Introduction to Plant Photography

1. Introduction toPlant Photography

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

3. 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

4. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Garlic Mustard Bicolor Lespedeza Seeds/Fruit Flowers

5. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Nepalese Browntop English Ivy Whole Plant Growth form

6. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Woody Plants - Leaf arrangement Chinese Privet Opposite

7. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Woody Plants - Leaf arrangement Oriental Bittersweet Alternate

8. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Woody Plants - Leaf shape Amur Honeysuckle Norway Maple Tree-of-Heaven Simple Lobed Compound

9. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Unique Features Cogongrass Tree-of-Heaven Glandular Notch Pointed Rhizome

10. Common Characteristics Used for Identification Unique Features Yellow Star-thistle Air potato Bulbils Thorns

14. 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

17. General Principles of Photography Position yourself so that the sun is over your shoulder for the best light (Frontlit image)

18. 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)

19. Frontlit image Backlit image

20. General Principles of Photography • A flash can work when the natural light isn’t enough or coming from the wrong direction • Try adjusting your flash intensity

21. Low intensity flash Removes shadows and illuminates detail without “washing out” colors

22. Focal Plane • A plane parallel to the face of the camera’s lens in which everything is in focus (aka depth of field)

23. Focal Plane

24. Focal Plane

25. Common buckthorn

26. 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)

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

28. Aperture (F-stop) • Small F-stop numbers = large aperture = shallow depth of field • Large F-stop numbers = small aperture = large depth of field

29. Aperture (F-stop) • Adjusting the aperture size can increase or decrease focal plane depth Small F-stop number

30. Aperture (F-stop) • Adjusting the aperture size can increase or decrease focal plane depth Large F-stop number

31. Large Depth of Field Shallow Depth of Field

32. Japanese Honeysuckle

33. Macro • Fine detail • Close-up

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

36. Not Enough for Identification

37. Not Enough for Identification

38. An example set of images Cogongrass

39. An example set of images Cogongrass

40. An example set of images Cogongrass

41. An example set of images Cogongrass

42. An example set of images Tree-of-Heaven

43. An example set of images Tree-of-Heaven

44. An example set of images Tree-of-Heaven

45. An example set of images Tree-of-Heaven