THE DIFFICULTIES OF PLANTPHOTOGRAPHY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12243, 6 January 1902, Page 3

THE DIFFICULTIES OF PLANTPHOTOGRAPHY.

"It lias been made plain by certain of the illustrations ill a recent work on Nature photography, by the brothers Kearton, that t!io prevailing taste (or dangerous and exciting situations may bo satisfied even by the pursuit of so apparently tame a recreation; but, of course, the reader would not expect that there could be either danger or difficulty in the photography of flowers, yet there are negatives in my possession that have only been obtained at considerable risk to limb, and possibly life. To the uninitiated all that appears necessary is to gather your flowers, ()Oso them on your studio, and they will passively submit to your treatment as no oilier living tilings will. To a great extent this is true. It is true of the plants that grow in your garden. They can be readily transferred to the studio, and tliero carefully posed, given an appropriate background, and the lighting judiciously regulated to get the best effects. In the case of plants photographed amid their natural surrounding, it would seem the most simple thing in the world to wander along with kodak in hand, snapshotting the wild flowers you happen upon ill all their unstudied grace and beauty. Try it, and see what results you will get. You will find that nowhere does the necessity for selection press more heavily upon the_ photographer. Botanical knowledge is required for the selection of a fairly representative specimen, and when | this lias been found, perhaps after much patient searching and considerable tramping, it may be so lieninied in by other vegetation that it is unsuitable for our purpose. It may 'lie a low-growing species beneath a dense, overhanging hedge; or, if out in the open, may be so continuously agitated by a soft breozo that only a snapshot is possible, and snapshots are seldom successful in pant photography, foven in a wood, wlicre one is largely sheltered from wind, the light may b-i so subdued that the exposure needed may make it impossible to get absolute stillness throughout when the subject is slender and tall-stemmed. Again, the background may bo of suoh a character that you know the desirable specimen will not stand out distinctly from it. Your plant may be growing far up a cliff which you have to climb, inpeded by your camera and dark slides, and when it is reached you find that there is not sufficient foothold for your tripod or support for yourself while focussing. You may have to climb over smooth-topped maritime recks, where you risk not only destruction of your apparatus, but a!*o serious destruction to your 110 less valuable flame. Most of the published photographs of wild flowers are of tolerably tall-growing P' a "ts: _ but many subjects that deserve a plate are only a few inches in height. To secure these the camera must rest on the ground; and, in order to focus the photographer is compelled to assume a supine position. This entails 110 great unpleasantness on a dry pasture—except that when ho regains his foot he may find himself tho centre of a staring group of sheep or cattle, who wonder what kind of a creature lie is. But many of sneli plants grow in boggy ground, and the penalty to bo paid for tho photograph is the saturation of one's garments. I have a distinct recollection of such discomfort as the price for a photograph of a marsh-violet. Some of the acqualos and semi-aquatics must lie taken with tile tripod set up in the water, and, of course tho photographer has to wade out behind tt. AH these things have I done in my elforts to obtain good pictures of our native plants amidst their natural surroundings, and have often hunted for days for the right specimen in the requisite condition and 111 a favourable situation."-From an article on "Flowers and Photography," bv I.tlward Step, l.h S., in the November numbci of the Windsor Magazine."