23 sep 2006 kl. 21.39 skrev Emily L. Ferguson:
OK. So last week I went out to the other side of my state to a
dance, and along the way stopped for an hour in a reserve around a
big reservoir. It's getting on to fall here in MA, and the central
new england countryside is characteristically rolling hills with
oak, birch, maple, long-needle pine and beech trees. If the woods
hasn't been messed with for quite a long time, like 60 years or so,
the trees are tall, close together and the floor of the woods is
full of granite rocks, pine needles, last year's leaves, ferns,
asters, and other low plants that don't want a lot of sunshine.
So we have the classic deep woods with a huge range of brightness
where the sun sneaks through the tree cover.
What tricks do you use to deal with that ecosystem? Flash?
Multiple exposures at different apertures and superimpose the
results? Dodge and burn in PS? Do you use the curves adjustment
to balance the brights and darks? Accentuate the contrast and
ignore the original situation, which is basically even light with
bright spots?
Ideas?
Water-bath development? ;-)
Seriously, there are several digital approaches to this problem. The
Luminous Landscape website has several good tutorials on how to do
it; here are a few links:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/hdr.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital_split.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/blended_exposures.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/contrast_masking.shtml
Personally, I seldom use these methods, since I feel the results look
rather unnatural (I didn´t like gradual ND´s, fill flash, or N-3
development either...). Mostly, I prefer to keep the highlights and
sacrifice the shadows if necessary, but that´s just me and my way of
seeing things. The methods are there for those who prefer to get
the full range in their images, Ansel Adams style.
Wish I had had access to these methods on my only visit to the
Olympic Peninsula some 15 years ago; had 2 days for shooting the
rainforests up the Hoh and Queets valleys. Had anticipated rain and
mist (only brought Velvia, stupid me...), instead I had 2 days of sun
and clear blue sky! Everybody I met congratulated me on my
incredible luck with the weather; I ground my teeth....
And on top of that, after getting back to Stockholm, my lab put these
films in the wrong batch - and push-processed them all!
So no, I have no pictures from the Olympic....
Per Öfverbeck
http://ofverbeck.se
"In a world without walls or fences, who needs Windows or Gates?"
