How does one get images like these.....?

[terrycasablanca]

Sorry, I know this is hardly D3-D1/D700-specific, but as a D700 user this is the forum I always post in and trust.

None of the photos below are mine, however I'd really like to achieve a similar effect, i.e. shafts of light shining down onto the forest floor. However, I've never managed this in any of my "forest" shots. What might I be doing wrong? Does it only work when the conditions are quite foggy?

I must be honest - I've never actually "seen" shafts of light quite these in forests I've been in. I'm wondering if it's something that the camera picks up even if the eye doesn't, or perhaps I've just never been in a forest in the right conditions?







--
http://www.rsrvd.co.uk/

 

[RonAnnArbor]

They are done with Photoshop -- They are called Sunrays.

Here's one tutorial for a simple sunray effect

http://tutorialpulse.com/47/mystical-light-shaft/

But there are many others. This month's (american newstand) issue of Digital Photo (UK) Magazine (issue 122) has a tutorial on how to add these as well (the issue that has the 2010 calendar templates on the disc). The tutorial shows you how to make these large sunrays step by step.

The only other way to create this effect is to artificially create it using either a fogger on a sunny day, or having something like train smoke blowing through your forest on a sunny day. Even then, you will only get a few shafts of this type of effect, and not a photo full as illustrated here.

 

[brightcolours]

Sorry, I know this is hardly D3-D1/D700-specific, but as a D700 user this is the forum I always post in and trust.

None of the photos below are mine, however I'd really like to achieve a similar effect, i.e. shafts of light shining down onto the forest floor. However, I've never managed this in any of my "forest" shots. What might I be doing wrong? Does it only work when the conditions are quite foggy?

I must be honest - I've never actually "seen" shafts of light quite these in forests I've been in. I'm wondering if it's something that the camera picks up even if the eye doesn't, or perhaps I've just never been in a forest in the right conditions?

When it is a big hazy or foggy, and the sun comes up. The sun will make the haze disappear in a few hours, so you have to be early. The low sun makes the nice "rays" you like.

That is all there is to it.... the right kind of weather and your alarm clock set to "early".

 

[brightcolours]

They are done with Photoshop -- They are called Sunrays.

They are not done with photoshop, they are done with getting out of bed early enough in summer or late spring when the weather is right.

The photos are real, the rays of sun through the haze are real. No ugly photoshop nonsense needed, really.

So... get out of bed just before the sun comes up, you will be amazed at the colours and the light that will greet you!

Here's one tutorial for a simple sunray effect

http://tutorialpulse.com/47/mystical-light-shaft/

But there are many others. This month's (american newstand) issue of Digital Photo (UK) Magazine (issue 122) has a tutorial on how to add these as well (the issue that has the 2010 calendar templates on the disc). The tutorial shows you how to make these large sunrays step by step.

The only other way to create this effect is to artificially create it using either a fogger on a sunny day, or having something like train smoke blowing through your forest on a sunny day. Even then, you will only get a few shafts of this type of effect, and not a photo full as illustrated here.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Um, not for nothing, the ONLY way you can tell if it is real or photoshopped is by asking the photographer.

In my many many many years of photography, including getting out of bed at 4 am to get sunrise photos, I have never seen anything like the photos posted occur naturally.

Of course, you may live in a part of the world where that does occur, but I apparently have never been there.

 

[Adman222820]

Simple.

Right place, right time.

Photoshop is cheating in my books. Whatever you couldn't do with negative/slide processing, you shouldn't do with software.

To each his own.

 

[Andre De Angelis]

I find that surprising.

I haven;t upoaded any such images, but I have managed to capture the very same effect by being in the right place at the right time. Here in Sydney, it was a sunny autumn day and I caught a magical moment in Centennial Park one May morning.

In my many many many years of photography, including getting out of bed at 4 am to get sunrise photos, I have never seen anything like the photos posted occur naturally.

Of course, you may live in a part of the world where that does occur, but I apparently have never been there.

 

[Ednaz]

I will add that it doesn't have to be first sunlight in the morning to get rays like that. I've seen and shot them in coastal Oregon rainforest nearly mid-day when a cold front slammed into warm moist air and suddenly everything went foggy and misty. Same thing in New Jersey a few times.

That's true about almost anything photographic, though. One of the reasons that professional photographers have so many great images is that they spend 100% of their time shooting. They are, in fact, insane enough to set their alarm clock because the weather says a cold front is going to hit the next morning. Most of the time when I am up before the sun, it's because I have an early flight someplace. I've missed a flight or two when the light was so fantastic that I detoured off to shoot, but I can't do that every day.

And the photoshop versus dedication to seeking the perfect light argument: there's a reason that the best photographers still chase the light. You could photoshop the rays, but do you have the time it would take to get the image right on every leaf and tree trunk, and would you even have the knowledge of what those tree trunks should look like? There's a reason to shoot in the rain, or in the first sunlight when it stops - real water looks different than sprayed glycerin. Those who know, will know. If you want to be known for your photoshop technique, that's OK - but that shouldn't be confused with photography.

 

[antonoat]

Hi
I am inclined to agree with you, trouble is whenever I see these amazing moments
I rarely have my camera with me, I suspect that is true for many of us here.
best regards
tony

http://www.wildoat.zenfolio.com

 

[brightcolours]

Um, not for nothing, the ONLY way you can tell if it is real or photoshopped is by asking the photographer.

You can tell easily. The photoshopped "rays" lay over the image, dont go through them. The real ones leave sun spots on trees and the ground, and cast shawdows in other areas.

In my many many many years of photography, including getting out of bed at 4 am to get sunrise photos, I have never seen anything like the photos posted occur naturally.

I have seen and photographed them, early autumn (september, netherlands) was the best time for me.

Of course, you may live in a part of the world where that does occur, but I apparently have never been there.

 

[terrycasablanca]

Thanks for your replies, guys. I hadn't considered that they might be fake, or at least heavily "enhanced"......

Looking again at the samples I posted, the top and bottom ones do look a bit overcooked I suppose.

Here's a photo I took myself recently. It's not in a forest, but the lighting effect is similar to the one under discussion. It's entirely real and not faked at all, just some contrast adjustments and B&W conversion in PS:



--
http://www.rsrvd.co.uk/

 

[finewoodstudio]

You get by hard work and sometimes being lucky. This is a shot i took in 2002 with my D100.

 

[finewoodstudio]

Sorry, forgot to attach the pic.

 

[Zane Paxton]

Hi
I am inclined to agree with you, trouble is whenever I see these amazing moments
I rarely have my camera with me, I suspect that is true for many of us here.
best regards

To fake such an effect of light as it bounces, reflects and illuminates would be a level of Photoshop mastery that is unheard of!

To catch great light, one needs to go out early and late, repeatedly and often. Over and over too. When the great light presents itself, one has to be there with camera in hand.... !

Many of the great photographers will go so far as to study a place over the course of years and plan out the best times for the optimal light effects. Legendary photographers see light where ordinary photographers focus on mere objects.

Cheers,

--
Zane
http://www.pbase.com/devonshire
Nikon D2x
NAPP Member

'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments it takes our breath away.” ~ Anonymous

 

[Joseph O. Holmes]

The first, yellow photo looks artificial -- and it looks like a movie-set-size spotlight was used. It's just too low and fake to be natural sunlight. Photoshop? I( guess it's possible.

The other two look natural. It's just a matter of getting into the woods at sunrise on a very foggy morning. And I don't think those two photos could easily be faked.

-=-Joe
--
http://portfolio.streetnine.com/index.html
daily photo at http://joesnyc.com/index.html

 

[Paul Guba]

Rent a fog machine usually they burn peanut oil. Get up early. Have assistant run fog machine. Take pictures. Add more fog. Take pictures. Or you can hope you get lucky.
--
Enjoy the Day

Paul Guba New Jersey Photographer
http://www.gubavision.com

 

[Mark den Hartog]

instead of morning you can fin this at the end of the day an hour orso before sunset.
The snow (or rain) will evaporate because of the difference in temperature.

real forrest are much more damp, and the chance of a picture like that might even occur on midday, as long as the difference in temperature is big enough.

 

[Steve Bingham]

Hi
I am inclined to agree with you, trouble is whenever I see these amazing moments
I rarely have my camera with me, I suspect that is true for many of us here.
best regards

To fake such an effect of light as it bounces, reflects and illuminates would be a level of Photoshop mastery that is unheard of!

Actually, it isn't. I can do it. In fact there are several tutorials on how to do this. It does require a lot of work to do it right - and more than just "streams of light". That said, it's easier to wait for fog, haze, smoke, or dust in the air. Ride ant ATV through the area and watch what happens. Yuck.

To catch great light, one needs to go out early and late, repeatedly and often. Over and over too. When the great light presents itself, one has to be there with camera in hand.... !

Many of the great photographers will go so far as to study a place over the course of years and plan out the best times for the optimal light effects. Legendary photographers see light where ordinary photographers focus on mere objects.

Cheers,

--
Zane
http://www.pbase.com/devonshire
Nikon D2x
NAPP Member

'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments it takes our breath away.” ~ Anonymous

--
Steve Bingham
http://www.dustylens.com
http://www.ghost-town-photography.com

 

[smafdy]

f8 and be there.

 

[Steve Bingham]

Um, not for nothing, the ONLY way you can tell if it is real or photoshopped is by asking the photographer.

You can tell easily. The photoshopped "rays" lay over the image, dont go through them. The real ones leave sun spots on trees and the ground, and cast shawdows in other areas.

And THIS TOO can be done with photoshop. Using layers it is very easy to make some rays behind the trees, some in front, and provide bright sunlit areas. I have done it for a client.

In my many many many years of photography, including getting out of bed at 4 am to get sunrise photos, I have never seen anything like the photos posted occur naturally.

I have seen and photographed them, early autumn (september, netherlands) was the best time for me.

Of course, you may live in a part of the world where that does occur, but I apparently have never been there.

--
Steve Bingham
http://www.dustylens.com
http://www.ghost-town-photography.com