Day 1

Smartphone Photography for Garden Lovers: Introductory 101

The essential skills for better smartphone pictures of plants and gardens

14 June, 2025, 9.30am to 12.30pm

Venue: Function Room, Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens 1 Old South Road BOWRAL.
Tickets: $85 per person

A three hour hands on workshop learning the ins and outs of smart phone photography in the garden and general landscape. Morning tea included.

Today’s modern smartphones produce remarkable pictures. But there are a host of features and techniques that most people don’t know about. This Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens smartphone photography course, presented by professional photographer John Swainston, will:

• Show you the 10 essential features in your phone for better pictures
• Demonstrate the options in your phone you may not even know about!
• Help you use the different lens options for better story-telling, avoiding common mistakes
• Equip you to visually document your garden milestones and development over time
• Help you create wall-art quality pictures of your favourite flowers and garden views
• Teach you when and where to get great shots, even when the sun isn’t shining

A modern smartphone can cost up to $2,050. This SHBG course will ensure you get the most from that investment. While the demonstrations are given on an iPhone 13 Pro, parallel techniques for Samsung or other Android system users will also be covered. Custom-designed for flower and garden lovers, the workshop is limited to just 18 attendees.

After the morning tea, you’ll have the opportunity to practice your new skills in the garden, with practical help and tips. To close off the morning, it’s back to the SHBG Function Room to collect the course handout and a further chance to discuss the pictures you made.

Day 2

Advanced Smartphone & Digital Photography for Garden Lovers

Advanced skills for better smartphone and digital camera pictures of plants and gardens
(You will either have attended the Introductory SHBG course or you will already be a confident user of either digital cameras or core smartphone features)

15 June, 2025, 9.30am to 1pm

Venue: Function Room, Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens 1 Old South Road BOWRAL.
Tickets: $95 per person

A 3.5-hour hands-on workshop, for advanced smartphone photography/videography and digital cameras, in your garden, featuring lighting, composition & edit options. Morning tea included.

Smartphones are often used for advanced image making and cinematic video. Getting beyond simple snapshots and creating strong story lines will be the core learning process. This Advanced photography course, presented by professional photographer John Swainston, will:

• Explain more advanced photo/video features of today’s smartphones and when to use them
• Use modern mirrorless cameras for the capabilities not available to smartphone users
• Provide practical macro sessions for both smartphone and camera users
• Walk you through core editing and enhancement options of some leading software
• Develop skills in evaluating scenes for more satisfying landscape photo work
• Show you how to condense and edit down your work for superior photo book production

At the start, you’ll be handed a handout workbook. The first part of the day will introduce the advanced features of smartphones and the latest digital cameras for flower and garden lovers. It’ll show you some vital accessories for superior results beyond ‘point and shoot.’ After shared learning through morning tea, we’ll go outside with tripods for both cameras and phones, as well as adding supplementary common household reflectors, masks and lighting options, to create simple set-ups that transform outcomes. To close off the morning, we’ll show editing processes to condense work suitable for photobooks, as well as some of the evolving software to help maximise your results. And you’ll get a further chance to discuss the pictures you made.