Harry Kosterman wanted to provide the right photos of his seasonal product. He received help from Ben van den Ende (Checking and Support services) and Simon Vlieger (auctioneer) of Royal FlroaHolland. Find out how Harry went about this.
Harry Kosterman from Maarssen cultivates Amarcrinum Howardii. The pink, trumpet-shaped Amarcrimum Howardii flower is a cross between Amaryllis Belladonna and Crinum Moreï.
New photo guidelines
"Our product is in the greenhouse all year round, and we harvest from August to November. When I started auctioning again on 9 August, I immediately received an email from auctioneer Simon Vlieger, explaining there were new guidelines. Once I had these guidelines, I set to work with them straightaway."
Simply with your smartphone
"I took the new photos myself using my smartphone; it was actually really easy. You can't, of course, use a Nokia 3210," he laughed. "This is the iPhone 8, which takes extremely sharp photos.
My sister-in-law helped me with the inset of the flower. She has a single-lens reflex camera and it came out well with a white background, and the right lighting. How much time did I spend on it? I'd say around three hours, including the time my sister-in-law helped me. You can set up a professional photo studio, but you don't really need to."
Useful tips
"If I don't know about something, I ask Ben van den Ende. I'm in contact with him by phone and through WhatsApp. The old photo was on the right, above, but Royal FloraHolland no longer wants that. Flowers in a box must now be at an angle in the photo. For instance, Ben gave me the tip of laying the flowers differently in the box. The way I did it, they looked like rhubarb stalks. It's funny how I didn't think of that myself. So I changed that and now it looks great.
Flowers in box or bucket
"I think the guidelines are really clear. They also include a lot about what you should do if you're auctioning a box or bucket. I myself have two selections in boxes, with thirty or forty branches in these. That's to do with the length of the branches: ones of seventy or sixty. And sometimes I also have flowers in packaging, in the 996, and I've also taken a photo of these. I entered the photos in the picture bank myself. And since then, they appear on the screen, on the clock."
Success ensured
"I understand from Ben that you receive support from Royal FloraHolland in several ways. For instance for that inset at the bottom right of the product photo. I think that many market gardeners need help with this. We understand flowers, then each to his own. But with a little guidance from Royal FloraHolland, anyone can do it."
Source: Royal FloraHolland