How to make the best use of winter when photographing in the garden

If you are like me you like to take your camera out with you in the winter and capture those wintry scenes? Light is always a challenge so I asked Clive Nichols if he could give Landscape Juice a few pointers...

Of all the factors that determine the success or failure of a plant or garden photograph, light is the most crucial. An understanding of light and the way it can enhance the mood of a photograph is vital when taking floral images, writes Clive Nichols.

There is no question in my mind that dawn is the time to take outdoor flower and garden shots. The first rays of sunlight can flood a garden scene with drama and atmosphere, often enhanced by the presence of moisture in the air. Even when the early morning sunlight is diffused – by mist, fog or cloud – it is still usually flattering to garden subjects. Furthermore, there is often little or no wind at dawn, so subject movement is eliminated and the choice of aperture and shutter speed is not restricted.

For example, fabulous shafts of dawn sunlight pierce the mist and illuminate a wooden bridge over a stream at West Green House, in Hampshire I was shooting towards the light in order to add drama to the scene and was careful to make sure that I stood beneath a horse chestnut tree which protected the lens from the sun’s rays, thus preventing flare. The picture was taken on a cold, clear morning in the depths of winter.

Whenever possible, I try to take pictures pointing towards the sun, as backlight or contre-jour enhances the tree-dimensional quality of a garden scene as well as adding drama. The danger of shooting directly into the sun is that sunlight streams straight into the lens, causing flare. Over the years, I have learnt to overcome this problem by using proper lens hoods, often supplemented by my own hand or body, to prevent light entering the lens directly.

Since switching to digital photography I now take many more contre-jour shots than I did on film because I can experiment more freely, knowing that if the shot doesn’t work I can easily delete it later on the computer. Also, with digital cameras, I can view the shot immediately after it is taken and check the histogram, making any necessary exposure compensation immediately. With film, backlit shots often confuse the camera’s metering system, resulting in underexposed pictures, so it is always better to bracket exposures, overexposing by 1 to ½ stops. In other words, if your cameras meter is telling you to shoot at 1/60 second at f8, try shooting at 1/30 second at f8 or even 1/20 second at f8.

Backlighting combined with a macro lens enabled me to take this contre-jour close-up of a rose hip, rimmed with hoar frost. As I was shooting on film, I deliberately overexposed the shot by one stop and took the picture at 1/8 sec at f4 (my camera meter was saying shoot at 1/15 sec at f4).

In Britain we often encounter dull, grey days, especially in the autumn and winter. On such days, when the light appears rather boring and dreary, it is all too easy to stay in the warmth of your house. To get good photographs in these conditions is a real challenge, but my approach is to search out subject matter that suits the mood of the light.

The great Dutch designer Piet Oudolf first opened my eyes to what was possible in such conditions when, one rainy September day, he showed me a series of slides that he had taken in his garden the previous winter. In the dullest conditions imaginable, he had taken the most stunning images of faded grasses and seed heads, dripping with moisture and cobwebs. The palette of colours – blacks, dark reds, browns, buffs, golds, silvers, greys – was remarkable.

The changing seasons continually provide new and ever-changing photographic possibilities and winter can be one of the best times for making plant portraits – offering subjects such as the skeletal remains of shrubs and flowers.

There is something incredibly photogenic about plants that are coated in a thick dusting of frost. I find them totally irresistible. If I wake up to a frost, I will abandon my plans for the day and rush outside to capture some new subject on film. I work quickly as the sun can melt the frost in an instant.

I tried to give a slightly whimsical feel to this image of two frost-coated Echinacea seed heads, seemingly in conversation. The frost delicately picks out the subtle form of the flowers’ cones, which are set against a bronze background of dead perennials in a border.

In the image at the head of this piece, I love mist and fog because of the unusual, ethereal atmosphere that they give to gardens. Because mist and fog almost always occur first thing in the morning and tend to evaporate quickly, I find it essential to arrive at my chosen location by dawn. Mist and fog tend to desaturate colours, giving them more of a monochromatic appearance when photographed. For this reason I usually look for subjects which have strong form and that work well as silhouettes. Gardens which have large expanses of water, such as the lake at Lady Farm, in Somerset, tend to photograph well as mist often rises from the water’s surface, adding a feeling of serenity to the scene. Here I used a zoom lens to isolate a section of the lake. The rowing boat to the left of the shot gives scale to the composition.

Some tips on photographing wildlife in the garden

One of the secrets of successful wildlife photography is to keep your distance, so that the subject is left undisturbed. For this reason, I find zoom lenses and the longer focal length macro lenses the ideal choices for this kind of work. I now use a 180mm macro lens so that I can get tiny insects big in the frame without scaring them off. For close-up work I find that it is essential to use a tripod and I tend to use large apertures (f4, f5.6) in order to get the fastest shutter speed possible , which freezes the movement of many subjects. For larger subjects, like birds, I tend to use a 70-300mm zoom lens.

Butterflies and insects are particularly tricky to photograph, because, unlike plants, they are nearly always on the move. Although I prefer to use manual focus for most floral subjects, I find myself switching to auto focus for butterflies and insects. This leaves me free to concentrate on capturing the subject without having to worry about focusing.

The image of a bee on Verbena bonariensis was shot on a misty morning, which has given the picture an almost dream-like quality. I resisted the temptation to fill the frame with the bee, but instead pulled back, using an aperture of f8 to allow nearby out-of-focus flowers to drift into the composition.

Click on each image to see more detail.

More information about Clive and his work can be viewed at www.clivenichols.com

Clive is also a judge of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition – next year’s competition will open in March 2010, see

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Comments

[Duncan Heather]

Excellent article with some useful tips.
Thanks for this

[Rob (OurFrenchGarden)]

Great little article Phil. Some sound advice here.

[John Walker]

Great post. From experience I couldn't agree more with Clive Nichols that getting up early is the key - conditions can change in minutes and a hypnotic shot can be gone before you've even got your wellies on. But I find late afternoon in winter a magical time too, when the light is fading (a tripod is a must). I guess I'm lucky to have the North Wales mountains to stop the light hitting the lens and flaring, just as it sinks behind the peaks.

How about a winter LJ photo competition, Phil? Closing date end of January 2010? Keep the theme broad, maybe just 'winter'? Could be judged by LJ readers and LJN members?

I'm sure you could knock Clive up for a prize - how about a copy of one of his books?

[Philip Voice]

Thanks John - Some great tips from Clive and I wonder how many of us will be taking the camera out in the next day or so to give them a go?

Great idea on the comp. I will ask Clive.

Rob/Duncan - glad you liked Clive's guest blog.