On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA August-September 2016 | Page 5

P H OTO G R A P H Y CO LU M N

BILL JOHNSON

HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EARLY
MORNING PHOTO EXCURSIONS

OPEN EARLY
Generally, the location— this year it’s the
Atlanta Botanical Garden—has a scheduled time
where everyone will have the opportunity to go
there as part of the regular tour schedule. But
by signing up for the crack-of-dawn photo trip,
you will have complete access to the garden as
part of a small group for up to two hours before
the thundering herds of GWA members and the
public arrive.
Most of the time you’ll arrive just as the sun is
coming up, resulting in experiencing the garden
in soft early-morning colors. If you are using
a tripod, this is one of the few times you can
actually safely shoot from one without having
people accidentally bump into you or trip over
your equipment. A tripod also gives you the
rare opportunity to possibly do long exposures
without getting physically interrupted.

LOW-LIGHT TIPS
Upon arrival, it can actually still be dark out
and using a flash might be helpful. As the sun
comes up and it becomes brighter, a few lowlight shooting suggestions can come in handy.

Above: The early morning photo shoot at Tucson Botanical Garden allowed photographers to capture the
beauty without fighting the crowds. Below right: There are no people or unwanted objects cluttering the scene
during the early morning photo shoot at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh.

For folks who don’t use or have a tripod, handheld photography is so much easier to do these
days with the advent of newer versions of phone
cameras that have very good low-light shooting
capabilities. For users of traditional cameras, a lot
of the newer SLR systems are coming out with
much higher ranges of ASA settings than ever
before. That can allow you to use higher ASA (ISO)
settings without seeing the traditional ‘noise’ (the
digital equivalent of ‘grain’ from the days of film
photography). Using a high ASA on early digital
cameras was always a dicey affair, which created
a very degraded image. Using a higher ASA~1000
in today’s cameras allows the photographer to use
higher shutter speeds. These can help to reduce
any personal movement, resulting in steadier and
sharper images. The advent of image stabilization
with which most new lenses are equipped adds to
the quality of your shots.

EXPERTS ON HAND
In all of the early morning photo shoots that
I’ve been involved with, another nice bonus is
access to various staff members at the venue.
The gardens usually bring in almost all of their
staff to be there to answer questions or point out
interesting things to see.

When everyone else arrives, those connections
become more difficult, and from that point on,
taking a picture without anyone in it becomes
nearly impossible.
So, if you can, sign up for the early photo
excursion. By the end of the day, you’ll probably
be dragging your tail around, looking for a coffee
IV, but, believe me, it will have been well worth
the bleary eyes and all the yawning.
Bill is an award-winning photographer specializing in
plant and insect photography. He writes the monthly
“Insect ID” column for Horticulture and has written articles
for Birds & Blooms and Minnesota Gardener magazines.
Bill is the co-creator and photographer of the children’s
book Minnesota Bug Hunt, written by Bruce Giebink and
published by Minnesota Historical Society Press.

5

PHOTOS COURTESY BILL JOHNSON

You’re in the middle of
a great dream. The alarm
goes off or the phone
rings. You begin to open
your bleary eyes. It’s still
dark out. It’s the crack of
dawn. Why am I getting
up? Wait. I remember. I
signed up for the annual
GWA Early Morning Photo Shoot.
For those who are regulars to our annual
gatherings and have gone on one of these before,
you know what I’m talking about. To those who
are new to our conference, it’s something that,
whether you’re a photographer or not, it can be
a great way to experience the location without
hundreds of people wandering around.
Most of the time, it’s almost impossible to
get a shot without someone being in it during
the many tours we go on during the run of the
conference. So, unless you want people in your
pictures, I highly recommend signing up for the
early morning photo session.