Fill-flash in a rain forest?

[walter23]

In a similar situation I did a double exposure that worked nicely. The sun was going in and out of heavy clouds. The sunlit grove was too harsh and the cloudy-lit one was too flat so I double exposed and used half and half.

Now there's a genius idea I'm going to have to remember. Figuring out how to shoot in the rainforest is on my to-do list

[john borrelli]

I like your image the way it is as well.

You have already received some excellent responses.

Velvia is a tricky film and outdoors with a range of 6 stops you are going to get dark shadows. A black and white film (without a contrast filter) really can shine here.

I don't know enough about fill flash from a single or multiple source. However, I do know that years ago, I made an image but thought something was off. I was able to return to the same spot take the same exact image without the "problem", everything was otherwise remarkably similar between the images and I found I did not like the corrected image as much as the original. Go figure?

One thing about your image that I find unusual is the color palate. I have used Velvia myself and the orange-red tint I am seeing here is unusual to me.

They are doing all kinds of wild things with exposures digitally these days, basically you try to photograph the same scene numerous times with a range of exposures and then combine all the images later in photoshop, the merge to HDR command is one example of this. For this image, you could take one exposure at 7EV, another at 9EV, another at 11EV, another at 13EV then merge them into one image. I have never tried these techniques but others have with success.

Another digital solution is to have the image scanned with a top of the line scanner.

A top of the line scanner may be able to dig out some detail from the tree trunk shadows. Once you have some real detail to work with, rather than just inky black shadow, you might be able to tweak some of that new shadow detail in photoshop. To test this, you should put the slide on a lightbox and use a loupe over the shadow areas, if you only see ink black Velvia shadow a better scan won't help, but you may see for example, that one half of the area in the foreground trunk that appears black does have some real image there that your scanner could not pick out and then a high-end scan might help.

Another approach would be to try the image with different enlargement sizes, sometimes a smaller sized enlargement works well with dark shadows in color images.

Nice image under difficult conditions.

[C. D. Keth]

Thanks for all the splendid ideas! And I hope more are on the way…

Next time I’m in a sunny rain forest, I’ll have additional techniques in mind, including double exposures, pre-exposures, a touch of wireless flash, and different films – such as those you’ve mentioned: 400PortaNC, or E100G, and even B+W film in two-bath developments.

Strange, but after reading your responses, and especially Ash’s response, I’ve become a little more satisfied with how Velvia-50 blackened the left-side trunk after all – it certainly dramatizes the center trunk’s sunny green moss.

Also remember that even though we call it pre-exposure, you can do it after exposure, too. The film doesn't care so you don't need to plan for it and have a flashed sheet ready or anything.

[tgtaylor]

In a similar situation I did a double exposure that worked nicely. The sun was going in and out of heavy clouds. The sunlit grove was too harsh and the cloudy-lit one was too flat so I double exposed and used half and half.

That's an excellent idea Chris! Could you elaborate on the details? Specificially how did you meter and expose for both exposures?

Thanks,

Thomas

[C. D. Keth]

That's an excellent idea Chris! Could you elaborate on the details? Specificially how did you meter and expose for both exposures?

Thanks,

Thomas

It was simple as can be, really. I decided how I would expose in each situation and then underexposed each one by a stop to reach a proper exposure when both were combined. I heavily weighted the sticks and locked everything down extra tight to make sure I could touch the camera a bit between exposures and not move anything.

[tgtaylor]

It was simple as can be, really. I decided how I would expose in each situation and then underexposed each one by a stop to reach a proper exposure when both were combined. I heavily weighted the sticks and locked everything down extra tight to make sure I could touch the camera a bit between exposures and not move anything.

Thanks for the confirmation Chris!

I thought it over for a couple of days (which is what one should do to learn something new) and arrived at the same conclusion. This is a great technoque to use in a changing light situation.

Thomas

[C. D. Keth]

Thanks for the confirmation Chris!

I thought it over for a couple of days (which is what one should do to learn something new) and arrived at the same conclusion. This is a great technoque to use in a changing light situation.

Thomas

Yeah, it creates a nice middle ground when the sunny conditions are too contrasty and the cloudy conditions are too flat.

[Steve Wadlington]

Fred picker talked about this years ago also, it does give the feeling of glowing highlights and full detail in the forrest. I have had difficulty pulling it off without bluring though.

[C. D. Keth]

Fred picker talked about this years ago also, it does give the feeling of glowing highlights and full detail in the forrest. I have had difficulty pulling it off without bluring though.

Yeah, a very gentle hand is needed to recock the shutter and change shutter speed. You just need to lock everything down extra tight.