An Insider’s Guide: How to take amazing cannabis concentrate pictures

My upcoming book Beyond Buds, Next Generation: Marijuana Concentrates and Cannabis Infusions is on its way to the printer now!

It’s one of the most the beautiful books I’ve ever published.

Just check out the cover!

Beyond Buds Next Generation is Coming Soon! Pre-Order Your Copy Today

Inspired by this photo, I asked photographer, Anthony Buchanan to describe his

process for getting this amazing cannabis concentrate picture.

Here’s what he had to say about the challenging aspect of concentrate photography

Concentrates can be difficult to shoot because of the varying stability of the material.

Too stable and that gram will end up shattering all over the floor and table; not stable enough and that beautiful shape you've sculpted will quickly melt into a blob.

This was a constant challenge and could be highly frustrating as everything

connected to the shoot was on my own dime.

I combated the melting and stability in varying ways and in this case, ended up throwing this gram into a freezer purchased specifically for my concentrate photography.

Once the concentrate was hardened, the process was:

• Heat up the extract with my hands

• Shape it

• Briefly cool it again

Then, shoot it as quickly as possible.

Beyond Buds Next Generation cover photo by Anthony Buchanan. Concentrate courtesy of San Diego's local reoccurring cannabis events, Local Sesh.

Here's the camera, lens and equipment I used:

For the majority of my concentrate capturing days, I was equipped with a Sony

a7rii and an off brand lens, the Oshiro 60mm 2:1.

This shot was taken at a 1:1 magnification though.

I highly recommend this lens as an entry professional level macro lens.

A Note on Focus Stacking

One technique performed by photographers, mainly macro photographers, is the practice of focus stacking.

Focus stacking involves taking multiple shots of a subject at different distances in order to combine them to create a larger/deeper area of focus.

When I photo stack, I use Zerene Stacker.

It usually requires a bit of reworking/retouching within Zerene until it's finally imported into Photoshop for the final exposure/color corrections and background replacing/fixing.

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In my new Book “Ask Ed Marijuana Success" I have a chapter called Cultivar Bazaar: High quality strains for hobbyists. . I asked some of my favorite seed breeders to suggest their best cultivar for home growers. The stipulations were that each was easy to grow, adapted easily to different environments, & most importantly, that it had a distinctive personality. The breeders responded with some great suggestions. Each cultivar is handsome, above average and potently effective. A garden featuring these selections will provide you with a library of wonderful sensations to fit time, space and mood. A couple of the strains produce high ratios of CBD. Here is one of my favorite CBD strains - Chocolate Tonic. . “This CBD strain grows like a weed and can handle abuse.” @caperpurple . Chocolate Tonic Parents: Cannatonic x Chocolate Kush Indica/Sativa:  35% - 65% Seed Company: Purple Caper Seeds . This strain originated from a CBD project designed to help patients with a range of conditions: pain management, seizures, and inflammation, & cancer treatment. The breeder crossed a high THC father with a high CBD mother. Both were chosen for their cannabinoid content, vigor, and yield. Chocolate Tonic offers a 2:1 CBD to THC ratio. The typical gardener can expect 14% CBD and 7% THC, as well as small amounts of CBC and CBG. Chocolate Tonic is very versatile & can grow in any environment. Plants can reach heights of 8 feet outdoors. It’s a strong grower that can withstand heat, drought, and even being root-bound. Outdoors, when planted in May & grown in the ground or planted with 6-foot centers, look for a yield of 3 pounds per plant. Ripens in October. Indoors flowering time is 8-10 weeks. Expect 1.5 pounds per light. Pain relief is a key feature of the high. The numbing and relaxing qualities are also sleep inducing after a long day. Chocolate Tonic lives up to its name with a chocolate, piney, citrus flavor. . Check out Chocolate Tonic if you are in the market for a high CBD ratio strain that is easy to handle - @caperpurple did an amazing job breeding this fantastic strain. . #edrosenthals #GROWYOUROWN 💪🏼 #420 #cannabis #cannabiscommunity #cannabisculture

Now you can get an inside look at the new book. It covers tips from my backyard experiments, travels, and access to commercial operations. I was very pleased when a professional grower commented, “Before I read this I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Very helpful.” Amazon has the book in stock. Or order from my site by ‪April 20th‬ and I’ll send you an autographed first edition copy plus a couple of Boveda humidity control packs to keep your stash fresh until the next harvest. Stay well. 🍁📚📸 #GROWYOUROWN  #cannabis  #cannabiscommunity  #cannabisculture  #edrosenthal

Here in the Northern hemisphere we’re enjoying Spring. Each day brings additional hours of light. I want to encourage flowering so the plants need to get 12 hrs. of darkness. A simple frame was built that they can easily draped with plastic. By checking the time of dawn for the upcoming day, I calculate back 12 hours. Based on tomorrow’s dawn time, I’m covering the plants at 6:30pm. Any time after it’s fully dark, around 8pm, cover is removed. I’m looking forward to harvesting them in about 5 weeks, early May. ☀️🍁🙌🏻 #GROWYOUROWN #cannabis #cannabiscommunity #cannabisculture #edrosenthal

Here’s my no-effort garden tucked in with the Swiss Chard crop. Started mid-February from rooted clones, after six weeks these three will be ready to harvest. I expect almost half an ounce. The white plastic reflected light back to the plants and the low maintenance hydro system did all the work. If your weather is now mild, try some auto-flower seeds or clones for a spring harvest. 🌿🌱🍃 #GROWYOUROWN #cannabis #cannabiscommunity #cannabisculture #edrosenthal

Last year around this time I visited my friend @caperpurple He’s is an award winning cannabis breeder in the Bay Area.⁣⁣⁣⁣ He has developed a really cool method to germinate 10 year old seeds. Growing from seeds makes for strong, healthy plants. But it has it’s own challenges and it can be pretty disappointing when some of the favorites don’t take. There are a lot of good method’s out there [incl. the wet paper towel], but I was really impressed when he brought some of my old secret stash seeds back to life. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣Sterile germination is key! He sterilizes the coco and tube with an autoclave. The germination solution needs to be perfectly balanced and PH’d for good development. The air in the room and test tube is consistently filtered and sterilized. Purple Caper also uses a custom spectrum LED T5 Light Blend.⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣Mind-blowingly cool, right?⁣⁣⁣⁣ I have play by play instructions on my website [link in bio] Take a look and give it a shot. If you have questions go ahead and post them here or talk directly to @caperpurple ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣He is a great guy and will help you if he can. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣Photo by Lizzie Cozzi @lizardfritz ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣. . . ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣#purplecaper #GROWYOUROWN #cannabis #cannabiscommunity #cannabisculture #edrosenthal