Rainforest photography (1 Viewer)

[claretjohn]

From the UK and have booked to visit Costa Rica in 2017. Keen amateur photographer but worried about light levels in the rainforest. Any tips on settings/lighting etc would be great.
Unfortunately not gear rich and will be with non-birding wife so already have challenges.
Thanks

 

[njlarsen]

Could you give us some idea about what gear you do have?

Anyway, Costa Rica was the straw that broke the camels back for me, and made me go from a pana FZ18 superzoom to a m4/3, the older camera struggled too often with the low light in the forest. So you are correct that there is a problem. Some people accepts high(ish) iso settings, and some people add a lot of flash to their setup.

Niels

 

[claretjohn]

Thanks Niels,
My gear includes a Canon 50D, Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6, Sigma 10-20mm f3.5, Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5, Tamron 16-300mm f3.5-6.3 (Normal walkabout) Vivitar DF400 MZ-C flash. So I realise that I have a massive challenge but just trying to maximise what I have or what could increase my chances with minimal expense.
I'm also wondering if a strong flashlight (torch) could help.
John

 

[njlarsen]

John,
you should be able to increase the iso quite a bit without ruining the photos with that camera is my expectation. I assume you know how to develop a raw so that it bears minimum bad effects from the iso. Obviously it will not be quite the same as photos in strong desert light

The torch might be a good idea for observing nightlife, but I am not sure the birds will stay if you try doing photos that way.

Niels

 

[njlarsen]

Now, to avoid giving you bad impressions about how bad things are, I would like to show some of my photos from CR, all taken with that older superzoom that could only go to iso 400 without ruining the shots. Here is a link to my photos in the BF gallery. I have linked to page 8 of the listing, and for this to work you must set the number of images shown per page to 90 (upper right hand corner). The top of the page are from South Africa and taken with the Pana GH2 I bought after CR, but a little down the page you will find some CR images. You should be able to do better.

http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/page/8/ppuser/7427

Niels

 

[claretjohn]

Thanks again Niels....I appreciate the confidence and if can only get near to some of your shots I will be happy. Also I think I will have to brush up on my raw processing skills.
John