Are floral and botanical photography the same thing? In order to answer this question we first need to explore the terms ‘botanical art’ and ‘botanical illustration’. The latter refers to detailed and scientifically accurate depictions of plants which highlight each life stage.
Botanical Illustrations
The original purpose of botanical illustrations was to enable botanists to accurately identify plant specimens. Even with the advent of photography, botanical illustrations continued to be a common method of recording plants as they are able to emphasise key details in a way that is hard to reproduce with photography. For instance, it is challenging to capture every life stage of a plant in one image and to isolate the plant from its surroundings.
Botanical Art
Botanical art is a broader category which still values scientific accuracy but also places more emphasis on aesthetics. The subject is usually placed on a plain background as is the case with botanical illustrations. However, in contrast to botanical illustrations, botanical art will generally focus on specific aspects of the plant rather than trying to capture every life stage.
Botanical Photography
Botanical photography could be considered a form of botanical art that aims to accurately portray an aspect of a plant using photographic techniques. As with botanical art, the subjects will often be captured on a plain background. Much of my work would fall under the category of botanical photography. For example, the piece ‘Field Poppy’ shown below depicts specific aspects of the field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) and its life cycle.
Floral Art and Plant Portraits
By using the term ‘botanical’ in the previous categories, we imply a scientific as well as aesthetic purpose. Art and photography which feature plants and flowers but do not have a scientific purpose could be described as ‘Floral Art’ or ‘Plant Portraits’. Examples of such work would be still life pieces featuring flower arrangements in a vase or impressionist work. My piece ‘Still Life with Irises’ would fall into this category as a still life arrangement featuring irises arranged in a ceramic jug.
Final Thoughts
In reality all the terms mentioned are often used interchangeably and I often describe my work as botanical art even though not all of it strictly fits into this category. There are no hard and fast rules, it’s about finding a term which the artist or photographer themself is comfortable with.