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Flower photography on the balcony

Up clo­se to the plants! The fasci­na­ting world of plants and their visi­tors through the lens.

Gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch holds an online photography workshop "Flower photography on the balcony".

Online pho­to­gra­phy work­shop

Flower photography on the balcony

The bal­c­o­ny is the pho­to­gra­phic hot­spot in the imme­dia­te vici­ni­ty. Unless you have your own gar­den, the­re is no bet­ter place to obser­ve dai­ly chan­ges in the appearance of plants. Plant pho­to­gra­phy on the bal­c­o­ny is the­r­e­fo­re a good way of docu­men­ting the flo­ra and fau­na in your imme­dia­te living envi­ron­ment and also helps you plan the next bal­c­o­ny sea­son.

The enthu­si­a­stic gar­de­ner and natu­re pho­to­grapher Hel­ge Masch is loo­king for­ward to num­e­rous regis­tra­ti­ons and will be hap­py to share his many expe­ri­en­ces with you.

Known from

Plant photography on the balcony: a challenge?

Yes, and it is important to be awa­re of the chal­lenges that this type of pho­to­gra­phy ent­ails in order to obtain not only docu­men­ta­ry, but also pho­to­gra­phi­cal­ly and artis­ti­cal­ly good images.

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Procedure of the two-part online workshop:

The first part is about the pho­to­gra­phic equip­ment and the many pos­si­ble set­tings. Aper­tu­re, ISO and expo­sure time form the expo­sure tri­ang­le and are essen­ti­al for well-expo­sed pho­tos. It is also about the phe­no­me­non of depth of field. On the one hand, this chan­ges with the choice of a dif­fe­rent aper­tu­re, but also with the distance to the sub­ject. The­se aspects may sound like photographer’s Latin at first, but they are explai­ned in a way that is easy to under­stand, even for beg­in­ners with no pri­or know­ledge. In the second part, ques­ti­ons ari­sing from the prac­ti­cal exer­ci­s­es after the first part are ans­we­red. The dis­cus­sion of your pic­tures, which were crea­ted from the “home­work” you recei­ved in the first part, will then beco­me very con­cre­te.

  • Part 1: Mon­day, June 23, 6:30 p.m.

  • Part 2: Mon­day, July 07 6:30 p.m.
Flower photography on the balcony - workshop with gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch

Lighting conditions

One of the big­gest pro­blems when pho­to­gra­phing plants on a bal­c­o­ny is the light. The light on a bal­c­o­ny is often very bright and direct, which can lead to harsh shadows and over­ex­po­sure. To avo­id this, you should try not to pho­to­graph your sub­jects during the bright mid­day sun. Howe­ver, if it is only pos­si­ble during this time, Hel­ge intro­du­ces tech­ni­ques to achie­ve good images even in full sun.

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Background

Ano­ther fac­tor that needs to be taken into account is the back­ground. On a bal­c­o­ny, the back­ground is often clut­te­red and can dis­tract from the sub­ject. To avo­id this, a calm and neu­tral back­ground should be cho­sen by chan­ging the ang­le of view. If this is not suc­cessful, Hel­ge pro­vi­des tips and tricks in the work­shop for mas­te­ring this task of image com­po­si­ti­on.

promoting biodiversity in the city insect-friendly gardening bee-friendly gardening organic gardening balcony balcony gardening balcony planting balcony plants balcony design balcony design urbangardening edible flowers edible wild plants

Composition

Com­po­si­ti­on is ano­ther important aspect of plant pho­to­gra­phy. Make sure that the plants and ani­mals are pro­min­ent­ly posi­tio­ned in the pic­tu­re. Inte­res­t­ing com­po­si­ti­ons can be crea­ted with dif­fe­rent angles and per­spec­ti­ves.

Equipment

You don’t need any spe­cial equip­ment for plant pho­to­gra­phy on the bal­c­o­ny. A good com­pact or bridge came­ra with a menu for macro pho­to­gra­phy or a came­ra lens with a fil­ter thread and cor­re­spon­ding macro fil­ters are usual­ly suf­fi­ci­ent. Howe­ver, if you want to achie­ve even bet­ter results, only a came­ra for inter­ch­an­geable len­ses in con­junc­tion with a spe­cial macro lens will do. In any case, a tri­pod and a remo­te shut­ter release are hel­pful, but not essen­ti­al.

The purple loosestrife is definitely suitable for the pond on the balcony.

Answers to your specific questions

Here you can get your ques­ti­ons ans­we­red by an expert in a way that even beg­in­ners can under­stand.

Mockup for the online photography workshop "Flower photography on the balcony" with gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch

Online pho­to­gra­phy work­shop on Birgit’s orga­nic bal­c­o­ny

Flower photography on the balcony

The fasci­na­ting world of plants and their visi­tors through the lens

Expe­ri­ence natu­re with all your sen­ses! See the world of plants with new eyes and deve­lop your own crea­ti­vi­ty in pho­to­gra­phy. Whe­ther you are a beg­in­ner or an expe­ri­en­ced gar­de­ner, here you will find inspi­ra­ti­on and the know­ledge to impro­ve your own green pho­to­gra­phic visi­on and enjoy try­ing out new things. 

The orga­ni­zer

Hello, I am Birgit Schattling

Bal­c­o­ny ambassa­dor with all her heart and con­vic­tion from Ber­lin City

My Visi­on is that more peo­p­le are using their bal­co­nies and win­dows­ills use — clo­se to natu­re, to the Self-suf­fi­ci­en­cyas Oases of peace and rela­xa­ti­on. For qua­li­ty of life in edi­ble cities, pre­ser­va­ti­on of the bio­di­ver­si­tyCli­ma­te pro­tec­tion and Oases of well-being with exci­ting Natu­re expe­ri­en­ces

I can help you with the orga­nic bal­c­o­ny pro­ject, Your own dream bal­c­o­ny and at the same time Encou­ra­ge insects, birds and other ani­mals.

Vita

Bir­git Schatt­ling initia­ted the Orga­nic bal­c­o­ny move­ment in 2017. it helps (not only) City dwel­lers again More gree­n­ery and self-suf­fi­ci­en­cy into the cities. It gives prac­ti­cal ins­truc­tions for Lush, joyful bal­c­o­ny oaseswhich is a boon for Peo­p­le, insects and ani­mals are.

The Ber­lin bal­c­o­ny gar­de­ner, “Natu­re in the gar­den” ambassa­dor, Aut­hor and Orga­ni­zer of the 16 Online Orga­nic Bal­c­o­ny Con­gres­ses to date Bir­git Schatt­ling is Media award win­ner 2018 of the Ger­man Hor­ti­cul­tu­ral Socie­ty 1822 e.V. In 2017 and 2019, she was respon­si­ble for the “Euro­pean Award for Eco­lo­gi­cal Gar­dening” nomi­na­ted. In 2017, she was award­ed a pri­ze in the Green League’s “Toxic-free gar­dening” com­pe­ti­ti­on. Spe­cial pri­ce for Gar­dening in the smal­lest of spaces.

She is a uni­ver­si­ty-cer­ti­fied “Expert advi­sor for self-suf­fi­ci­en­cy with edi­ble wild plants”. Your Hor­tus Bio-Bal­kon is part of the “Hor­tus net­work. Diver­si­ty. Beau­ty. Bene­fit”. For five years she has been Juror for the “Deutsch­land summt!” plan­ting com­pe­ti­ti­on.

For the publi­shing house Grä­fe und Unzer, she wro­te the gui­de­book “My bio­to­pe on the bal­c­o­ny. Expe­ri­ence natu­re and har­ve­st hap­pi­ness in the midd­le of the city”. Published by Ulmer Ver­lag in the #mach­s­us­tainable-series “My inge­nious orga­nic bal­c­o­ny. With gre­at plant com­bos & DIY pro­jects for more bio­di­ver­si­ty and a tasty har­ve­st”.

Questions & Answers

Balcony ambassador Birgit Schattling presents her new book: Mein genialer Bio-Balkon: Mit großartigartigen Pflanzenkombination & DIY-Projekten zu mehr Artenvielfalt und leckerer Ernte. 1TP5Make it sustainable

The pho­to work­shop takes place live and online in the com­fort of your own home. After­wards, you can also watch the recor­ding in the mem­bers’ area. 

You have per­ma­nent access to the recor­ding of the work­shop via the pro­tec­ted Bio-Bal­kon mem­ber area. You will recei­ve an email with the access data for the pro­tec­ted mem­ber area. 

You have per­ma­nent access to the recor­ding of the work­shop via the pro­tec­ted Bio-Bal­kon mem­ber area.

You can ask your ques­ti­ons live and under the video.

It is a need and a mat­ter clo­se to my heart to “encou­ra­ge” peo­p­le to let their bal­co­nies, win­dows­ills and ter­races green and blos­som and make them edi­ble. The aspect of self-suf­fi­ci­en­cy in addi­ti­on to pro­mo­ting bio­di­ver­si­ty is very important to me. I pre­fer to make my offers afforda­ble so that many peo­p­le can get star­ted. Becau­se I real­ly want ever­yo­ne to be able to afford to green their bal­c­o­ny and eat healt­hy food from it. It’s so easy, I’ll help you get star­ted.

Then you can wri­te to me direct­ly on this page (click here) using the cont­act form or wri­te to me direct­ly at this e‑mail address: news@bio-balkon.de.

5/5

Comments from enthusiastic participants about Helge’s lectures for the organic balcony

Mockup for the online photography workshop "Flower photography on the balcony" with gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch

Online pho­to­gra­phy work­shop on Birgit’s orga­nic bal­c­o­ny

The fasci­na­ting world of plants and their visi­tors through the lens. Lec­tu­re with oppor­tu­ni­ty to ask ques­ti­ons and under­stan­da­ble ans­wers.

Flower photography on the balcony

Expe­ri­ence natu­re with all your sen­ses! See the world of plants with new eyes and deve­lop your own crea­ti­vi­ty in pho­to­gra­phy. Whe­ther you are a beg­in­ner or an expe­ri­en­ced gar­de­ner, here you will find inspi­ra­ti­on and the know­ledge to impro­ve your own green pho­to­gra­phic visi­on and enjoy try­ing out new things. 

We invi­te you to the online pho­to­gra­phy work­shop on Birgit’s orga­nic bal­c­o­ny:

Hello, I’m Helge Masch

Gar­de­ner, natu­re pho­to­grapher and know­ledge media­tor, with heart and came­ra in the gar­den and in natu­re. Let’s dis­co­ver the beau­ty of natu­re.

I have always been fasci­na­ted by natu­re. With came­ra and rose scis­sors in hand, I have dis­co­ver­ed the world of plants from many per­spec­ti­ves. As a gar­de­ner in the Ham­burg Bota­ni­cal Gar­den, in a tree nur­sery and as head of the spe­cial bota­ni­cal gar­den in Wands­bek, and later as a lec­tu­rer, I have con­ti­nuous­ly deepe­ned and pas­sed on my know­ledge of plants.

Today, I com­bi­ne my pas­si­on for plants with my love of pho­to­gra­phy to offer you a uni­que con­nec­tion to the green world. Whe­ther you want to learn more about caring for your plants, impro­ve your own pho­to­gra­phy skills or sim­ply be inspi­red by the beau­ty of natu­re, you’­ve come to the right place.

The fasci­na­ting world of plants through the lens

With my came­ra, I immer­se mys­elf in the fasci­na­ting world of plants. Every leaf, every flower, every fruit tells a uni­que sto­ry. As a gar­de­ner and pho­to­grapher, I com­bi­ne my know­ledge of plants with my pas­si­on for pho­to­gra­phy to show you the beau­ty of natu­re in all its facets. Whe­ther deli­ca­te petals or impo­sing tree­tops — my pho­to­graphs show the plant world from a com­ple­te­ly new per­spec­ti­ve.

Gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch speaks at the Online Organic Balcony Congress
The logo of gardener and nature photographer Helge Masch from Hamburg.
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Insects support ecological gardening in small spaces (balcony, terrace, windowsill, allotment).

Are you ready for the most beautiful, edible, animal-friendly balcony of your life?

Regis­ter here for the free online con­gress “Lust auf Obst” start­ing Sep­tem­ber 6 with 20 experts: