Dana in Geeksville

Have Gadgets, Will Travel

It's only Monday, yet I am scheming and looking forward to the upcoming long weekend. I have reservations in Fortuna, CA, a town just above the Avenue of the Giants, a forest I've been wanting to explore for years. I love forests, and this old growth one is extra special as it has some of the tallest, widest,  and oldest Redwoods in California. Some of these trees are thousands of years old! But photographing the forest has special challenges. 

I've taken hundreds of pictures in Big Basin, a wonderful redwood forest about an hour away from me, in the Santa Cruz mountains. For awhile I was hiking there about once a month over the course of the year. I learned to the best times to hike and take pictures there, but always there is the challenge of lighting. The forest to the naked eye is a wonder to behold . . .  Lush greens everywhere, broken only by the towering brown barks of trees, or burned out stumps, and the curving lines of the trail itself. Our eyes see the many details of the different shapes of leaves or pine needles, the arrangement of the forest all around, and the incredible depth of greenery. 

Unfortunately, the camera doesn't shoot in 3D, doesn't bring out the depth of field the way the eye does, and the light spilling in from overhead, dappling the well-shaded forest is a blinding contrast in the photo. To prevent the high contrast and avoid blown out spots in the photo, and squeeze out as much depth as possible, it's better to shoot in even shade, where spikes of sun are not piercing the image. In order to shoot in low light, however, you need long exposure times, and a few gadgets to do the job right.

I have my gadgets about ready to go. As much as I hate having to lug around a tripod and set the darn thing up, continually adjusting it from one spot to the next, it is indispensable in long exposure shooting. Also, one must have the right lenses. For the forest, many types of lenses may be needed, so my back pack will have the following:

• Tamron 17-200mm zoom -- I have found this to be a great lens in the forest. But in the shady, low light conditions, the tripod is often a must. I like this lens a lot for closeups of banana slugs and fungis, like mushrooms, and sometimes it's neat for shooting tree tops if the background is blue or has dramatic clouds.
• Nikon 17-70mm -- I avoided using this lens for a long time. It seemed so ordinary, but I have found it to be a wonderful lens for many situations, and the forest is one of them. This lens is great for shooting trails, fallen logs, interesting scenery, and hikers.
• Sigma 10-20mm -- This is one of my favorite lenses, but it calls for specially situations and sceneries. The depth of field this lens gets is wonderful, and the special viewpoint is really awesome. It's actually my favorite beach shooting lens, and that is where I will use it most on this trip. But it's also great for strange trees, for getting big objects like some of these redwood giants, and I have no doubt I will have fun exploring the woods with this lens as well.
• Nikkor 50mm fixed -- This is my newest addition. In fact, it arrives tomorrow. My understanding is that this lens is great for darker, shady conditions, and it has excellent depth of field. I plan on playing with this one a lot.

Naturally, the camera and lenses are not enough. My other gadgets are a laptop and card reader, and a good Osho book. I'll shoot all day and just past sunset, then at night, peruse my shoot for the day and end with a little meditation and reading.

I'll shoot during the day in the forests, take pictures of the beaches and town at dusk and sunset. Then the big work comes when I return home, and sift through all my handy work! That's just as fun, too, though.

Posted at 04:34PM Aug 25, 2008 by dananourie in Photography  |  Comments[0]