Visions and Nature Orchids photography
Posted on July 4, 2011
Orchid Photography
by Kristel Schneider
‘ Orchids are a far more challenging subject to capture than many people may think they are’
I have been photographing wild orchids for a couple of years now, since I have lived in France (November 2007) and every year I love it when the Orchid season starts off. There are so many different species that it keeps amazing me how beautiful these flowers are, with their great details and colours.
Although Orchids do not run or fly away like insects and birds, they are a far more challenging subject to capture than many people may think. Orchids grow in very exposed situations such as hill tops or in open grassy places and on roadsides.
Therefore I think there are two important things to bear in mind before you take an image of an Orchid: subject movement and image background.
Early mornings and late afternoons provide us normally with nice light and that is often the time when wind shows up. I know that some other photographers use perspex box shelters to avoid ‘the wind movement problem’, but personally I (sometimes) like to add some movement in my images. Like I did in the image above.
I just wait for the little times when the wind hold its breath a little bit so that the flower is in focus and then shoot the image.
The background of the image is very important for your composition. And this is the second tricky part with Orchids because of what I mentioned above, they grow in ‘busy’ surroundings. Unless you are planning to take an Orchid in its natural habitat, you need to isolate the subject from its background. This helps your eye to focus on the main subject.
I always look what kind of other flowers or grass grow behind the Orchid so that I can capture a nice colour contrast, like I did with the Common Spotted Orchid with the moth on top. I used a wide aperture to keep the main subject in focus and create a nice soft background with yellow defocussed flowers. Always use a tripod to prevent camera shake and a sharper end result.
Look for more flower photography in my flora gallery
Interested in a Macro photography workshop click here for more information
Stag Beetles series
Posted on June 21, 2011
Stag Beetles Series
by Kristel Schneider
Stag Beetles (Lucanidae) are robust insects with black or reddish brown colouration.
The smaller ones even have a bluish sheen. The males have greatly enlarged, toothed mandibles; females are often smaller. The antennae are elbowed or bent in the middle.
More info about this wonderful insect click here.
For my Beetle photo shoot I wanted to get some soft focus images and some general detailed ones. The insects were wandering around on and in the tree trunk, the males didn’t really fight but where just getting in the defense ‘position’ what was nice for a background. The morning light provided me with some nice soft (background) light.
I tried some different angles and depth of fields and worked with my Canon 5DMark II and Canon 40D with different lenses (300mm + extension tube and the 150 macro lens).
Food in Nature – workshop
Posted on May 30, 2011
Food in Nature – Workshop
by Kristel SchneiderThe nice thing about organizing one-on-one workshops is that you sometimes get funny or unusual requests from your participants. And yesterday I had to organise a workshop with one of those special requests for a private photography workshop. The participant was a cook and wanted to take images of Food in Nature.
After looking on the net and into my own cooking books I thought this was not going to be an easy task. But I liked the request so I agreed to organize this workshop and the date was set for yesterday. A whole new concept for me, normally I walk in nature and drive around to look for some different sceneries whereas yesterday I had to wait while the cook was ready with some kind of dessert or other dish so that we could place the subject on an old moss-covered tree trunk , in high grass or just in the vegetable garden.
I can tell you that food photography is not the same as taking images of wild mushrooms or landscapes. Personally I like images that are a bit abstract or with movement but with food you still have to see what is presented. So in the end also it was a learning process for me and although I didn’t have the time to shoot images for my own archive I took some snapshots with my 300mm to give you an idea of what we did with two little fruit pastries.
Now, if you think you also have a nice idea for a private photography one-on-one workshop feel free to contact me so that we can discuss the 
possibilities. Click here
Interview Kristel
Posted on May 28, 2011
Nature photographer Mike Moats has interviewed me about Macro Photography for his Blog: Tiny Landscapes.
You can read the interview here.
Monts du Cèzallier | Auvergne | France
Posted on April 17, 2011
Monts du Cèzallier
Sunrise landscape shots
Getting up at 5am is not something I like but when I see the sun rise and the landscape changing colours in the fresh light I forget all about that alarm clock.
Driving to the Monts du Cèzallier takes me to magnificent landscapes. Mountain meadows and valleys with nice lines and textures. My goal was to capture some images with wild Daffodils and because mother nature is a bit early this year I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The sunrise in itself was a bit disappointing but the early morning light provided me with nice warm light that I could use for my landscape shots.
See for more images : spring gallery
The massif of Cézallier is a French volcanic tray located in the Central Massif, between mounts Brown and the mounts of Cantal. It is shared between two departments: Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal. The medium altitude of the massif is located between 1 200 and 1 500 m. The climax of the massif is the sign of Luguet (1 551 m). -WikipédiaVisit Kristels website: click on logo
Visions and Nature 