The garden and backyard of your dreams can look like a million bucks, and certainly not cost you anywhere near that. If you are planning some landscape designs for your yard, by now you’ve probably scoured the internet vision boards and scads of garden and decor magazines.
Landscape Photography Tips
Imagery is so important when dreaming up ideas for your space. It also helps to know what particular imagery grabs the viewer’s attention. If you are selling your home and wanting to show off the extension of your house as an outdoor space, here are a few tips:
- Use a wide angle lens. Most point and shoot cameras have a fixed lens and are not able to show off the scale of your yard.
- Photograph on an overcast day. Despite common beliefs, a sunny day is not always the best time to photograph a subject or space because of the harsh shadows and highlights. A nice evenly lit day with some clouds will help show off the dynamic range of colours.
- Use various lenses to make your point. For example, a macro lens will get in nice and close to flowers and a telephoto lens will allow you to zoom.
- Include people in the photo for scale.
- Photograph at different angles to get an interesting perspective.
- Include personal elements like vases or simple decor, but not clutter.
- Keep pools free of dirt and rake any leaves if taken in the fall.
When creating your vision for your dream backyard, keep it real. That is, are your expectations too high for a small condo space that you want to look like the Italian Villa you are gazing at? If you hate cutting grass, then you probably don’t want a huge yard with sod. So don’t look at imagery like that as it will just confuse you. Sometimes knowing what you DO NOT want is more helpful in figuring out what you do want. Are you minimalistic and love clean lines and architectural detail? Then don’t pick up a magazine that is inspired by french country decor and floral fabrics.
Below are a few pictures for inspiration from Wendy Alana Photography:
