Old Mister Crow's guide to photographing bonsai and kusamono

Carl_Bergstrom

Hello everyone,

When you photograph your bonsai and share those photographs, you are in fact exhibiting your trees --- and just as in a "live" exhibit, details matter. Over the last few days I've put together a tutorial on photographing bonsai and kusamono:
Old Mister Crow's guide to photographing bonsai and kusamono -MORE-

My aim is to share what I've figured out thus far about the technical aspects of photographing bonsai. Nothing in the tutorial requires expensive equipment; if you have a cheap point-and-shoot camera (or better) and $25 to spend on a tripod, you can do just about everything that I discuss without additional expense.

I sincerely hope that this tutorial will be useful to all of us who enjoy sharing pictures here on BonsaiTALK or elsewhere on the net. I also look forward to hearing your comments, feedback, and suggestions for how I can further improve the website.

With my best regards,
Carl

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In love with trees

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bonsaial1

Thanks Carl, with a new contest right around the corner, this tutorial did not come a minute too soon.

Too bad this tutorial was not around before the galleries were put together. I expect they would have looked a lot more professional.Thanks for putting this together, and I hope to employ some of these ideas very soon. Start preparing those trees and plantings for the contest soon. Spend those gift certificates on good pots and stands. Find suitable accent plants to use in your plantings and find that link Mike Page listed for lovely scrolls.

There is no substitute for an artistic photograph of a lovely tree. Don't waste your tree by displaying it aginst a fence.

Nice work Carl, Al

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

mike_p

Good job, Carl! I hope folks pay attention. If they do,the quality of photos on the forum should improve considerablyl

Mike

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Learning the mechanics of bonsai is a matter of rote. Over and over again the processes are practiced until the hands and eyes know the moves.
Learning the art of bonsai may be more like water wearing away a stone, or climbing a mountain where the peak is always shrouded in fog and just out of reach.
Persist, and someday you may see the peak in sunshine. You may pick up the stone and it's a thing of beauty.

MP@BBB Studio

titusblm

Very good guide to follow. lots of good information.

Will_Heath

Thanks from all of us who are photographically challenged.

Good job Crow!



Will

Skipsan

Wow Carl,

Excellent article, lots of good tricks of the trade to use. Maybe some of my trees will even look better. Guess that's why your pictures are always so easy to look at. Thanks for sharing.

Skip

Bart Thomas(deceased)

Nice work, Carl.

Thank you !

Question regarding backdrops. How big a backdrop do you use and how do you support it?

(At 5 feet behind the tree, that sucker's got to be big!)

grampz

Mr. Carl,

My sincere thanks for a job well done...It is so dissapointing to see a photo of a really nice tree shot at the wrong angle, over or under exposed, blured from movement, or even worse with a cluttered background...

I do hope all members of this forum will take the time to read this great article or 'web-book' that you have created, and take at least a few notes as to how they may be able to improve their own photos...I certainly have found several things that will improve my own photography, and I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the art of photography...I found out from this there are a lot of things I did not know...I look forward to seeing these ideas used in the photos presented on the forum...

Finally, we now have not only a great web-book on design presented by Andy Rutledge, but also this wonderful, full of knowledge web-book on photographing our trees...Thanks for your effort and sharing of your knowledge...

Regards
Behr

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As the Master departed the workshop,
he could have sworn he heard some
one saying rather loudly...
"I thought he would never leave"
San Antonio Bonsai Society, Inc.

Will_Heath

I agree with Grampz, now there's no excuse not to post trees in the gallery.