Hey! Adam from BNE Lens.
This channel is all about photography
and all things Brisbane
and today we're going to combine the two of them
by showing you the top places to check out Jacarandas
in Jacaranda season while they're flowering,
as well as some tips
for how to make the most of the photo opportunities
that come with it.
Not far from Fortitude Valley,
New Farm Park is one of the best known spots for Jacaranda trees.
This spot is particularly good if you want to grab a coffee
or a bite to eat
as there's plenty of good cafes and restaurants
along Brunswick Street
If it's photo opportunities you're after,
you can't go past Bowen Terrace next to the Storey Bridge.
It offers great city views with Jacarandas in the foreground,
and Wilson's Outlook - recently refurbished -
has a couple of young jacarandas
and a sweeping view of the Storey Bridge.
But not all the good spots are in near the city.
One of the best of Brisbane is about a 30-minute drive
from the CBD.
Evan Marginson Park in Goodna is one of my favourites
and the jacaranda-lined street along Brisbane Terrace
is unmissable.
Unfortunately the local council
seem to have gone out of their way
to put as many street signs in as possible
so good photos can be a challenge
but we'll talk about that in a minute.
But first, I can't do a video on jacarandas
without mentioning the University of Queensland.
I think the UQ campus at St Lucia
is the most scenic of the jacaranda hot spots
with a couple of jacaranda- lined lakes
beside the Brisbane River.
They even have a small jacaranda festival of their own.
The next place that's another of my faves
is one that you won't find recommended on other sites
but that's certainly worthy to make the list.
Fairfield Dog Park is a place where you can let your pooch
run free
while you admire the many established jacaranda trees.
Alright, so now you know some great places
to see the jacarandas here in Brisbane.
But let me ask you
have you ever been somewhere so beautiful
you take a bunch of photos
but then when you get back and look at the photos,
they just don't seem to really capture
the same feeling that you had when you were in that spot.
Alright, so I'm gonna give you eight tips
to take some great photos
when you're visiting the jacarandas.
Tip number one
is get down low.
The jacarandas in the trees are beautiful, yeah.
But they also drop onto the ground
and form like a purple carpet
which is quite pretty.
So
why don't you capture that
and make that the feature of some of your photos?
If you get down low
and then you photograph from the ground up
to the trees
so that the flowers on the ground
are in the foreground,
and you're focussed on those.
And you've got the flowers in the trees
in the background.
That'll create depth in your image
and just create a more visually interesting
photo.
So that's the first thing
I would give a go if I was visiting the jacarandas.
Alright. Tip number two
is shoot up.
I'm not saying do drugs!
Don't do drugs kids, it's not cool.
When I say shoot up
what I mean is
stand under the trees and shoot directly up
at the flowers.
What you are doing then is
you're actually removing a lot of the other elements
from the scene around the trees
that could distract you from the subject.
Because after all,
the subject really is those beautiful purple flowers.
So
if you shoot up you can find parts of the tree
where the branches and the leaves and the flowers
create a really nice shape
that can be quite visually beautiful.
So that's the second tip.
Tip number three
actually goes against some of the advice
you've probably read online
about photographing jacarandas.
A lot of the time people will tell you
"shoot with the sun behind you"
so that the sun is
shining directly on the jacarandas.
But I say "No!"
Try different light directions.
Try shooting
against the light. Try shooting into the light.
Is that the same thing?
I'm not really sure.
But yeah,
Shoot towards the light, shoot away from the light.
Because it's actually going to create different looks.
It's going to create different colours.
Because
When the sun is behind the jacarandas
shining through the flowers,
actually it illuminates those petals
and it gives them a really beautiful glow.
That is definitely worth capturing.
If you only shoot with the sun behind you
You are never going to get that look.
It's not as deep a colour,
But it can be equally dramatic
especially if you shoot with a dark background.
If those flowers are lit from behind
and then the background is dark
then they're really going to stand out in your photo.
Tip number four is try to create layers in your photo.
Photos are only two-dimensional
but you want to give the idea of three dimensions.
So try to look for things of different depths.
As we mentioned in the first one, if you're shooting with
the flowers on the ground in the foreground
and the flowers in the trees in the background
that gives that feeling of depth.
The people look at the photo
and it's like their eyes move into the photo.
Well you can do that also with the arrangement of the things
in your scene.
For example if you're taking pictures of multiple jacarandas.
Like I have behind me here.
You can choose one jacaranda that has quite a nice shape
and line yourself up so that
they step backwards
instead of shooting them all straight-on: one, two, three,
you can shoot one close to the camera,
one a bit further back,
and one even further back.
So that when the viewer looks at your photo
they're gonna start with that tree at the front
and then move back into the photo
through the other two trees.
So definitely try creating depth
by the way that you arrange trees in your photos.
Tip number five
Is get close.
Take the details of the flowers.
Because those flowers are quite beautiful
when you look at them up close.
A lot of people stand back and take pictures of the trees
and you see the whole scene
but you actually don't really know
what a jacaranda flower even looks like.
But if you get really close
and photograph a cluster of those flowers
That can be quite beautiful
especially if you use a wide aperture
and focus on one or two particular flowers
so that with that wide aperture
it's going to give you a narrow depth of field.
A shallow depth of field.
So that
a lot of those other ones will be a little bit blurry
and the ones that you focused on will stand out.
And that creates quite a pleasing feel.
A pleasing look.
Also if you're shooting on a mobile phone
the closer you are to your subject,
the shallower your depth of field is going to be.
So if you find some low-hanging flowers,
just pull them close to you
and bring the phone up really close
so that
when you focus on one of the flowers,
the others and the background will be all blurred out
and it'll look really beautiful.
So whether you've got a regular camera
or you've just got a mobile phone
you can take beautiful photos no matter what
of these jacarandas.
Tip number six
is about people in your photos.
You'll probably find if you go so some of the places
that I've mentioned here
particularly the University of Queensland
or maybe if you go to Goodna during the jacaranda festival,
there's gonna be a lot of people around
and they're gonna be in your photos.
So how do you deal with that? Because
you don't really want random people in random places
kinda distracting people
from the jacaranda trees.
Well
sometimes you can't get rid of the people.
Sometimes there's just gonna be people no matter what.
So what do you do in those situations?
I recommend you use them.
You create a composition
where the person
is actually going to be a feature of the photo
with the jacarandas giving the setting.
So what you need to do is work out
OK, where do I want a person to be?
How big do I want them to be in the frame?
And position yourself
and set up the composition
in order to achieve that
and then wait for those people to be in that correct position.
An example of that is this photo here.
At the University of Queensland,
I wanted to take a picture of these jacaranda trees
but there were people walking past and going by all the time.
and I actually thought
maybe this could actually add to the photo
instead of being a problem.
So I set up a composition
and I imagined where I wanted
the cyclist to be.
There were people going by on bikes all the time.
So I knew that if I waited
then somebody would eventually be in that perfect spot.
So I set up my composition,
waited for them to ride by,
and when they hit the spot that I was imagining,
I hit the shutter.
And it created this image.
So here,
really the subject is the cyclist
but the jacarandas give the setting.
So you're not just
taking a picture of the trees.
You're also taking a picture of a scene.
Our second-last tip, number seven
is get creative with some detail shots.
A lot of those jacarandas that have fallen to the ground
are going to be able to be used
to create some interesting compositions
particularly if you get a bit more abstract.
I found a drain cover here in the dog park in Fairfield
and I thought OK,
well this could be used to create some interesting photos
as well. Something a little bit different
from what you normally see with the jacarandas.
So I tried a bunch of different angles.
And you know what?
I could have probably taken photos for an hour or two
just looking at different angles of those flowers
on that rusted plate.
Because the rust creates really interesting texture,
the flowers create that beautiful pop of colour,
and you come up with so many interesting photos
just in that one square metre of area.
So get creative.
Think of different ways that you can use those flowers
to create interesting and pretty photos.
And my final tip, number eight,
is
wait for nice light.
Because most people are out having a look at the jacarandas
in the middle of the day.
The light is really harsh
it's very direct
a lot of the time it's shooting straight down
so it's not creating nice shadows.
So if you shoot earlier in the day or later in the day
then you're going to get some more interesting light
which is going to create areas of shadow and light
that can really make your images have more mood and more feeling.
Look at this one here.
This jacaranda tree was lit by the sunlight just before
the sun set.
and the other trees were already in shadow
So that one Jacaranda tree stands out more
and it becomes a feature.
Even though it's quite small in the frame,
our eyes go straight to it
because the light is making it glow
and giving it a really nice quiet and peaceful feel
to the whole scene.
So there you have eight tips for photographing the jacarandas.
Now be sure to subscribe to this channel if you're not already
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we're gonna be seeing a lot
we're gonna be learning a lot about photography
so
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if there's anything that you'd like to see in this channel,
then let me know in the comments
and I'll be sure to follow it up.
Anyway, thanks again for watching
and I'll see you in the next video!