Cave Photography

[benhoskin]

Any one got any hints on cave photography(dry or underwater) ?
think big caverns with no natural light.

[johnd]

Welcome to the forum Ben.

While I can't offer any cave photography hints yet, I might be able to in a few weeks. I'm going on a short cave photography course here in Tasmania which culminates in an expedition to Hastings Cave with just the people on the course (so no tourists to trip over tripods). I believe some caves have a ban on flash photography and you'd have to be careful with tripods. I'd check both these issues with the cave custodians before going.

Cheers
John

[Mr Darcy]

think big caverns with no natural light.

Do you mean no daylight or no light bulbs?
I ask as most caves I've been in have no "natural" light, but a lot were lit by light bulbs.

If no light at all (non-tourist cave), then you have to make your own. One way is to set the camera up in one spot (tripod if allowed, a ledge if not) and set it on the longest time you can, then paint the scene with a light - Flash if you can. Fire it via the test button repeatedly while you wander round the space.. A torch will do if you have to. Don't forget to light the shawls etc from behind so they glow from within.

If you have lighting supplied, use that. I find exposing warmer than you "should" works better. Cave photos always seem to look better in tones of orange than with the WB "Correct" for the light source. Last time I did cave photos it was with film. I used daylight film, no filters. The shots exposed by the tourist tungsten lights looked MUCH better than the ones exposed by flash.
If you DO use flash don't forget to warn the others in the vicinity. You'll find it is difficult to helicopter someone with a broken leg out of a cave

[benhoskin]

Here is an example, these are non tourist caves, with very large chambers. The light in this case being from the 420 flash.


http://darb.net/anonymous/IMG_2933

[Mr Darcy]

Hmm,
Looks better than most cave photos already. Love the lack of pollution.

As we're talking non tourist caves, flash is clearly not a problem. If you can set up a tripod, try taking the flash off camera, then put the camera on a long shutter (30 sec or more), then fire the flash repeatedly in different directions using the test button. This should give you more reach, and more even coverage. The downside in this instance is that near objects will be over exposed as the water means that you cannot move around physically much though you could fire the close areas, then swim ahead of the ripples to do the more distant stuff.

An alternative would be to use a set of wireless remote flashes & set them up around the cavern In the Nikon camp I am talking SB800s. I am sure Canon do something similar. There are also slave devices that will work for any flash. Some of these are VERY cheap.