"Fixing" your subject - FLORAL take note

hi y'all!

I take pictures mostly of "domestic," growing plants, cultivated by me and others. As such, I generally get to pick the best views, angles, and compositions at will.

In addition, if a stray leaf, bud, flower intrudes, then I will not hesitate to manipulate my subject with tape, string, etc. to get what I want. When faced with a composition that is only so-so, but may be improved by the removal of floral parts, flowers, or foliage, I rarely fail to do so. The only time when I do not consider such severe manipulation of my subjects are when they are obviously the singular subject(s) of a public display, or when they are wild and few.

I'm certain some of you are flinching, and I'm also certain some of you are nodding your heads.

What are your opinions of this philosophy? I'd like to hear.

I see no problem as long as the wild and few aren't harmed. I try to be very careful when out in the wild, not to harm any flowers or plants, especially the rarer ones.

I'll ditto Alice. In the wild I will remove blades of grass, dead leaves, etc. but try to keep my disturbance of the natural scene and environment to the minimum.

Same here - leave the wild and few alone and be careful with the rest. Selective framing with some help with string and Plamps is OK with me.

The operative word here is "your." They're your plants, so have at them. Any plants that don't belong to us as individuals should be immune to improvement.

I don't have a problem with this and have certainly moved or removed a few things. I do, however, enjoy the challenge of working around existing objects to find a satisfactory composition. I agree and avoid this in Natural and wild areas. No flinching here Brian.

I'll echo Hank on this question. As long as it's in my yard I'll remove where need for a clean comp. Any time I am photographing in the wild I compose around other objects.

Cultivars? Hack away! Native plants in natural environments? Please do not disturb.

I personaly don't hesitate to remove or suppress nearby sticks and twigs and irksome weeds that would be tough to clonne out. I'm careful to replace all in public woods and places. The flowers and stuff in my own yard? - open to whatever I need to do!


SAndy R

Same with me. Most of my shots are of cultivated flowers, but they are usually someone else's. Therefore, I remove only detritus that clutters the comp and carefully prune away dead blossoms near my subject flower. Wildflowers-- only remove detritus on the ground and foliage that can be 'combed' out of the way or held back by other foliage, branches, etc. I try always to be careful where I put my feet and my tripod whether in gardens or out in the wild. If I can't get the comp I either don't shoot it or determine whether it's something I would want to devote time in post processing to 'fix.'

I'll take some liberties with wild plants, but not many. These include pinning other plants out of the way or trimming back invasive species to unclutter the scene. But I have pretty short limits. I just recently chose to put up my own black fabric backdrop to photograph a cluster of showy ladyslippers rather than pull out a bunch of plants behind it to get a better natural background. I prefer natural BGs, but what I'd have had to do to acheive it was more than I thought appropriate.

See the 'housecleaning' section of my recent flora article... I am all for it with cultivars. With wild flowers I will just prop back an offending blade of grass or stem.

Nathan

And, for the uninitiated among us, where is your recent flora article, Nathan?

What Steve Foss said mirrors my own ethic but I'll expand a bit too. Beyond frontcountry areas I tend to be increasingly restrictive the closer I am to trails though less so at further distances from trailheads. Any front country public pathways require the most limited interference. By out beyond those areas off trails I will readily tear out dried or green grasses and grains in front of subjects in order to get clear lens positions because species like grasses readily expand into almost every niche of ground not occupied by other plants. Thus one removes all plants from a square foot of soil and when one comes back in a year, it is likely there will be more grass growing on the spot than anything else. Also will remove non-living things blocking my lens positions like small sticks or stones then might put them back. One thing I personally make an effort to do is not in any way touch or move the subject.

On my website, if one looks at my marketed fine art landscape prints, one will see I have a number that include rather amazing expanses of dense flowers. Such is a common springtime situation in some areas here in California after favorable heavy winter rains. It would be impossible to explore beyond the perimeters of such expanses unless one resigns oneself to the reality that they will have to be stepping on some plants. Thus the unstated status quo among most photographers who chase such incredible beauty is to tread where others have already started a path moving about. To not carelessly walk about in areas that are particularly aesthetic without considering all that is about beyond what one may be immediately focused on. If one is the first to walk into an area, then take the responsibility of creating the least offensive route that other later photographers would approve of.

In the great spring of 2005 about a half dozen of we pros were during weekdays working the well known Shell Creek area before the general public became alerted to its condition. Thus during a few days we formed a bunched of paths and bombholes in front of best subjects on our own. By the following weekend large crowds were coming out. Comments on some web forums complemented how our paths led to fine locations to shoot from and how later visitors tended to stay within our routes and not trample good areas up.

In another situation last year, a friend and I ventured up into the Temblor Range in Carrizo Plain. Virtually no one goes up there and it was another of these incredible vast dense jungles of wildflowers. We did not bother much considering where we made paths or bombholes to shoot from because it was highly unlikely any others would come by into such remote badlands. Well actually Michael Frye to his credit as a mountain adventurer did see some of those areas too just after my first visit. I'm sure he shares our pragmatic view of such. ...David

Thanks for asking Steve. I did not mean for that to sound like such a shameless self promotion.

Find the article here.

Nathan.

Thanks Nathan.