Hello Kerry,
I have used a free package called, CIMES (
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286
- Alemu Gonsamo
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#>a
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#aff1>, b
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#aff2>,
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#cor1>,
<gonsa...@geog.utoronto.ca>,
- Jean-Michel N. Walter
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#>c
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#aff3>,
- Petri Pellikka
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#>a
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169911002286#aff1> ).
I have only used this command line program for about a week last fall, but
will be using it much more over the next couple months. Hence, I can give
you some more information soon and only have a limited amount of time to
type this email.
I investigated two other free software packages that were used in
quantifying the canopy from peer-reviewed journal articles and felt that
CIMES was a better package for several reasons (including: each canopy
photo needs a slope and aspect included [without that it would be very
difficult, because when taking the photo your camera needs to be level and
top of camera directed to the North)].
My setup is as follows and fairly inexpensive if you can find the lens used
and in good condition :
Nikon CoolPix 8700 (used for about $80-120) probably discontinued but
some new cameras are available for ~ $450ish.
Nikon UR-E12 converter ~$12
Nikon (Fisheye Converter) FC-E9 0.2x --possibly ~$200 used, though
difficult to find. New maybe ~$650+ , there is also another model that
would work, the FC-E8.
You need to use an image editing software first before bringing them into
CIMES, I was using 'ImageJ' and it seemed to work pretty good. Overall, it
is a bit cumbersome, likely because it is a free software (and/or because
I'm a bit dull in the head). There are a couple getting started type PDFs
available online as well, they seemed to help but still moderately
difficult (if you have more experience with command line programs it might
not be difficult). I have never used Winscanopy of Hemiview to know if its
worth the extra $$.
Hope that helped,
Adam Kehoe
On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 3:07 AM, Tonya Lander <tonya.lan...@plants.ox.ac.uk>
wrote:
> Dear Kerry,
> Have you considered using the very low tech but quite effective 'canopy
> scope' method?
>
>
> - Brown et al., 2000
> <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112715001693#b0020>
> - N. Brown, S. Jennings, P. Wheeler, J. Nabe-Nielsen
> -
>
> An improved method for the rapid assessment of forest understorey
> light environments
> -
>
> J. Appl. Ecol., 37 (2000), pp. 1044–1053 <
> https://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2000.00573.x>
>
>
> Best wishes,
> Tonya
>
>
>
> ______________________
>
> Dr Tonya Lander
>
> Department of Plant Sciences
>
> University of Oxford
>
> http://www.plants.ox.ac.uk/plants/staff/TonyaLander.aspx
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [
> ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] on behalf of Kerry Woods [kwo...@bennington.edu
> ]
> *Sent:* 24 August 2015 18:09
> *To:* ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
> *Subject:* [ECOLOG-L] Comparison of canopy hemispherical photo systems
>
> Anyone with experience/insight on the relative merits of currently
> available systems for analysis of forest canopy using hemispherical photos
> (hemiview, winscanopy, etc.)? For use by undergrads, so ease of use is
> important.
>
> --
> Kerry D. Woods
> Bennington College, Natural Sciences
> Dir. of Research, Huron Mt. Wildlife Found.
> www.hmwf.org
> faculty.bennington.edu/~kwoods
> kwo...@bennington.edu
>
