Wildlife photos inside the Rain Forest most of the time means subject in deep shadow, background overexposed… well, sometimes the background is in deep shadow too!

We got out to the Cloud Forest on a place near the tiny settlement of Montserrat where trade winds create cold, cloudy and misty weather even during Cost Rica’s dry season. You actually have warm, sunny weather just a few miles away, on the other side of the mountains… while you shiver in 50’s degrees Fahrenheit drizzle (yes, that is 10 to 15 ºC).

Now, down to business, Why is it so nice to live in 2018? The enormous dynamic range of camera sensors! I used to shoot slow, contrasted Slide Film (why are they bringing it back?) where white-overblown cloudy skies were the norm so graduated neutral density filters were a must and not a convenience.

 

 

The photos I post here, from my last birding trip of this year, all need either major shadow recovery post process or a 3600+ ISO capture. Looking back at my post-processing I see I kept the feeling of the Cloud Forest in all of them. A good check for not over-processing. In another context e. g. bird portraits I might make them brighter.

If you want to see my Costa Rican Wildlife and Landscape images, please visit my Photoshelter Website eduardolibby.photoshelter.com