Tips for newbie taking plant photos

[Ebla]

Photography has never been my thing; however I need photos to accompany articles I am publishing on my site (I want to take them myself to avoid copyright issues and trying to identify and manage public domain permissions).

The photos I need would be plant close ups and wider shots of garden beds. I have a Panasonic lummix DMC-LZ8 that I have used for snapshots. What are some tips that can help me get the best results for these kinds of photos.

[Cricket]

Unless you have excellent light in your home, I would probably advise taking them outside to shoot in the early morning or early evening.

Get as close as you can without losing focus. Most lenses have a minimum distance set. After that, just keep shooting!

[Cricket]

Oh, and try taking the photos from different angles instead of looking down at them. Try getting down at ground level and shooting across them.

[ScriptMan]

First off RTFM for the camera you have. Determine the minimum focus distance for the camera or the lens. Then do what Cricket said. It is always better to have too big an image than to have one too small. You can crop and resize using free software that really works. Even if your up close image is a tiny bit out of focus it will look fine once you resize it down.

[Ebla]

Thank you for taking the time to give me a few pointers.