Buy the best camera you can afford and read the manual (more than once). The higher the pixel rating the better quality your photos will be.
Make sure your lens is clean. Use a tripod for most shots. If there is any breeze or your shutter speed is any slower than 1/250 of a second, you will probably not be in focus unless you use a tripod. Any indoor shots require a tripod. There is a tripod called a gorillapod that has flexible legs and works well in the garden because you can adjust the legs to uneven ground and still support the camera. For less than $40. Most models.
Take pictures in the early morning or late afternoon or under cloud cover. It is too difficult to get any kind of good shot in bright light. Natural light is preferable to fake light, by a long shot. If you have a rose that is cut, take the vase outside and put it anywhere you’d like to photograph it. Pick a nice background, setting, lighting, etc. Think outside (the box!).
Invest in a macro lens if possible. Helps with close-up shots a great deal. Also with minis.
As with exhibiting, try to time your photo to capture the rose in its best form. Hybrid teas a little past half open with that perfect center, etc. If you have a nice spray except for one rose, snip it out before the photo, etc.
Groom the rose prior to pictures. Clean residue off the leaves, remove dead insects, distracting petalloids, etc. Remove distracting background objects. Look past your subject and see what is going to show up in the picture! If necessary, use a piece of dark material (non-wrinkle synthetic velour works well, black or dark brown) with a slit in it to slip over the rose stem. This is a great way to take pictures of a perfect bloom while it is still growing on the bush. Look at it tomorrow, it may look better then and you can still take another photo with the rose not losing any substance. Water the bush to make the rose at its best.
Cover promising blooms overnight with a paper plate if they may be perfect by tomorrow. (thanks john and judy schroeder for this tip). Use a garden stake and put the paper plate through the stake and use clothespins to secure it. This is a good way to help keep grasshoppers, etc. Off the rose as well (works good for exhibiting too). Then photograph the next morning.
Center the rose except under very special circumstances. Move around. Get on the ground. Find the best angle; it may not be from shoulder height. Use your imagination.
Learn iphoto or photoshop or another program for perfecting your digital shots. If you are entering your photo in a contest, be sure that digitally manipulated photos are allowed. You can delete thrips, accentuate colors, adjust light, sharpen, etc. The sky is the limit.
Walk in your rose garden every day. You’d be surprised what blooms that you didn’t expect. Have your camera charged and ready. Take a notebook and jot down the date and the names of the roses you took pictures of that day. You will be surprised how this helps down the road. You think you will remember all of the roses you take pictures of but you won’t. Write them down. It will not do you any good if you have the perfect picture of a perfect rose but identify it as the wrong rose. It will be disqualified.
Make sure you have an adequate depth of field so that the entire rose is in focus. The larger the f-stop number the greater the depth of field.
Forget photographing on windy days unless you do it indoors. The pics will be out of focus.
If you do it indoors, experiment with adequate floodlighting of the roses and an artificial background. Flash photography usually is not enough light to adequately display the rose. Use no flash but set up flood lights that look as natural as possible. Beware that colors indoors may not look like the real thing. Use a tripod.
Practice, practice, practice. There is no film to buy if you have a digital camera! Just spend a little memory and delete what doesn’t work. Learn what works for you.
Most importantly, remember to take the pictures. I had many roses last year that were photo worthy but when it came down to it, i just hadn’t taken pictures! You have to think of taking pictures, then do it, to preserve that perfect rose!
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