Old Mister Crow's guide to photographing bonsai and kusamono

Bonsainut

Crow,
That was not bad. Seems like bonsai and photoplay go hand in hand. Maybe a furure article for a magazine, eh? Crow mag man?

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Keep growing,---'Nut



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dbz12fan

Hey Crow,
I will have to try your techniques out in the next few days. I see my main problem is that my tree is too close to my background and I am shooting it from too close of a distance. I also do not have reflectors, but I like your idea on how to make them. Thanks for takeing the time to help us out.

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"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

Gary Biggs

Carl,

Your article on photographing bonsai was one of the best and most informative articles I have seen on this site. Thank you for your kind willingness to share your knowledge and experience with all of us.

Gary Biggs

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bmor

Thank you Carl for taking the time to compile and prepare such and helpful guide. Now I will have something to refer to when my trees grow and I need to take some quality pictures.
Regards
Bill

Newt

Thanks a bunch Carl!!!! I can't beleive how big a difference a black background made! I have been using black canvas though, I just got some felt for x-mas plus some halogen lighting. Will have to do some playing I also apreciate how simple you have kept it, no slaves or special set-ups! Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Newt

carmi

Hi Carl,
Thanks for the great article, I had uploaded to the Israeli Bonsai forum the link to the article with a few words.
There were a lot of warm replies, one of them from a professional photographer.
The webmaster will add this link to the Links of the forum.
Thank you,

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Shalom (Peace),
Moshe.

Colors are an optic illusion of light – As viewers for the bonsai creation. M.S.C.

Carl_Bergstrom

Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I'm you found it helpful, and I look forward to seeing a lot of great pictures in the gallery and show-and-tell sections of the forum in the coming months.



I have a 6-foot wide roll of black velvet that I hang from a collapsable stand. The stand goes up to 9 or 10 feet, but I don't usually crank it that high for bonsai.

For just shooting accent plants, I've cut a 6' x 4' piece of black velvet that I can use without having to set up the whole stand.

Best regards,
Carl

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In love with trees

mike_p

I'm happy to see the interest in better bonsai photography. Check out the link to PhotekUSA. They sell reasonably priced backdrops for professional photographers. I've found that the most useful ones are the non-reflective black. I own three other colors also, but shadows show up on them.
http://www.photekusa.com/

Mike

Edit later: here are 3 images showing Photek backdrops. Black, blue, and cream.

Attached Images

	blackjuniper.jpg (68.4 KB, 37 views)
	bluejuniper.jpg (68.3 KB, 34 views)
	creamboug.jpg (71.8 KB, 33 views)

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Nature is perfect.
Man's attempts to improve nature,
Are imperfect.

MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha

TreeBay

duvetyne is the thing. It is a flocked black material that is a substitute for velvet designed for photography & cinematography. You can find it at professional photography suppliers like Keeble & Shuchat or Calumet, or on the web by mailorder.

I use photek's PeoplePoppers all the time too, but you can't beat duvetyne for a quick, cheap black that swallows light.

Regards,

Matt

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