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Digital Cameras Trevor Wray |
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Everyone seems to be using digital cameras these days and I thought it was time to pass on a few tips especially in connection with taking pictures of cacti and succulents, both in cultivation and in habitat. This is a very general guide, there are much more detailed reports on the internet and in specialist magazines. Naturally I am hoping that you will all rush out and snap some shots to illustrate an article you will be writing for NN… General considerations: Buy the best camera you can afford; the resolution is a fair measure of quality, 2 *megapixels will give you fine snap shots to view on a PC or TV and good quality small prints. Nothing of better quality is required for the NN magazine, either the printed or the internet editions. From 4 mpix on you are looking at the quality end of the market and the better cameras have a macro (posh name for close-up) facility. This is invaluable if you want to record details of plants – spine clusters or full frame pictures of small flowers. Top-end cameras take the regular SLR lenses and give pictures of excellent quality. When buying a camera remember that you will almost certainly require more memory cards, more batteries (they are usually rechargeables) and a case. These have to be factored into the overall budget. Software and the wire to download the camera are generally included. Digital cameras will often take pictures under light conditions which would make an emulsion picture useless. Even bad digital pictures may be improved by photo manipulation software. The combination of macro, optical and then digital zooms make that little box of tricks very versatile. Do remember though, that bracing your arm or elbow against something solid will greatly improve all your more extreme pictures. Even better if you brought your tripod! Each photo you take on a digital camera is only a computer file and at the moment it is taken it has a name and, most usefully, a date and time. This can be most useful when you want to know when you took a picture. However I forgot to reset the clock on my last American trips so I have to deduct 8 hours. Photos of plants in cultivation: It is possible to take excellent pictures of plants with a digital camera. As with a SLR the best pictures are taken with a tripod and with a plain dark (black?) background. With the better cameras it is possible to set the camera to manual mode to give optimum clarity and exposure. However these are digital pictures and you can cheat, you can cheat a lot! With patience any background can be ‘painted’ out of a picture using a photo manipulation program. If you have forgotten that black cloth you can use any plain coloured background; later in ‘Photoshop’ or whatever, you can swap the background to black. You can even hold the plant against that background and paint out your hand later. At a show a little movement of the show cards will improve your picture and the amount of ‘jiggling’ the picture will need. If you take a picture which has important parts out of focus or with ‘camera-shake’ a quick bit of digital magic will correct it at the click of a mouse. Since you do not pay for pictures recorded the digital camera is a fantastic note taker and memory jogger. Take the definitive picture of that National Show winner and take another of the label. If memory is going to be a problem a low resolution picture there will do. Taking pictures on an open day? Snap the first picture of the name in the guide, the second of the host, three and four of general pictures of the collection – it certainly brings back happy memories and helps later associate plants with the right grower. Photos of plants in habitat: When you take slide film in habitat you are always thinking cost – it is not a cheap hobby and if they are special plants you generally want to take duplicates and perhaps bracket the exposures. Typically you take pictures of the first plants you find, then bigger ones or plants in flower. You may find cristate plants which always seem a bit special. Back home the early pictures are discarded. With a digital camera you can take pictures of every plant you see, even the dead ones. They all have some significance in the ecology of that species. You can save those pictures to a CD and share them with friends who may be interested, you can email them or post them to the web. With a high resolution camera the images can be zoomed into on your monitor to note details of the spines or flowers. Looking at habitat pictures of Pediocactus despainii in my motel room I realised that there was an aluminium label adjacent to a plant which signified that someone was studying that particular plant. I didn’t see that while I was actually there. Problems with digital cameras: The digital way might seem to be the way to go but there can be difficulties; principally memory and batteries. This is generally not a problem at home, on a visit or at a show but can occur on field trips. Taking a laptop or specialised store along can help download and free the camera’s memory cards but their batteries have only a limited life. Same for the camera’s rechargeables. On my last two trips booking into a motel at least every fourth day enabled me to recharge all the batteries and save pictures to the hard-drive of my laptop with a backup to a CD. On a more extensive fieldtrip to the wilderness this would be a problem to think about. If you wish to incorporate your digital pictures into a presentation for other enthusiasts you will need a digital projector. These are very expensive at present but getting cheaper by the month. We are talking a drop from £1000 to around £500 for the cheapest in the last year. Can I predict a time when every BCSS branch will have access to a digital projector as well as a slide one? Yes, and fairly soon! The pictures below are taken from two record pictures of the same plant of Pediocactus peeblesianus var. fickeisenii in habitat. This was a 2cm plant (slightly less than an inch) and typical of many dozens at a particular habitat. Left is a general picture, centre a close up picture and right is a magnified portion of that image. Yes, the spines actually look like this! You can click these thumbnails to gain better images but these are still nowhere near the high resolution of the originals. So, snap those pictures and write that article for NN. |
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(Click for a better view and more information)
*megapixel is a measure of resolution. Height x width in pixels and mega is a million of them. Full screen on a computer is less than one mpix and 2 mpix would print a full page (A5) quality picture in Northants News (and break the treasurer's heart!). Yes, I know your monitor is four times bigger than A5 but that's the way it is!
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Adapt to survive Roland Tebbenham |
The Branch Chairman’s message
How to summarise the highlights of 2005, my sixth year as Branch Chairman? Very busy! Branch membership remained constant for the third year at 42, having fallen from 56 in 2001. However average attendance at monthly meetings has continued to decline to 17 (around 40% of the membership). This is disappointing in view of the range of subjects and meeting formats on offer. I formally thank our speakers, who journeyed from afar to enhance our programme. They do a tremendous job as ambassadors for our hobby in diverse forms – explorers, collectors, photographers, cultivators, exhibitors, and judges! We also received kind feedback from them complementing us on our welcome and hosting arrangements. We continued to collaborate with Luton Branch by ‘sharing’ five speakers during the year.
We staged our Annual Show at a different Garden Centre venue than in previous years; it proved to be excellent. My thanks to John Watmough, our Judge, his dry humour added sparkle to the task of the judge’s steward and his decisions were generally applauded. I commend Trevor’s efforts to capture the winning entries and noteworthy plants and circulate a picture CD for reference and interest. We were blessed with sunny days for our Branch Open Day with Colin and Marjorie and our Annual Barbecue with Jack and Freda; many thanks to our hosts for their efforts and generosity. A number of our members supported the 2005 Zone events, though sadly I was not able to join them. Reports were positive and I offer our thanks and best wishes to our sister branches around the south Midlands.
During the year we advertised via the local press radio and we exerted ourselves for twelve days at local events, including the NCCPG and Hardy Plant Society Spring Plant Fairs, Hollowell Steam Rally, Kislingbury Village Show, and Country Fairs at Holdenby House and Castle Ashby. We sold many plants, gave lots away to children to ‘cultivate’ their interests, and spoke to many people. My thanks to those hardworking branch members who donated plants, marshalled and maintained the stock, prepared leaflets and signs, carted all the stuff, put up the gazebo (now an infamous cabaret turn amongst local nurserymen), manned the stand, and tidied up afterwards.
To meet the challenge set by the Society F&GPC your Branch Committee formulated proposals to improve the Society, which were submitted to the F&GPC for consideration. I hope that they appreciated our efforts; however their feedback lacked ambition. Despite that we will continue to work up proposals and try to bring them to fruition. We spoke to many people at the promotional events who do grow some cacti, but do not wish to attend meetings or participate in a formal way. We must adapt to this ‘looser’ organisation; so we will continue to exploit the electronic media to attempt to achieve more contact. We hear that many BCSS Branches are struggling for membership, helpers and meeting attendances. We intend to present a busy programme of speakers, activities and events during 2006. I hope that you will attend as many as possible and your help is always appreciated!
Recently I was reading about Alluaudia montagnacii, a member of the intriguing family Didiereaceae. Rauh noted in his Madagascar book that it may be positively anemotrophic – it leans into the prevailing wind … why? What strategic advantage does it gain from this? Do let me know if you can cast some light on this supposition. However it set me thinking … maybe the BCSS should lean into the wind more, or risk being blown off course by prevailing circumstances.
Best Regards to all of you, readers of this multi-media publication.
Roland
