Camera setting for zip wire, climbing in trees

[Zorba_8]

Hi All,

As a surprise 60th birthday present, my mum has arrange for a surprise treat to Go Ape in Thetford forest for my dad including all the family.

I hope to take some shots whilst being on the ground whilst they are 'aping' around in the tree tops.

I'm very new to the world of DLSRs and will be under pressure to quickly find the appropriate setting on my Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens. I don't want to cheat and go fully auto sport mode.

Having done my research (I'm probably about to be corrected here ) I'll probably start with Aperture Priority mode, set ISO to 200 or 400 depending on light as the trees will provide quite a bit of shade, yet I'll be shooting pointing upwards.

There are some zip wires which will also provide me with some good challenges and I'll probably go for Shutter Priority for the faster action stuff.

I know that the lighting conditions will impact what setting I use so appreciated the varying combinations of aperture, ISO and shutter speed.

I'm really looking for advice on some settings to get me started rather than fumbling around in front of the family.

Oh, I have a tripod too but would prefer not to use this as I don't think the organisers will be too keen.

Many thanks in advance. All advice welcomed.

 

[george g]

Going from experience of my 3100 and photos in the forest - you will be surprised how much the Canopy of the trees blocks light out! the ISO on the 3100 is ok up to 1600 - much above that it gets worse so you may have to go up to 800 or more.

If you're only photographing one person I would advise shutter priority and the shutter 1/200 or above to freeze the movement of ziplines.

it may be worth putting the ISO in auto mode and setting the upper limit to 1600 - the camera then does the hard work for you.

If you can then a longer lens (say 200mm) would be better or you will find that people will look insignificant in the trees.

hth

 

[Phil V]

Your lens won't be long enough unless you're going up with them.

Bear in mind that if you're pointing the camera up towards them you risk the sky filling a significant portion of your frame, this will knock your metering out a lot.

I suggest taking a Manual reading at ground level or aimed into the thick of the forest and using that as a baseline, shoot and check, don't let the sky fool you into underexposing your subjects.

If you speak to the instructors, they might have viewing platforms set up so that they can get you into positions along the route to shoot from. But ask like you know you're asking a favour, no amount of foot stamping will get you favours, their primary concern is the safety of their customers. Once the safety is taken care of, their priority is the fun of their customers, so they'll need to feel you're adding genuine value to their paying customers to even consider your feelings.

 

[Zorba_8]

Going from experience of my 3100 and photos in the forest - you will be surprised how much the Canopy of the trees blocks light out! the ISO on the 3100 is ok up to 1600 - much above that it gets worse so you may have to go up to 800 or more.

If you're only photographing one person I would advise shutter priority and the shutter 1/200 or above to freeze the movement of ziplines.

it may be worth putting the ISO in auto mode and setting the upper limit to 1600 - the camera then does the hard work for you.

If you can then a longer lens (say 200mm) would be better or you will find that people will look insignificant in the trees.

hth

Thank you George, sadly I don't have a longer lens at my disposal and will have to make do with my kit lens.

Your lens won't be long enough unless you're going up with them.

Bear in mind that if you're pointing the camera up towards them you risk the sky filling a significant portion of your frame, this will knock your metering out a lot.

I suggest taking a Manual reading at ground level or aimed into the thick of the forest and using that as a baseline, shoot and check, don't let the sky fool you into underexposing your subjects.

If you speak to the instructors, they might have viewing platforms set up so that they can get you into positions along the route to shoot from. But ask like you know you're asking a favour, no amount of foot stamping will get you favours, their primary concern is the safety of their customers. Once the safety is taken care of, their priority is the fun of their customers, so they'll need to feel you're adding genuine value to their paying customers to even consider your feelings.

I will most certainly ask and it's not in my nature to be demanding. Plus it's a family event so I wouldn't want to ruin it with my petulance!

When you say take a manual reading at ground level, would I do this using the 'M' setting to get a reading and then adjust? Sorry to ask what appears to be the obvious but I am a layman. I have been reading about understand exposure and what the readings on my D3100 mean but until I see it practice it can be a little overwhelming pulling all the components together.

My only hope is that I don't take all duff, blurred, uninspiring shots as that will be disheartening.

 

[ernesto]

My only hope is that I don't take all duff, blurred, uninspiring shots as that will be disheartening.

If you are stuck at ground level with a 55mm max shooting upwards it will be quite challenging to get great shots I would think so you shouldn't feel too disheatened with any results if that is the situation you end up in.

 

[Zorba_8]

If you are stuck at ground level with a 55mm max shooting upwards it will be quite challenging to get great shots I would think so you shouldn't feel too disheatened with any results if that is the situation you end up in.

It's just a shame that is my first situation shooting in these conditions as I would like to get some good shots to cherish.

At least it will be good practice if nothing else

 

[Durbs]

I think many Go-Ape's are roughly the same, and finish with a zip-wire down to ground level - this would be your main chance to get a decent person-shot without a longer lens.

You could either try some panning as they come past (with a shutter of about 1/2 second?), or straight on with a 1/200 shutter to capture the faces. You'd probably want to pre-focus if going for straight on shots though as it will be a tricky thing for a kit-lens to to focus on.
For either of these, if you could practise on other people before your group comes down you'll be able to dial in the settings beforehand

From memory (it was a long time ago), they don't let you take cameras up into the canopy incase you drop them (even compacts), so unless there's a high-up viewing platform, I think the above would be your best bet.

 

[Byker28i]

You won't be allowed into the Go Ape area,but may be able to shoot around the outside, however they will be at distance. The last zip wire down is usually accessible so a good place for that photo.

Expect them to be 2 hours or more going around.


You might be able to get something atmospheric

But if you want people detail be aware the background light confusing the sensor. You might need to dial in some exposure compensation.

 

[seriousrikk]

Are you part of the family that will be going round the go ape area?

Maybe look at a way of getting a secure bag to take the camera in, and getting shots in there? If you are allowed, of course.

 

[Zorba_8]

Thanks for all your replies guys.

Now the activity has been completed, I can update the thread.

They don't allow for any cameras or even phones to be taken on the course area. The only way you can take a camera is if it is attached securely around your wrist (which I thought was strange) if you are participating guest.

What I hoped to do was to come off at some point and get some pictures of my dad on the zip wires but once you're up, you're up and the only way you can get down is on the zip wire!

There are a few areas where you can take pictures if you are not participating all but as I was this was going to prove tricky! Had I not, then I could have taken my bag and tripod and maybe caught some photos.

A small disappointment as it would have been good to have some photos, but he had fun nonetheless which was the most important thing.

At £30 per person, it's not cheap but is good value when you think it does take around 2 to 2 and half hours to get around the course.

Maybe next time!