Wish I could photo like these

Brilliant 'eye's these photographers have. I'm glad to see this item and hopefully learn something ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25763028

 

There's no need for elaborate gear to take great horticultural images. I've been a professional in this field for over 20 years and although for a while I carried large amounts of equipment, for at least the last 10 years I've done most of my work with one camera (albeit updated as new models have come along) and a single mid-range zoom lens.

Very few of the photos on my website ( http://www.botanicalstockphotos.com ) were taken with anything that could be considered in the least bit elaborate. Nor do I think, in this field at least, that it's a matter of having a great "eye", whatever that may mean. It's far more important that you understand the plants and why they appeal. Then you'll better understand how to present them. I give great credit for my photographic abilities to my horticultural training.


Understanding plants, knowing how cameras work and how images will "turn out" under varying conditions helps limit the number of nasty surprises and better enables you to capture photographs with the feel you were looking for. It's not equipment or an "eye," it's experience and learning from it.

Finally, Robert Capa's maxim hold just as true for plant images as war photography: "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." Move in, isolate the subject, try and capture the essence of one aspect of the subject rather than including everything and you'll be on the right track.

 

I knew that all those photos were taken by expensive equipment, and that was not what I'm interested really. I'm more taken by the compositions.

I do ok when I'm taking photos of plants and some wildlife because I can move closer or zoom in close to the subjects, just like @Hortiphoto said. (By the way, welcome to the forum. ) However I'm pretty rubbish (IMHO) when it comes to taking photos of large objects and landscapes, eg a big buildings or rolling hills, they just seem ever so flat.

From the clips on the BBC site, I can learn to look at scenes around me from different levels and angles and to compose a photo unconventionally (this I think will require some imaginative ability).

Seeing and studying other people's great works (a lot are on this forum) and then going out and trying for myself, that's how I learn.