This new approach to cannabis photography was created by the San Diego based company Nugshots. Applying traditional still-life photography techniques, the company began by photographing buds of marijuana for local dispensaries. The images are created using a computer-controlled motor, rotating the marijuana buds only a few degrees at a time. The resulting 50 photographs were then color-corrected and uploaded onto a custom-built player that allows the viewer to rotate the images by dragging their cursor.
Each crop of plants produces unique buds, which requires the dispensaries to commission new photography for each shipment that comes in.
Nugshots has turned its attention toward more stable forms of marijuana-related income. They recently released T-shirts with their macro images printed on them. Soon they will be releasing a book of marijuana photography entitled Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana, featuring hi-resolution macro photography of over 170 different strains.