For those of you planning on attending our Pond and Patio Tour July 10 and 11, here is a helpful article provided by Aquascape Inc. Enjoy!
Photographing Your Favorite Water Feature
You don’t need to be a world famous photographer to take photos of your favorite water feature, nor do you need all kinds of great camera equipment to document the changing season or your dog frolicking in the waterfall. All you need to have is patience and a little bit of time to concentrate on your subject. You’ll always want to have photos of your water feature to show off to friends and family when they aren’t able to experience it firsthand. Plus, having a camera on hand could be very useful for when your toddler meets your koi for the first time, as they nibble on their toes as they sit on the edge of the pond. The most important thing to remember is that practice makes perfect and that if you expect to get those priceless photos, you might want to know a thing or two about the basics of photography.
The Equipment
Let’s rule out one thing … no Polaroid photos! They’re cheap looking and are hard to manipulate if you attempt to put them in a photo album or scrapbook. Get yourself a good 35-millimeter camera, or go all out and get a tripod and all the essential camera equipment. For shooting outdoors, you’ll want to use the slowest speed film possible, so 100 or 200 would work great. With slower speed film, you get less grain and therefore sharper images. Faster film, such as 400-speed would be better for indoor photos, where you have less light. In terms of photo quality, slide film is your best bet, especially for reprints and just in case you would like to use some of your shots for holiday cards. Otherwise, regular photo film will be fine. With the growing popularity of digital cameras, a lot of people have switched to a totally digital method. This is great, because it is easy to download and store photos for later use. There are a few pitfalls, however. Some cameras are set to take photos at 72 dpi, which make pictures look okay when enlarged to two inches or so, but if you try to blow it up for a larger print, it will turn out very blurry. DPI stands for “dots per inch,” and can best be described by using a simple analogy. If you have a handful of confetti and you dump it on the table, 300 pieces is going to be able to cover the table a lot better than 72 pieces. You can’t stretch out 72 pieces as far as you can 300 pieces, without seeing some of the table. That is why the picture gets blurry … the pixels (dots) are stretched, causing the image to blur.
Getting Your Pond on Film
You’ll want to make sure you get a few photos from a spot facing the best feature of your water garden. For example, if you have a spectacular waterfall or rocky stream, point your lens that way. If you do decide to shoot that great waterfall, different shutter speeds will help you get your desired effect. A tripod can also be helpful because it will level out and stabilize your camera, giving you more time to set up the perfect shot and capturing the motion of the waterfall. A tripod does, however, hamper mobility so don’t get stuck thinking a tripod is absolutely necessary. If you are looking to purchase all the best equipment, an inexpensive but important addition is a polarized filter that can enhance your water photos. Those filters are pretty helpful when you’re shooting water because you don’t get that much reflection and you can see clear down into the pond to capture the beauty of your plants and fish. If a polarized filter isn’t for you, shooting at the lowest possible vantage point will help you reduce surface glare, making your photos more appealing.
A Few Things to Remember
First of all, remember to have fun with your photos. Make sure you test your eye for the camera by shooting from different perspectives, until you get the feel for the best angles. Also, if you are using a less-expensive camera, remember that you may not get the exact same photo you see in the viewfinder. The space between the viewer and the lens will make photos look slightly different than how you may have seen them through the viewer. Another important thing to consider when dealing with photographs is your lighting conditions. Morning or evening light is much better for shooting than the direct sun in mid-afternoon. And if you’re going back to shoot that fully-landscaped photo, it’s good to choose an overcast day, so you won’t have any shadows to block the details of the pond. Be sure to take a ton of photos. The more you have, the more you have to choose from, and the more likely you are to find those perfect shots.
Take it on the Road
Now that you have all the tricks of the trade, we invite you to take your hobby on the road, photographing water features at local pond tours. If you don’t have a pond, or are interested in snapping photos of other ponds, pond tours are the way to go. This is your time to relax and enjoy a new hobby, while visually chronicling the beauty of a water garden through each season.
