Take pictures of your trees

I know pretty much everyone takes pictures of their trees at some point or another.

I've gotten into the habit of taking a picture of each of my trees when I first get them and I take an update picure at least once a year, particularly if there were major changes in its growth or if I did some other work to them. I've got each tree catologed in a spread sheet so I can keep track of each tree.

I've found it very educational to see the changes from one year to the next.
For example I have a little juniper mallsai that I bought in early 2011, my second ever "bonsai". It said "indoor plant" so I brought it to my office and put it by the window. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that within a few months it started to turn brown and die. Some quick research on my part discovered that, as we know, junis are NOT INDOOR PLANTS. So I took it home and put it on my back deck, watered it when dry and waited. Well lo and behold, in a couple of monthes it started to recover. It was still pretty scraggly after losing so much foliage, but I too a picture of it anyway, don't know why. Well its been growing and I recently found that first picture and the difference in just a year, to me is amazing and educational.

Also maybe someday I can post a full progression of some of my trees as they develop.

I am always interested in what a tree looked like when it was aquired as well as along its journey to becoming a bonsai.

So I guess I'm encouraging everyone to take pictures (if you don't already) even of new trees that you've just aquired as well as progression pictures.

This is a good idea, something I have supported for years but have not suggested for some time due to the strange politics existent on the site in the past. I think too, it would be a good idea if you took time to put together a gallery right here. It's nice to see what the people you are talking too are doing and yes---if in fact the person you are talking to is actually talking through experience or reading from a book somewhere.

I have a picture folder in my computer for each of my tree. Some do get much more pics than others.

I didn't take any pictures of my trees when I started out and I regret it a lot. I have had my earliest trees - some seedlings - for 15 years now so you know they have changed a lot. But I have no clue what they looked like even a few years ago. So take pictures. Even of those trees you don't think are worthy yet. That is the whole point. You will be glad you did.

A couple of other nice thing about photos...(1) they provide a slightly different view of the tree (compressed, in a sense - more 2 dimensional) and can help one see potential flaws in a new light, and (2) they allow you to easily make "virtual" changes with photo editing software (if you're considering modifications to the design).

Chris

Vance Wood said:

I think too, it would be a good idea if you took time to put together a gallery right here. It's nice to see what the people you are talking too are doing and yes---if in fact the person you are talking to is actually talking through experience or reading from a book somewhere.

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My gallery would say I'm a total noob with zero relative experience (I've kept a few trees alive for a couple of years), which I fully admit already.
Ill do a gallery when I have something worthy (more developed trees) enough to do one with.

Paradox said:

My gallery would say I'm a total noob with zero relative experience (I've kept a few trees alive for a couple of years), which I fully admit already.
Ill do a gallery when I have something worthy (more developed trees) enough to do one with.

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I think the point being made is put them up regardless, pre bonsai, mall sticks, horrible mistakes all the way up to finished trees.

Paradox said:

My gallery would say I'm a total noob with zero relative experience (I've kept a few trees alive for a couple of years), which I fully admit already.
Ill do a gallery when I have something worthy (more developed trees) enough to do one with.

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Only a totally noob, boob, or snob is going to be critical of your sticks in pots or what ever else you may think of your trees. You might even find it useful when some people give you some suggestions as what you might do to improve your success. If you get a visit from a classic pendejo grande all you need to do is suggest precise directions as to where his opinion belongs.

I only wish I had documentation of some of my trees when they were just sip's.
I believe that's the point of this conversation. Now I take photos from all angles, sometimes you can really see better what the mistakes to be corrected from a photo instead of looking at the tree. It seems to be a brutal image, that shows all the issues.

JudyB said:

Now I take photos from all angles,...

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Very important.

I used to take only the "front" but as time goes by, most of the time the front becomes the back or something else.

It is nice to have the whole history ...not just the one we chose.

iPhone has been fun to use to take pics. The picture quality is excellent, better than my digital camera.

One thing I have been doing lately is taking "silhouette" pictures of my trees. No flash, strong overhead light against a plain white or cream background and from a slightly farther distance. It gives a different perspective than the full color in leaf pics. And it shows flaws very clearly.

davetree said:

iPhone has been fun to use to take pics. The picture quality is excellent, better than my digital camera.

One thing I have been doing lately is taking "silhouette" pictures of my trees. No flash, strong overhead light against a plain white or cream background and from a slightly farther distance. It gives a different perspective than the full color in leaf pics. And it shows flaws very clearly.

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Another way to accomplish this without the problem of manipulating the light is to take your photo against a window with a lot of light streaming in. If you set the camera on automatic it will automatically adjust to the light source to get the F stop and the subject (your tree) will be highly underexposed. Really shows off the defects. I have looked at this problem for years, I call it anorexia syndrome.

If you know anything about this disease in young women it manifest itself with the victim trying to lose weight because they see a fat girl in the mirror when actually they cannot really see the truth of the image before them, which is a young woman wasting away to skin and bones. To some degree this is what happens when we are designing our bonsai, an inability to see the truth. We see what we are trying to accomplish but not what we have really accomplished.

Photos like this will show you the real skinnies-----no pun intended.

Vance Wood said:

Another way to accomplish this without the problem of manipulating the light is to take your photo against a window with a lot of light streaming in. If you set the camera on automatic it will automatically adjust to the light source to get the F stop and the subject (your tree) will be highly underexposed. Really shows off the defects. I have looked at this problem for years, I call it anorexia syndrome.

If you know anything about this disease in young women it manifest itself with the victim trying to lose weight because they see a fat girl in the mirror when actually they cannot really see the truth of the image before them, which is a young woman wasting away to skin and bones. To some degree this is what happens when we are designing our bonsai, an inability to see the truth. We see what we are trying to accomplish but not what we have really accomplished.

Photos like this will show you the real skinnies-----no pun intended.

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Damn Vance your right ...they do look skinnier!

Nice ! The curves are super on the second one but I like the 3rd best - very muscular.

Smoke said:

Damn Vance your right ...they do look skinnier!

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Thank you-----I think. But though the term skinny is used it is not necessarily the purpose of this technique but instead to show defects in the over all profile which often eludes us in designing a tree. Obviously the term skinny does not apply with your trees here but the gaps in your profiles do. Perhaps these profiles are as you intend them but at least you have an honest depiction that allows you to evaluate the quality of your design.

Search Function? What?

Thanks to Brian Underwood for this prior post regarding photographing your trees.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthr...fessional-Looking-Photos-of-Your-Bonsai-Trees

Also, this thread: http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?8570-Taking-pictures&highlight=taking+pictures

Has grouper's link:

http://www.bonsaisite.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16182