#605 Flowers at Matthai Botanical Gardens Sunday March 16, 2025

This four-hour workshop will provide instruction on location at one of the gems of Ann Arbor. This indoor/outdoor botanical garden is located just off US -23 in Ann Arbor. We will spend our time at the flower conservatory, learning about the close-up techniques and macro photography; using extension tubes and macro lenses and flash photography while photographing the flowers indoors in the warmth of the greenhouse. Bryce will provide and demonstrate the use of reflectors to bounce directional light into the shadows; to illuminate the flowers into their full three-dimensional quality. The flower conservatory has three separate rooms, each dedicated to specific varieties of flowers, offering students the opportunity to photograph tropical orchids, cactus and flowers of the season. Learn about composition techniques to give images a three-dimensional quality. We will start in the tropical area first, then move throughout the building. Second, we will move to the garden area then conclude shooting in the cactus area. MPW will have extension tubes available for three different camera platforms including Nikon, Canon and Sony for students to use. Bring a cell phone with camera capabilities as there is a kaleidoscope that can create delightful patterns of some flowers. We will show you how. Tripods are permitted only occasionally inside at Mathai, so we will emphasize techniques that involve fill flash with flash modifiers and hand holding the camera techniques. So bring your flash. There is a $5 parking fee for the day; otherwise, entry is free to the conservatory however a donation to Mathai is appreciated. 11:00AM – 3:00 PM.