Introduction to Plant Photography

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Introduction toPlant Photography
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Purpose

• Being able to use photographs to identify the
  species adds validity to the data collected and
  entered into the SE-EPPC EDDMapS

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Photography

• Learn the diagnostic characteristics of the
  invasive species
• Capture them in enough detail to make
  identification possible
• Usually will require a series of photographs

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Common Characteristics Used for Identification
Garlic Mustard
Bicolor Lespedeza
Seeds/Fruit
Flowers
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification
Nepalese Browntop
English Ivy
Whole Plant
Growth form
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification

• Woody Plants - Leaf arrangement

Chinese Privet
Opposite
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification

• Woody Plants - Leaf arrangement

Oriental Bittersweet
Alternate
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification

• Woody Plants - Leaf shape

Amur Honeysuckle
Norway Maple
Tree-of-Heaven
Simple
Lobed
Compound
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification

• Unique Features

Cogongrass
Tree-of-Heaven
Glandular Notch
Pointed Rhizome
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Common Characteristics Used for Identification

• Unique Features

Yellow Star-thistle
Air potato
Bulbils
Thorns
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General Principles of Photography

• To reduce shake, use a tripod when possible
• Take multiple photographs of the same subject and
  choose the best one
• Use the highest resolution and best quality
  images available with your digital camera
• Images uploaded to system in JPEG format

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General Principles of Photography
Position yourself so that the sun is over your
shoulder for the best light (Frontlit image)
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General Principles of Photography
If the sun is behind the plant (your are looking
into the sun) then details of the plant may be
lost in the shadows (backlit image)
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Frontlit image
Backlit image
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General Principles of Photography

• A flash can work when the natural light isnt
  enough or coming from the wrong direction
• Try adjusting your flash intensity

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Low intensity flash
Removes shadows and illuminates detail without
washing out colors
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Focal Plane

• A plane parallel to the face of the cameras lens
  in which everything is in focus (aka depth of
  field)

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Focal Plane
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Focal Plane
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Common buckthorn
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Camera Settings

• Automatic settings are usually adequate
• Manual setting options
• Shutter Priority
• Hand-held situations
• Long exposure (with tripod)
• Aperture Priority
• Depth of field
• In conjunction with macro
• Macro (close-up)

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Aperture (F-stop)

• The hole in the lens through which light passes
  (represented by an F-stop value)

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Aperture (F-stop)

• Small F-stop numbers large aperture shallow
  depth of field
• Large F-stop numbers small aperture large
  depth of field

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Aperture (F-stop)

• Adjusting the aperture size can increase or
  decrease focal plane depth

Small F-stop number
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Aperture (F-stop)

• Adjusting the aperture size can increase or
  decrease focal plane depth

Large F-stop number
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Large Depth of Field
Shallow Depth of Field
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Japanese Honeysuckle
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Macro

• Fine detail
• Close-up

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Photographs to include

• The form allows five images to be uploaded with
  each record entered
• Identification images
• Infestation/Landscape image

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Not Enough for Identification
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Not Enough for Identification
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An example set of images
Cogongrass
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An example set of images
Cogongrass
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An example set of images
Cogongrass
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An example set of images
Cogongrass
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An example set of images
Tree-of-Heaven
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An example set of images
Tree-of-Heaven
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An example set of images
Tree-of-Heaven
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An example set of images
Tree-of-Heaven