Practice Photography in your own Back Yard

    I have been taking a class in garden photography that meets once a week.  In between classes I have been longing to get out and practice what I have learned, but I just never seem to get the time.  I was grilling today and looking at the flowers in my back yard and all of a sudden it hit me.  I am missing the best place to practice my photography skills, my own back yard.

     Last week's class focused on closeup photography and on shooting using various apertures to see the different effects that they produce.  In my practice in my back yard, I chose a day that was overcast and had very little breeze.  I set up my tripod without extending the legs so that I could get down low to the ground.  I used the aperture priority setting on my DSLR camera.  

      In my first photos I used an F5.6 aperture.  This setting focuses in on the flower in the foreground. You can see the result in this photo of a evening primrose.

      For the second photo I used a F13 aperture which put more of the photo in focus. You can see the result in the field of primroses below.

Evening Primrose by mbgphoto

     The next two photos are ones that I took in the early morning light.  I got up at 6 am and caught the sun just rising above the horizon and shining through some trees.  The soft glow that the sun provided gave just the right light to capture these flowers.  I hadn't put up my tripod this time so I used an aperture of 5.6 in these two photos.  I had tried a F16 but without a tripod they were not as sharp as they should be.

      These photo's demonstrate another benefit of backyard photography, photographing flowers in various stages.  Both of these flowers were photographed before they were fully in bloom.  The cone flower has just started to bud and the hydrangea is just beginning to open up.  I will come back in a few days and photograph the same blossom again to document how it progresses.

     There are a lot of benefits to practicing your skills in your own backyard.  Here are some of the ones that I came up with.  If you can think of more please leave a note in the guestbook.

• You can take the same photo at various times of the day. 
• You can set up your tripod and leave it up waiting for the right lighting conditions.
• You can easily go outside right after a rainstorm to get those drops of rain on the flowers.
• You have easy access to practice in all kinds of weather.
• If the lighting condition is not just right you can go inside have a cup of coffee and come back when the lighting is better.
• Last but not least, if you are going for those early morning shots you can just roll out of bed and head for the back yard.  

Learn through Practice

       There is nothing like practice again and again to help you become a better photographer.  The photography workshop series such as the one shown below is a great way to get ideas to help you practice your skill.