In october i will go to ecuador for six months.i will be in a cloud forest for the first four months.
a large part of the time i will do landscape photography, and also a documentry about reaserch done in the forest. just to make things clear- I have plenty of experiance as a professional photographer, but i have never been to a cloud forest or any other invironment simillar. so i'm doing the best i can to preper myself. after reading many older posts on this site and many other sites, I still have a few questions left. or to be more accurate, there are still things that puzzle me. i have been using VELVIA for many years, and it had become my main tool. when ever i need a faster film, i turn to negatives such as fuji PRESS. i plan to stick to those two when in the jungle, with my main subjects are the forest and the reasechers doing their work. i would like to get responses of people who gatherd a lot of experiance with velvia, and found themselves using it in an invironment such as a jungle. i would like to know what to expact in terms of colour and contrast behaviour. i would like to hear what you have to say about your experiance, what went right and what went wrong. what problems arose, and how did you fix them, or what would you have done to fix them, now that you're wiser. any other words of wisdom are of course most welcomed. the gear i plan to bring along includes: two EOS3, 24/2.8, 50/1.4, 100/2.8 macro, and perhaps 70-200/4. also a 550ex flash and a tripod. filters includ 81a, polerizer and graduated ND. now that i mentioned filters, did you use any, in what conditions or why did you use them?
again, i would like to hear from people with EXPERIANCE in pkotography in the jungle.
thank you for beenig patient, i know this was a long post...
Matan
Posted by Kent Staubus on August 6, 2007 at 11:09 AM
I've been out several times to the jungle sides of the Hawaiin Islands, and just got back from Kauai. Biggest thing is to keep the camera gear dry, inside and out. Bring some dessicant such as Damp Rid (from Walmart). It comes in little plastic containers. Put your flash unit and maybe your camera in a sealed plastic bag at night with the Damp Rid to pull out moisture. I would also consider putting exposed film into a ziploc type bag with a small cannister ofr Damp Rid. Carefully wipe down any lenses if they get wet to prevent mold. Might carry a micro fiber cloth with you for that, and maybe you can dry it out at night with a small travel sized hair dryer in your room? You will need to keep your flash working because it is dark in the jungle. It will also likely be the hardest thing to keep dry because of all the little openings. The Damp Rid can be dried out by putting it into an oven on low heat for awhile. Damp Rid is usually found in the "household chemical" aisle on the grocery side of the Walmarts.
Kent in SD
Posted by Rajesh Mohan on August 6, 2007 at 3:17 PM
Hi Matan,
I have photographed in the cloud forests in India (for about 10+ years). You will find a green tint when you use velvia-50 in natural light. You will notice it when you shoot whites. But velvia 50 with flash for macro produced great colors. For shooting in natural light I used to prefer Kodak 100VS and Fuji NPZ 800. Both the EOS-3s will be your primary cameras - one w/ fast film and the other with slow film.
The leaves in cloud forest are highly reflective. For shooting tiny brooks or jungle in general, a polarizer and warming filters are helpful. Didn't use ND - barely see the sun.
Shooting in cloud forest is always a challenge. I have found it extremely difficult to capture what I see. What you see is NOT what you get. Jungle shots in general comes out flat and drab. So look for foggy conditions, and silhoutte a nice tree or shoot a waterfalls in those conditions.
Your equipment is quite good. You will wish you had a 300/f4 or a 400/5.6 lens. So perhaps a 1.4x might not hurt to use with 70-200. You might like a 250D for your macro -you will find several tiny critters and 1:1 will fall short. Of course, an off-shoe camera cord is a must have. Whether you use a bracket or a 'snake-stance-kung-fu' posture to hold flash with your palm and shoot with other hand, is your convenience. I have found limited use for reflectors but a tiny foldable one might come in use.
I recommend that you do a bit of reading at Nick Nichols - NG photographer's web-site. He has some really useful articles on protecting equipment. Please store the equipment chargers etc in large ziploc bags and double them. Ants love to chew on wires. I once found a tiny ant inside the LCD panel in my EOS-3. And as mysteriously, it vanished the next day. While walking in the jungles, an umbrella is useful. You will hear the rain over canopies as though you have a huge umbrella. Not for long, a huge drop of water will drench you good. I put a terry towel on top of equipment when I walk and shoot. At least the water - from wherever - does not splash on the equipment. Also you will find that your viewfinder gets fogged frequently. Not much you can do....just wipe it with a thumb and keep shooting. Keep shooting and keep shooting, you will never know what you will find.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Good luck.....
Discussion
3 repliesIn october i will go to ecuador for six months.i will be in a cloud forest for the first four months.
a large part of the time i will do landscape photography, and also a documentry about reaserch done in the forest. just to make things clear- I have plenty of experiance as a professional photographer, but i have never been to a cloud forest or any other invironment simillar. so i'm doing the best i can to preper myself. after reading many older posts on this site and many other sites, I still have a few questions left. or to be more accurate, there are still things that puzzle me. i have been using VELVIA for many years, and it had become my main tool. when ever i need a faster film, i turn to negatives such as fuji PRESS. i plan to stick to those two when in the jungle, with my main subjects are the forest and the reasechers doing their work. i would like to get responses of people who gatherd a lot of experiance with velvia, and found themselves using it in an invironment such as a jungle. i would like to know what to expact in terms of colour and contrast behaviour. i would like to hear what you have to say about your experiance, what went right and what went wrong. what problems arose, and how did you fix them, or what would you have done to fix them, now that you're wiser. any other words of wisdom are of course most welcomed. the gear i plan to bring along includes: two EOS3, 24/2.8, 50/1.4, 100/2.8 macro, and perhaps 70-200/4. also a 550ex flash and a tripod. filters includ 81a, polerizer and graduated ND. now that i mentioned filters, did you use any, in what conditions or why did you use them?
again, i would like to hear from people with EXPERIANCE in pkotography in the jungle.
thank you for beenig patient, i know this was a long post...
Matan
Kent in SD
I have photographed in the cloud forests in India (for about 10+ years). You will find a green tint when you use velvia-50 in natural light. You will notice it when you shoot whites. But velvia 50 with flash for macro produced great colors. For shooting in natural light I used to prefer Kodak 100VS and Fuji NPZ 800. Both the EOS-3s will be your primary cameras - one w/ fast film and the other with slow film.
The leaves in cloud forest are highly reflective. For shooting tiny brooks or jungle in general, a polarizer and warming filters are helpful. Didn't use ND - barely see the sun.
Shooting in cloud forest is always a challenge. I have found it extremely difficult to capture what I see. What you see is NOT what you get. Jungle shots in general comes out flat and drab. So look for foggy conditions, and silhoutte a nice tree or shoot a waterfalls in those conditions.
Your equipment is quite good. You will wish you had a 300/f4 or a 400/5.6 lens. So perhaps a 1.4x might not hurt to use with 70-200. You might like a 250D for your macro -you will find several tiny critters and 1:1 will fall short. Of course, an off-shoe camera cord is a must have. Whether you use a bracket or a 'snake-stance-kung-fu' posture to hold flash with your palm and shoot with other hand, is your convenience. I have found limited use for reflectors but a tiny foldable one might come in use.
I recommend that you do a bit of reading at Nick Nichols - NG photographer's web-site. He has some really useful articles on protecting equipment. Please store the equipment chargers etc in large ziploc bags and double them. Ants love to chew on wires. I once found a tiny ant inside the LCD panel in my EOS-3. And as mysteriously, it vanished the next day. While walking in the jungles, an umbrella is useful. You will hear the rain over canopies as though you have a huge umbrella. Not for long, a huge drop of water will drench you good. I put a terry towel on top of equipment when I walk and shoot. At least the water - from wherever - does not splash on the equipment. Also you will find that your viewfinder gets fogged frequently. Not much you can do....just wipe it with a thumb and keep shooting. Keep shooting and keep shooting, you will never know what you will find.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Good luck.....
Cheers
Rajesh
matan