Hi, I was hoping to reap some great tips from the others that frequent this forum.
Please share !!

Thank you,
Teresa in KY

IMO. a good tip for this largely depends on what camera (type) you are using and what you consider up close. Perhaps if you showed us some of your "attempts" we could offer suggestions on improvement. Gene

I believe the video at the link below will answer a lot of your questions...

Relax, It's Only Garden Photography from B&H Photo
https://youtu.be/ku99q4hqcDA

@bluegrassmom I would advise to shoot in early morning or late evening to get some nice light also overcast days make for nice even lighting most of the time.
Either use a tripod, monopod, brace against your own body or some sturdy fixture to avoid blurry images.
Shoot at a low f stop to get a nice blurred background and bokeh.
Compose your image well and look at shadows and lighting.
I hope you can get something useful out of these small suggestions.

Here's examples of some images from my garden

a rose right after a rain shower


hostas in early morning light


jasmine in evening light

Thank you, my daughter got me a tripod for my bday. Next daylily season I plan on using it for sure. The older I get, I seem to shake/blur more. I sell daylilies and I know great pics can sure help people want to buy one

My Sony takes excellent macro shots, but for general garden and flower close ups if you're taking photos from say 1-2 feet away I'd say stand still (most cameras have some kind of anti-shake feature) and get yourself more on a level with the plants. Don't stand up tall and point your camera down, hunch down or use your camera's tilt screen if it has one. Also let the lens focus properly, it can make all the difference if you wait until the focus is set on the plant rather than quickly pressing the shutter. This also helps avoid having the subject blurred and the camera focusing on the soil :)

Thank you, Sue. Do you use the Fstop features? I like how the background is blurred out.
Anyone use the online photography classes?

Hi bluegrassmom-

I am a novice photographer, working hard to "up my game". The blurred background is obtained by several things, mainly using a lower numbered f-stop (which means a larger aperture or hole). But It ALSO requires a better camera with a larger sensor (bigger, heavier and more expensive). The tiniest sensors are in our cell phone cameras, you will notice that in them if you take a picture of that rose in your garden, you will also have the mailbox down the street in focus too! Sometimes this is desirable, but for an individual flower not so much. Generally, as cameras get bigger and more expensive they have bigger sensors, so you have the option of blurring the background out if you want to. For this you either go into manual mode and do all the settings yourself like an old fashioned camera, or you can put it in the semi-automatic "Aperture priority" mode and set the aperture (f-stop), letting the camera do the rest.

I took an evening class from a Nikon rep here in Seattle, about my particular new camera. I asked her if there were any good online classes or photography teachers around here. She thought a minute then recommended John Greengo, who has online classes at CreativeLive. I bought a course and have been working my way through it, I think he is an excellent teacher and it is reasonably priced. This is really technical stuff, and the video format (you watch it on your computer while online) is just great, you can pause and go back over any difficult concept until you get it.
I am also right now taking a class at my local Community College. The instructor gave me some great advice- go to flickr.com and get your free account. You can look at photos people have uploaded there. You can even search out photos taken by a particular camera (like yours) to see what can be done with it. Wait, that's not all! Many people have allowed the site to show what settings their camera was on for that photo, with what lens they had, the f-stop and ISO and shutterspeed. This is incredibly helpful to see how much was in focus and how blurred the background. Some of the photographers are pros so this is a great learning experience.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, Mary! I am so glad you recommended Creative Live. I just bought a basic class Now finding the time to go thru it.