With our hands-on photography workshop coming up in 2 weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the photos I've snapped here - and it is many. I take hundreds of photos each year of Sonnenberg alone. Last summer I decided to have fun taking photos in the Japanese Garden with an origami crane I folded up for the occasion - and it was a lot of fun!Simple props like a pebble, leaf, flower, or pine cone can also make for very simple and beautiful images. Try it - I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
I should say one of the things I am very passionate about with photographs is the post picture taking process. While I will crop and occasionally make minor adjustments to exposure or levels to better match the image to what I saw, I believe the best photographs are what you saw and the camera captured. I feel that when the images are heavily modified via Photoshop and other digital tools, they become digital art and are no longer in the realm of photography. I'm not saying that is bad, just a different art.
The National Geographic, always known for the stunning photos, has this to say about digital darkroom techniques for one of their activities. Some great advice for you to try out.
Origami Crane in the Japanese Garden
