5 Tips for taking captivating photos of your garden

You’ve put all that time and energy in your garden, and it has rewarded you with gorgeous blooms and delectable vegetables. Now it’s time to snap a few photos and share them with the world. Before you post them on Instagram, read my five tips to take better garden photos.

Tip one: Ditch the flash

The light from the flash is too harsh. Plants and flowers look great in natural diffused light. Try to take pictures in your garden in the morning or in the early evening. I find that the light during these times of day produces lovely, soft pictures.

Tip two: Invade its personal space

Get close to that flower or tomato! Unless you have a fancy telephoto lens, you won’t get a nice up-close shot unless you move your feet. Unlike people, you will not offend a plant if you are right up next to it with a camera in its face.

Tip three: Take pictures from several angles

Try taking shots from above, below or off to the side of the plant. Sometimes I lay on my belly to get a great eye-level shot. I don’t know what the best shot is going to be until I look at all of them later. It’s nice to have several choices.

Tip four: Don’t center your main object

Take the picture off center. It makes for a more interesting shot.

Tip five: Edit your pictures

There are several free photo-editing programs available. My favorites are Pic Monkey and the Adobe Photoshop Express app (both are free). Even the camera app on your smartphone has basic crop and sharpening features — use them. Apply enhancing filters and crop unwanted distractions from your photos. In a few steps, your garden pictures can look great.

Now share your garden masterpieces with the world. Print them out and place them in albums to reference for next season. In mid-January when you are wondering if spring will ever come, flip through your beautiful garden photographs. You’ll be glad you captured you garden in great pictures.