PHYTOPHOTOGRAPHY-OR THE SCIENCE OF 

 PHOTOGRAPHING FLOWERS 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M. D., C. M. Z. S., ETC. 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR) 



IN SECURING photographs of flowers, to obtain the 

 very best results one should be expert at photog- 

 raphy in that special line ; and, what is equally 

 important, one should em- 

 ploy in the work the very 

 best materials available, in- 

 cluding the various modern 

 appliances for taking color 

 into consideration. It is 

 most essential that one 

 should have a thorough un- 

 derstanding of ordinary 

 photography, supplemented 

 by a familar knowledge of 

 flowers and their habits of 

 growth, in order to make a 

 success of phytophotogra- 

 phy. 



There is no line of flow- 

 er study — and there are 

 many of them — in which 

 the photographic camera 

 cannot be used to the 

 greatest advantage. This 

 is especially true when we 

 embrace the entire subject 

 of general botany in the 

 statement ; for the photog- 

 raphy of a tiny flower requires a very different kind of 

 experience as compared with what is demanded in making 

 photographs of 

 trees, be the 

 latter for artis- 

 tic or for scien- 

 tific purposes. 



In such pur- 

 suits, we have 

 in one field all 

 that pertains to 

 the science of 

 micro - photog- 

 raphy of flow- 

 ers, in which 

 we aim to pic- 

 t o r ially illus- 

 trate the inti- 

 mate structure 

 of all the parts 

 of trees and 

 plants of every 



ceiva e ae- pj^ 2— five bloodroot plants taken .» sUu, growing at the base of an oak tree 



FIG. 1— BLUE VIOLETS, NATURAL SIZE, TAKEN AS THEY GREW 



scription. With this department I shall have nothing to do 

 in the present article, nor will the question of the photog- 

 raphy of trees be entered upon here ; that is a subject which 



will be taken up later on as 

 one having especial interest 

 for the readers of Ameri- 

 can Forestry. Studied in 

 the gross, where the sub- 

 jects admit of it, the cam- 

 era may be used to depict 

 the special parts of a very 

 large number of species of 

 plants, and the aim is to 

 exhibit the comparative 

 form of the seeds, the 

 roots, stems, leaves, blos- 

 soms, and much besides ; 

 but this most important 

 field will likewise be pass- 

 ed in the present connec- 

 tion. 



Then we have the artis- 

 tic photography of plants 

 and flowers, including all 

 departments of botany. A 

 volume might easily be de- 

 voted to this branch of 

 phytophotography, as the 

 subject is as far-reaching as the range of plant-life 

 itself. Floral designs, as we know, are used throughout 



the entire realm 

 of art, in all of 

 i t s branches, 

 and the use 

 of the camera 

 here is of the 

 g r e a t est aid 

 and import- 

 ance. 



Some half a 

 dozen other 

 well defined 

 lines of pho- 

 t o g r aphy, in 

 their r e 1 ation 

 to botany, 

 might be point- 

 ed out ; but the 

 one to be 

 touched upon 

 here is quite 



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