GOLDEN STATE BONSAI FEDERATION GARDEN

GSBF maintains a bonsai garden in the park beside Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. There are many masterpiece quality bonsai on display there, under the care and direction of Kathy Shaner.
I've been asked by Gordon Deeg, the director of the garden, to photograph all the bonsai so they can create a computer file of the trees.
I live about 20 miles from the park on the west side of the San Francisco Bay. I went to the garden this past Friday, camera in hand, to get a grasp on what my job will be.
I'll post an image now and then as the project moves along to give the world's bonsai enthusiasts a view of what GSBF is doing in Northern California.
Today's first image is a massive California Juniper.
The link is to the garden website.
http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/lake-merritt/

This image is of a large Japanese Black Pine.

excellent pics mike !
do you think a backdrop would help to see the branch structure more clearly etc. ?

art_rod wrote:excellent pics mike !
do you think a backdrop would help to see the branch structure more clearly etc. ?

I have three velour cloth photo backdrops that I'll take there next week for Gordon to check out. One is black, one is sky blue and one is sort of a reddish tan. Each one is about 6x6 feet. I have a 7 foot pvc pipe to put through the top of the cloth for a helper or 2 to hold behind the tree.
I want the photos to be good for both computer file and publication quality. My camera is 12.3 megapixel and gives a very good high resolution image.

Mike, any clear background will be good to see the trees. Good luck with the choices.