfinder before you snap the picture. Get rid of the dead bloom, the misplaced garden tool, the hose peeking around from behind the bushes.
And finally, Chandoha, preaches what every good motivator has always said: You never know unless you try. You can’t win a contest unless you enter.
SNAP TO IT
Photographer (and gardener) Walter Chandoha shares ideas to get you going:
Shooting in the vegetable garden: “I think the best way to shoot them is with people in the picturesomebody with a basket harvesting, for instance. Could be a mother. Could be a child, proudly showing off an ear of corn. “Kids and gardens are a natural.”
Creating still-lifes: “Let’s say you have a big bouquet of peonies. Put them in a beautiful vase, have a nice straw hat sitting alongside it. That makes a nice still-life.” Or do a still-life in the garden using garden tools or an antique wheelbarrow.
Including some action: Snap a picture of Grandma or Grandpa working in the garden at the crack of dawn. Or get your cat or dog tiptoeing through the blossoms. “Things like that are always of interest.”
Wearing the right colors: Because gardens offer a predominance of green, have people wear brightly colored clothes. “The primary colors are always a zinger.” The same goes for props.
IS YOUR GARDEN A WINNER?
The Home section is sponsoring a garden contest. We’ll select the area’s best garden and the best in four categories: city, suburban, vegetable and garden by a child. Judges will be horticultural and design professionals, and Home editors and writers. Winners will be announced in the Sept. 28 Home section and featured in cover stories. Quality of photography will be a major factor.
Rules: By Sept. 2, send five or fewer color slides of your garden (they cannot be returned), and 100 words or less about you and your garden.
Send to: Home Section Garden Contest, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Include a daytime phone number.
The contest is not open to professional landscapers or horticulturists, or to Chicago Tribune employees.
Questions? Send an e-mail message to TribHome@aol.com or write to the above address.
