Rainforest Photography Tips?

[AdamfromCanada]

I am going on the Sabah Adventure trip in Borneo at the end of August. Last year I bought a Pentax K10D for a trip to Africa, and I love it, it took fantastic shots, but definitely, some of the shots in more forested areas didn't turn out as great. Some of this trip will be in the rainforest. Any tips on taking great pictures there? I'm guessing there will be times that the light isn't fantastic.

Also, any camera care tips for while I'm there?

[PaulTeolis]

having photographed in Indonesian Borneo, (Kalimantan) and several other jungles I have to say it is quite difficult because of the conditions you are given. You will be surprised at how dark it can be under all those trees and very humid as well.

depending on whether you are using a tripod or not, you will more than likely
use a higher film speed setting on your digital camera. If you bring film, take some 400 ASA as well.

Sunny days can be a bit of a curse as it throws a lot of things into shadow so you start having extreme contrast, but as well it can create great shafts of light if you are lucky. So ideally you want neutral conditions like a cloudy day, or in my case when I was there, everything was burning and smoke provided the diffusion.

Look for other colors that can break up your image as green becomes the predominant colour. Consider different times of day as well, early morning
when the sun hasn't fully come out yet.

Although I havent tried this. Apparently a polarizer is great to remove all the sheen from shiny leaves on plants. Worth considering.

think of compostion, what your center of interest is and have fun.
whatch condensation going from airconditioned enrionments to the humidty,
which is brutal there.

[roofie]

Depends a bit on what you're trying to shoot: nature or wildlife, I guess.

For "general" nature/surroundings I'd suggest using a tripod to take bracketed exposures , with raw (since on the K10D it makes a huge difference), and later use a HDR program to blend the images.

For wildlife I'd suggest setting a high iso level (400 in Sv-mode) and perhaps switching to fix center focus or simply putting manual focus near infinity. If you're shooting against the canopy use raw to bring back som range.

[anonymoose]

I would say be careful of the humidity and temperature changes too, especially if you go outside after being anywhere that is air conditioned like a vehicle or building.