Getting Silver Foliage

Finn lyle · Oct 16, 2020

I'm wondering how its possible to get foliage to have that silvery, glowing look associated with images such as A. Adam's "Close up of leaves in glacier" (linked) or "Aspens Northern New Mexico". I'm not talking about the wood effect with IR film, that's a separate beast. I'm still parsing out how to manipulate exposure to effect images, and have been really disapointed with the flatness of foliage in my images so far. My best theory so far is underexposing the scene so that the leaves take up more in the mid-tone range, but i haven't been able to replicate this very closely. Or was this something that was done during printing? I'm not sure if it's relevant but I've been using Tmax 100 and older PXP in medium format.

chriscrawfordphoto · Oct 16, 2020

Adams talked about how he made that photo in one of his books. I think he used a green filter and increased contrast by using a longer than normal developing time. I'd look it up, but most of my books are packed up in boxes now and i have more than 3000 books to look through!

ProfessorC1983 · Oct 16, 2020

Yes, I've managed to get a similar effect (accidentally!) through a combination of green filter and extra development. Of course assuming good light and leaves that are a cooperative color.

MattKing · Oct 16, 2020

Light and exposure plus shiny leaves.
This is shot almost straight down, and illuminated by a cloudy sky above.
The direction and quality of the light is critical.

Finn lyle · Oct 16, 2020

Hmm looks like a green filter might be coming with my next film order. I’ll give over-developing a try too, that makes sense for expanding the grays of a leaf.
Matt, so what I’m gathering from that is the foliage must be well lit, ie on the edge of a clearing rather than deep underbrush? Just to clarify.

Sirius Glass · Oct 16, 2020

Use a green filter and take a spot reading of the green leaf. Use that reading and put it in Zone 5, then correct for the filter.

MattKing · Oct 16, 2020

Finn lyle said:
Matt, so what I’m gathering from that is the foliage must be well lit, ie on the edge of a clearing rather than deep underbrush? Just to clarify

In this case, it was in the midst of a forested area, but there was enough open space directly above to supply diffused but directional light.
This shot was essentially from the same location, just on the other side of the walkway, and turned the other way.
You can get another sense of the light by looking at the large leaves ("skunk cabbage") in the corner.
The subject is a regular poster here

Finn lyle · Oct 20, 2020

Thanks Matt, that shot clarifies quite well what you mean with the quality and direction. I would love to see the image he got of the skunk cabbage, they're pretty interesting on account of producing their own heat in the early spring. Hopefully there will be a chance to try out all this advice before everything succumbs to the impending winter!

Andrew O'Neill · Oct 20, 2020

MattKing said:
In this case, it was in the midst of a forested area, but there was enough open space directly above to supply diffused but directional light.
This shot was essentially from the same location, just on the other side of the walkway, and turned the other way.
You can get another sense of the light by looking at the large leaves ("skunk cabbage") in the corner.
The subject is a regular poster here
View attachment 257235

MattKing · Oct 20, 2020

Finn lyle said:
I would love to see the image he got of the skunk cabbage, they're pretty interesting on account of producing their own heat in the early spring.

ic-racer · Oct 21, 2020

I like this version better and get similar results printing with a lot of contrast. The 2 following prints show this.

Getting Silver Foliage

Finn lyle

chriscrawfordphoto

ProfessorC1983

MattKing

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Finn lyle

Sirius Glass

MattKing

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Finn lyle

Andrew O'Neill

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MattKing

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ic-racer

Getting Silver Foliage

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