I want to make a print of shot into trees where lots of light coming through sparkle the way I remember it.... I have tried red filters, burning etc but can't reproduce it. Grateful for any suggestions

-- linda cooper (svcguru@mcs.net), July 13, 1998

Answers

It's not clear if you have taken the photo and are having "fun" printing it, or if you are considering how to shoot it.

Anyhow, it's a very personal thing, there must be oodles of ways of getting there. The pleasure of dappled sunlight through leaves, for me, is about movement as well as light. A photo is, of course, an instant in time, but I can still capture movement. And the light filtering through the leaves... so I might stand there, slow shutter speed, ideally with a tripod, pointing the camera pretty much at the light source, filtered by the leaves. Possibly I'll try to get gradations of movement: the trunk doesn't move, the branches move a little, the twigs move a lot.

The negs that concentrate on the back-lit leaves are probably fairly normal contrast, and can be printed fairly "straight". If there is also grass in the shot, or tree-trunks, they may need low-contrast film development, and/or fairly extensive dodging/burning.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), July 15, 1998.

re: print contrasty

I can suggest several options to "shoot contrasty": a. use a contrasty film, almost all slow films (32~50 ASA) are. b. underexpose: -1 to -2 fstops (to overdevelop later) - you will loose most shadow details. c. overdevelop: +15% to +20% development time, to buildup dencity of highlights.

I can suggest two options to "print contrasty": a. the obvious: use contrastier paper. b. Use fresh and more than normally concentrated developer.

Additionaly experiment with diffusion or / and cross-lines filters, both on camera and under enlarging lens.

Have fun!

-- Ze'ev Kantor (zeevk@netvision.net.il), July 15, 1998.