Ten ideas for photographing nature in our backyard.

Are you also fascinated by nature? In reality, even those who specialize in other kinds of photography cannot resist the charm of a flower or a branch full of colorful leaves in autumn. One of the best things about nature is that it is easily accessible. You don't have to go too far to find it, it is everywhere around us and we see it every day, for example in our backyards, where every hour of every day and every season brings something new.

Obviously, the term "courtyard" should not be taken literally. If you don't have a backyard, you'll find plenty of nature to photograph just wandering the streets or in public parks and gardens.

Flowers and leaves

Flowers and leaves are often the first things that come to mind when looking for subjects in our backyards. They offer an infinite variety of colors, shapes and textures to photograph. You might create a collection based on a single color scheme, or try to find as many different shapes of leaves or flowers as possible.

You should also experiment with different lights and conditions. Personally, I love backlighting for leaves and flowers, because it creates a luminous, almost three-dimensional effect, and you can see details like veins. Some shapes look best in strong, directional light, and I like how the colors are brought out by the water droplets.

Flowers are seasonal, and in temperate zones, spring and summer offer the greatest variety. There are still flowers to be found in winter, even if you need to search better. Don't forget that weeds, like dandelions, are beautiful too! While, on the other hand, autumn offers the greatest spectrum of colors in the leaves.

Fruits, berries and seed pods

When the summer flowers are gone, the fruits and berries are nature's way of providing for birds and animals during the colder months. Many berries and seed pods ripen in late autumn, bringing color to the conservatory. Citrus trees bear fruit in winter, and persimmon trees shed their leaves to reveal branches of bright orange fruit. Also think of acorns, pine cones and walnuts.

After the rain

Raindrops are mesmerizing through the lens. Try photographing them from various angles and in different lights. When photographing a single droplet or a series of droplets, isolate them while keeping the background uncluttered. You can do this by creating a distance between the drops and the background, and using a wide aperture to make sure the background is out of focus. Also notice how the water settles in nice round drops on some types of leaves, while on others it disperses.

Mushrooms, lichens and toads

They are abundant in autumn and winter, but some species appear year-round after rain. Look for them in damp, mossy locations, on the sides of trees, and in log piles.

My favorites are red toads with white spots. They are evocative of fairy tales and magic, and their colors are a nature photographer's dream! But don't ignore the tiny mushrooms and dull mushrooms.

Look up and look down

There was a gigantic tree in the municipal wood in the town where I have lived for most of my life. I think it was planted when the palace to which the forest belonged was built in the 18th century. His hair is very big, huge. One of my favorite things to do in the warmer months was roll out a picnic rug and lay on my back looking out at the tree branches. Watching the leaves go from the bright green of spring to the darkest green of summer, the first flush of color in fall, to a rich claret just before falling has never ceased to excite me. I have photographed it countless times throughout the seasons. Even standing on the ground with my 50mm lens, I had an old Zenith E at the time, all manual.

If you're lucky enough to have trees in your backyard or in a park near where you live, try standing or lying down directly under lotus and snapping straight up the branches. Notice how the light changes from early morning throughout the day to late afternoon and evening. The branches, whether bare or covered in leaves, contrast beautifully against the blue sky. They are also wonderful at dawn and dusk and on moonlit nights.

If you don't have trees, look for interesting cloud formations to photograph. You can create a collection of skies to use as overlays in Photoshop, which can add interest to other outdoor photos such as portraits. Look for vertical cloud formations, big fluffy white clouds, and those nice soft colors around the edge of the clouds at sunset and sunrise.

You can also turn your attention downward. On the ground there are a million microcosms among moss, grass, paving stones, bark and fallen leaves. You won't see them until you go down to ground level, then lie on your stomach and peer into another world.

Black and white beauty

We tend to think of color photography when we think of nature, but don't discount the idea of black and white images. Nature offers sculptural forms and contrasting textures that are great subjects in black and white. If you have succulents or cacti in your garden, they're often more interesting in black and white than in color (except on those rare occasions when they flower). Ditto for the white flowers on a dark background. Smooth pebbles, rough bark, snail shells, acorns and pine cones all look fabulous in black and white. Try strong, directional lighting and high-contrast editing.

Experiment with sun glare and haze

Your backyard is one of the best places to experiment with effects and new techniques. First, one can become familiar with how things look at various times of day and throughout the seasons. Second, you don't need to travel far, so you can pick anything up on a whim. If you see something amazing while you're sipping your morning coffee, you don't even need to get out of your pajamas to capture it!

Snails, bugs and spiders

For nine months of the year, there are a million creepy bugs in our backyards. This includes butterflies, cicadas, crickets, praying mantises, caterpillars, moths, bees, wasps and spiders (I could happily do without the last two). The photo below is a mantis, I took it in September 2019. It was a guest on my balcony for about ten days (it goes without saying that I took dozens and dozens of photos of Madame la Mante). There are many beliefs and superstitions about the mantis. Many cultures claim that its presence is a harbinger of death and misfortune. Christians believe it symbolizes spirituality and piety. Muslims believe that it always faces Mecca and Moroccans that it points north with its claws to those who are lost. I've never been superstitious, but shortly after seeing and photographing it, the pandemic and Covid broke out... is it just a coincidence?

Birds and other wildlife

Photographing wildlife of any kind requires more patience and a longer telephoto lens than I own. Confession number two: I have the greatest admiration for nature photography. I follow my friends Fernando Alfieri and Luca Bracali passionately only for their photos of birds and animals and I also follow other photographers, one of whom only photographs dolphins.

The types of animals and birds you are likely to find in your garden obviously depend on where in the world you live and how built up your neighborhood is. You will surely know what kinds of creatures visit your yard and what their habits are. With that in mind, find a place where you won't be too flashy, and be prepared to wait. If you're using a long lens, you might consider working with a tripod or monopod to avoid camera shake. Keep your ISO and aperture ready to use, as well as a fast shutter speed to freeze motion. If you've been observing an animal's behavior for several days or weeks, it may be possible to roughly focus on the area where you expect it to appear (for example, the birdbath).

Portraits in nature

Nature provides us with the perfect canvas for portraiture. Look for a stand of flowers, a bed of autumn leaves or just a green hedge. Colors in nature never seem out of tune.

When photographing children and pets in particular, I almost always prefer an outdoor location rather than an enclosed environment.

I love how the muted shades flatter my skin tone. If you're shooting outdoors with a lot of color, like flowers or autumn leaves, pay attention to your subject's clothing. These portraits may look too busy if the subject is wearing a patterned dress.