**** HOW I PHOTOGRAPH ***
*** MY EPIPHYTIC CACTI ***
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INTRODUCTION
N.B. This article deals with the photography of objects of relatively small size, also called close-up photography or even macro photography. The little accustomed reader will find at the end of the article a paragraph devoted to some technical points of photography used in the article. The more informed reader will not need this last paragraph.
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I started to take the first photos of the cacti of my collection with a traditional reflex camera provided with a macro objective of 50mm of focal distance. I photographed in my greenhouse where the plants started to be packed together and I worked essentially during the days when the sun was shining. For the dark days, I used a flash.
I noticed several points which could be improved:
• The photographed plants merged sometimes a little bit with the jungle of my greenhouse. A plain coloured background would have been preferable.
Epiphyllum x 'Royal Heir'
comment: A plain coloured background would have been preferable to distinguish clearly the bloom. That said, one can also like the jungle.
• When my greenhouse was open, my photographs were sometimes blurred, due to the movement of the plants.
• With the frontal light of the sun, my photographs were often flat, without shades to give depth.
• The photo of the large blooms of Epiphyllum was taken without too many problems but the situation became complicated when I approached to photograph blooms of Schlumbergera, smaller than the previous ones. Not mentioning the photographs of small blooms of Rhipsalis which have a diameter of 3 to 4mm. It was very difficult for me to take pictures in this case.
• I used a traditional camera, certainly top-of-the-range, but, to be able to put the photographs on my website, I had to scan the paper photographs, which decreased quality. Moreover, with the arrival of digital technology, paper photo prints were made automatically and it was increasingly difficult for me to find stores where paper photo prints were made by a human being, able to adapt an imperfect exposure.
Thus I decided to choose a specific spot to take my pictures as well as a more sophisticated equipment, to get better quality photos.
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