How to Take More Artful Garden Photos

For example, have you ever thought of holding your camera down so low that you can't even look through the viewfinder? Photographer Matthew Benson, a frequent This Old House contributor and the author of the new book The Photographic Garden (Rodale), sometimes does just that. A particularly striking example of the result is his portrait of a lotus (shown), which was taken by holding the camera at water level, capturing the underside of the leaves backlit against the sky. A delicate white blossom tinged with purple rises above olive-green leaves that look almost muscular, their veins bulging.