Every photographer has its favorite subject to shoot. Some are into human portraits, some are into deep waters, nudes, buildings and whichever other thing you can think of.
My favorite subject has always been a dark, moist and a bit foggy forests. Something about forests that keeps me calm and relaxed whenever i am in one. I mostly talk about coniferous forest. Sure i have couple of those close to my house, maybe that is the reason.
The dark green backgrounds with just a touch of magenta and yellow. Somewhere there is a blue creek of water and almost absolute silence. Birds rarely live deep in the sticks, same with the insects. Your biggest chance to see a wildlife is to find a trail of a deer, rabbit or wolf.
Walking around is good for freeing the mind. Some do it on the beach but i prefer woods, it's less people. For sure there are not always a chance to go to woods but i strongly suggest to go to have an experience if you are a city person. Or just be closer to nature for some time, its good for you.
I am using Nikon D3200 camera with a standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. Sure its a bit older model and i should get a new one but i am not a professional and have other priorities at the moment. I think it does job just as good as some of the newer mid level cameras.
I chose standard lens or maybe it chose me, i just took the camera bag and didn't check what's on. Nevertheless it gave me a bit more realistic and classic look to a photo.
Things i have discovered that help have a great photographs in the woods include knowing your surroundings. There might be some fallen over trees, a hill, tick parts and very open spaces in the forest. If you have a plan to have a photoshoot make sure you visit some of those places.
Even though it is not what i had here, mind i have used it in other shoots, i would suggest a lens with high aperture. It will let more light come into camera and expose some of the hidden darker ares. You will have less trouble in retouch after.
For shooting dark forests it is not always best time in mornings or evenings when sun is low as it is for most other things. If sun is low it is usually hiding behind thick trunks of trees and cannot get through to give enough light. My suggestion would be to visit a forest when sun is a bit higher, especially if trees are tick.
You might go to shoot when sun is low if you plan to be close to the edge of the forest so rays of sun can shine shine in from the side. That however is great.
Most of the time forest is a vertical shape in my mind. Tree trunks are very skinny bodies that grow high and if you want to capture more pleasant pictures of trees and trails it is best to do it vertically. As shown in my example, it is not always necessary to shoot vertical if you have a horizontal movement like i did. But most of the time, keep that cam vertical.
You might as well try out the photo stitching to get a more complete picture of the full length of the tree. This is a good trick if no wide angle high aperture lens is available. I have already made a small article about that. You can read more about it here.
Retouch in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom is excellent if you like to accent your skill and make a photo look even better. The better job you do before the less work you will have to do here.
For best effects it is suggested from my side to have a bit higher contrast. Also play with the colors and find the green that you find best. Since there is not that much light usually, make the photo a bit lighter. One of my favorite things to do is to is mess around in Lightroom to make the foreground or background to pop more, have a bit more clarity to some of the areas.
At some point i will make a real photo post with 6 to 10 photographs i have taken but at this point i struggle with orientation. Seems to me i have made most of the good ones in portrait and it just doesn't look good in a blog in my opinion.
Thank you for reading!
