correctmyphotos

Close Up photography can be tricky.
Close up photography of flowers can be a bit tricky if you don’t have a camera with the right macro lens.  However, you can get great results with almost any digital camera and the right photo editing software. But, before I get into “close up cropping” let me tell you about Grandpa Wesler’s Heirloom Cannas.

Heirloom Canna Flower-Edited with CorrectPhoto-Titled with ImageTitler

The Heirloom Canna Flower
 Cannas grow from bulbs (rhizomes) that have to be dug up every fall, wintered, and re-planted in the spring except in zones 8 to 10 which is pretty far south. We live in Minnesota on the edge of Zones 4 and 5.  The bulbs we use in our garden (and in many of our friend’s gardens) date back over 75 years. My wife’s grandfather who lived in Collinsville, IL was the original gardener of these particular cannas and when he passed on many years ago at the age of 92 my father-in-law, Les, became the “keeper” of the family heirloom cannas. Les, now 92, lives in St. Louis and when he and my mother-in-law moved from their house to a retirement facility I became the keeper of the cannas. You can image the responsibility that rests upon my broad shoulders to keep these heirloom Cannas propagating from year to year.  This is no small task in Minnesota and involves digging up the bulbs after a freeze has taken care of the stalks but before the ground freezes to kill the bulbs. Then they must be stored in a cool dry place until spring when they are planted in pots to get them started so they will bloom before the snow flies in the fall.  Since I assumed the responsibility for the cannas three years ago with about a dozen bulbs they have multiplied to almost 60 plants this spring. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous and a real attraction to people passing our house. If you are interested in learning more about history and care of Heirloom Cannas go to http://www.oldhousegardens.com/CannaHistoryAndCare.asp.

Cropping Photos for Close Ups
The other day a neighbor stop by to take a picture of the Canna flowers in our garden with a point-and-shoot film camera (can you believe that?). She was trying to get a close up shot of the flower and while I haven’t seen the photo my guess is that it wasn’t a close up as she had hoped.  Most often it is difficult getting a good close up shot with a point and shoot camera. That is true for digital as well as film. Looking through the view finder or at the digital screen you think you are closer that you really are. With a film camera there isn’t a lot you can do about it after the shot. With a digital camera it is highly likely that you can achieve the close up you wanted with by cropping the photo. Here is an example of what I mean.

I took the photo on the left with my 5MP Canon camera and cropped and color corrected with CorrectPhoto with OneClick Color to get the close up shot.  I also used Photoshop Elements with iCorrect OneClick Plug-in and got essentially the same result. The major difference between the two photo editors was that CorrectPhoto with the AuotRez feature resulted in a somewhat sharper image when printed.  The resolution of the CorrectPhoto edited photo was 1944 x 2592 (essentially the same as the original) and the Elements photo was 834 x 1192. The difference was noticeable when printed side by side (5×7) on my desktop printer although you had to study the prints to see the difference.  The difference would be less noticeable on a 4×6 print and very noticeable at 8×10. The time to edit the photo in CorrectPhoto was much faster that Elements because of the extra steps and overhead of Elements. The color correction time was the same between the two because both used the OneClick color technology except that Elements required the additional time of opening and closing a plug-in whereas the OneClick technology is always active in CorrectPhoto.

The point of this story, other than the history of Heirloom Cannas, is that you can create great close up shots from your average flower photos by cropping the photo in a photo editor. And, while you are at it you will want to Make the Color Right.

Wayne www.correctphoto.com