Best apertures for dark woods

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sl60

Senior Member
I'm practicing taking shots of deep woods with close-packed trees. The tree canopies do block a lot of the sunlight, but some does reach the trunks, etc. I want as much overall detail as possible, so I tried f/16 at 70-85mm with a tripod and the photos came out very dark (I can post-process them, but I'd like to learn to shoot as cleanly as possible). F/11 was better, but I'm still not getting the detail I'd like (I have to stand back to get as much of the scene as possible). I'm using a d70s, fine, with the 28-105 kit lens. The sample here is at f/11.

So my question is, what are some good apertures for my needs?

Thanks!


DSC_1116.jpg
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
With the camera you are shooting at you do have to keep a low iSO so you have two options left. Aperture and shutter speed. A higher aperture f11 or f16 will give you more Depth of field but at the distance you are shooting that would not make a lot of difference. A higher aperture would require a longer shutter speed to compensate. Get a tripod and shoot a longer shutter speed if you want a higher aperture.

You need to study the exposure triangle and that will help you with what you want to do
 
S

sl60

Senior Member
I set the ISO on 200 and was using a tripod. The camera was in the aperture mode so I'm assuming it would adjust the shutter speed accordingly (?).

Plus, as you can see, the light areas are a bit blown out and the detail lost. Maybe a filter would help?
 
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D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
sl60 said:
I set the ISO on 200 and was using a tripod. The camera was in the aperture mode so I'm assuming it would adjust the shutter speed accordingly (?).

Plus, as you can see, the light areas are a bit blown out and the detail lost. Maybe a filter would help?
Click to expand...


If you want it different you need to go to manual mode and using your meter in the camera. Always shoot for the highlight and bring up shadow detail in post. A filter will not correct bad exposure. Also that camera is quiet old and will not have the range that the newer cameras have. You could try a CP filter but you still have to get the exposure correct.
 
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Bikerbrent

Senior Member
According to your shooting data, you already have exposure compensation set at -0.33 which is 1/3 f stop under exposed. You are fighting an extreme contrast issue where the sky is very bright and the trees in shadow are quite dark. In fact, I am more concerned with the loss of shadow detail than the blown out sky. What time of day were you shooting? Obviously not at 15 minutes after midnight on Jan 1, 2005. There is no filter that will help you out because anything you do to darken the sky will also darken the shadow areas. Perhaps some fill flash to lighten some of the dark areas would be helpful.
 
Bob Blaylock

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
sl60 said:
I'm practicing taking shots of deep woods with close-packed trees. The tree canopies do block a lot of the sunlight, but some does reach the trunks, etc. I want as much overall detail as possible, so I tried f/16 at 70-85mm with a tripod and the photos came out very dark (I can post-process them, but I'd like to learn to shoot as cleanly as possible). F/11 was better, but I'm still not getting the detail I'd like (I have to stand back to get as much of the scene as possible). I'm using a d70s, fine, with the 28-105 kit lens. The sample here is at f/11.

So my question is, what are some good apertures for my needs?

Thanks!


View attachment 226423
Click to expand...

Looks to me like you need to employ a High Dynamic Range (HDR) method, in order to get a good picture here—that the dynamic range in this scene is just too much for the camera to take in in one shot.

To do this, you need to take three pictures; one where the darkest parts of the scene are properly exposed, one where the lightest parts are properly exposed, and one somewhere in between.

You then need to use some software on your computer to combine those three images into a single image. Microsoft's free Geodesic High-Dynamic-Range Photography Tool is one program that will do this.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
sl60 said:
I set the ISO on 200 and was using a tripod. The camera was in the aperture mode so I'm assuming it would adjust the shutter speed accordingly (?).

Plus, as you can see, the light areas are a bit blown out and the detail lost. Maybe a filter would help?
Click to expand...

There are times when you need to override the exposure that the camera thinks is correct.

As Bob mentioned, you might do better with HDR. If not, then either the highlights will be completely blown out or the shadows will be too dark. Our eyes can see a wider range of lights/darks than the camera can capture. HDR allows you to take a few photos that have different exposures and combine them into one. You can have a properly exposed sky while also having details in the shadows. There isn't any filter that will allow you to get all the detail in one photo that has such a high dynamic range.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
sl60 said:
I'm practicing taking shots of deep woods with close-packed trees. The tree canopies do block a lot of the sunlight, but some does reach the trunks, etc. I want as much overall detail as possible, so I tried f/16 at 70-85mm with a tripod and the photos came out very dark (I can post-process them, but I'd like to learn to shoot as cleanly as possible). F/11 was better, but I'm still not getting the detail I'd like (I have to stand back to get as much of the scene as possible). I'm using a d70s, fine, with the 28-105 kit lens. The sample here is at f/11.

So my question is, what are some good apertures for my needs?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
This isn't an aperture issue; this is more an exposure/dynamic range issue.

What you can do with GIMP is adjust the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights using the Levels Adjustment Tool until you find the balance you want. Since you're shooting in JPG you will pretty limited in what you can do with this. HDR, as has already been explained, is another method but that requires a little planning.
 
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