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 Sowing the seeds of great garden shots
It's because winter is the best time to start planning what you're going to be doing throughout the year ahead. One of the benefits of living in this small corner of the globe is that we have clear changes in weather - often during the same day! There are also four very distinct seasons, each of which provides ample opportunities for creative photography. By starting to piece together a coherent scheme now, you'll be setting off with a plan of what to do and not just snapping away in some haphazard fashion as ideas hit you. For starters, how about shooting exactly the same section of garden in spring, summer, autumn and winter, to reveal how the seasons affect its appearance. It doesn't matter if your planting area isn't a masterpiece that Capability Brown or Alan Titchmarsh would be proud of. Most gardens are, shall we say, in a state of transition, and I've been to many heralded horticultural spots where I would have flattened most of the area and started again if it had been mine. It all comes down to taste and preference, which is subjective and thank heavens we don't all like the same things anyway. There are bound to be sections of your garden that look great through the lens, and shooting selectively is one of the great arts of any genre of photography.
Another beauty of taking photographs literally in your own back garden is that you can set up and shoot at any time you please. Whereas with many location subjects you set off to visit the site, only to find a) its raining, b) the sun is blazing down and giving no atmosphere or c) someone's parked a whacking great truck right in front of your preferred viewpoint, there are no such hurdles to leap over when dealing with your own space. If you want to shoot at 2pm in the afternoon, a 10pm summer sunset or 3.47am by moonlight, the choice is yours. What this means is that you retain optimum control over
lighting conditions, as you can choose what subjects look best in which
ambient lighting, and shoot accordingly. I've found through experience
that for wider shots such as a scene setter or an overall garden view,
a brighter light is often preferable such as softly diffused sunlight.
This is because some form and texture are desirable, and shadows give
exactly this.
Conversely for close-ups and tightly framed pictures, shadowless conditions such as thick cloud cover tend to give optimum results. If you try to capture close-ups in strong sunlight, the shadows often confuse the image and produce a messy result. Delicate colours and tones can also be overwhelmed in these circumstances. But rules are also there to be broken. By all means try a close-up in strong sunlight and see what results are forthcoming. A strongly backlit effect with a halo of light around your central subject could well be a recipe for success. And there will be occasions when a broad shot of the garden wreathed in soft, early morning light will look far better than the same scene once the sun has risen. It's a question of taking the best points of your particular plot, and using these with the lighting conditions that bring out their best qualities. Another reason to start planning your shots in the depths of winter is because the garden is reduced to its basic shape and form - its architecture if you like - without the dazzling ornamentation of beds or sizzling flower colours to distract the eye. In the colder months you can clearly see the underlying structure of the garden, and this should give you clues as to where to shoot from at other points of the year when growth is more abundant.
Pictures of your own garden, or other grander places you may visit from time to time, should be composed to capture the sense of the whole place. Yes, it's tempting to go straight for the spectacular highlights of a lovely leaf form or a gorgeous display of vivid bedding colour, but remember to build up a series of shots that brings out the surroundings and layout of the entire garden. Include elements such as trees, paths, lawns, borders that lend a sense of place to the garden as an entity. If your plot adjoins an open vista so that the garden seems to flow into its surroundings, bring this out in the establishing shot. Or if you've a postage stamp suburban plot, don't hide the fences or walls that define your area - hopefully you've grown climbers up to do that for you. The main focus of your garden may be a statue, a fountain, pond or other stretch of water, a lovely specimen plant or a riotous bed of colour - whatever it is interweave this centrepiece and reveal it as part of the entire garden plan.
As with any location subject, it pays to explore all the possibilities of viewpoint and angles before committing yourself to film. As usual, the best compositions relate to subjects both in the foreground, middle distance and background so that the overall image has a sense of depth. Position your camera so that some garden element such as a bed, path, hedge, tree or foliage leads the eye into the picture and towards the focal point. If there's nothing available, invent something such as a familiar garden object - a wheelbarrow or a watering can might just do the trick. Make sure some background element acts as a full stop too. Your garden may not look at its best in these colder months, but we've now started to lay some groundrules that will ensure your pictures over the next year or so are definitely the pick of the crop.
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