Photography and Contemporary Botanical Illustration

Summary New applications for photography in the scientific illustration of plants are offered by digital image manipulation, but have, to date, been little exploited. The evolving role of photography in botanical illustration is discussed, with particular emphasis on recently developed techniques of digitally created composite illustrations, their benefits and the potential of such images for further development. The technique is seen as a natural development of the composite watercolour or line illustrations that are familiar to all botanists.