Tools for Photographing Daylilies
If anyone had told me a few years ago that I would write a column about photographing Daylilies, I would have laughed. I was too busy learning everything I could about technical writing. Needless to say, I have lost the burning desire to work 50 and 60 hour weeks to produce documentation that is out of date within a few months!
Let me declare immediately that I am no expert. I leave that to Tim Fehr and Darrell Kitchen. Tim Fehr gave an excellent presentation on cameras and types of film to use for flower photographs at the Mid-Winter Symposium in Chattanooga.
Have you looked at magazines like Horticulture, The Daylily Digest, and others and drooled over the luscious shots of those new introductions? Wondered how do they do that? Hang tight, we are going to investigate this project. The Daylily On-line Robin has been a wonderful source of information. No one seems to mind sharing his or her tips about this type of project so pay close attention! We will look at types of cameras, film, ASA settings and focus.
Picking a Camera
One of the most highly recommended cameras is the Nikon. Visit the Nikon Web Site for lots of information about their cameras. Many people that answered my plea for knowledge, replied that a Canon Rebel-X with auto-focus or a Minolta 7Xi with a 50 mm macro lens would do the trick. Others recommended the Nikon N50 with a 30-80mm zoom lens with macro capabilities. These were the top brands recommended by those who replied to my survey. There are very strong opinions about the micro versus the macro lens for clarity of the close-ups. You will have to check out the difference yourself because I don't have enough time to cover all of the details.
I use a Nikkormat FT2 model. It is about 30 years old with a manual focus. The regular lens will not get close enough to the flower to show all the details so the 50mm (1:2) is my lens of choice. Using a filter such as a Hoya 52mm with a skylight filter creates good clarity.
Of course there are the digital cameras, as Elaine Kyle prefers. She uses a Casio QV11 digital camera. Just download images into the computer. Most of these use a regular computer disk to store the images, then you use a serial or parallel port to attach to your computer. With the appropriate software, you can save on film developing cost. She really enjoys the instant gratification! I think the photos below justify her selection. The subject of digital cameras could be another column since there are so many to select from.
