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- Duncan
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I recently had my first attempt at cave photography.
And it is MUCH harder than I thought it would be.
If anyone has any relevant experience and tips I'd be very grateful.
On my first cave trip I never actually got the camera out the bag.
It was slung around my shoulders and badly got in the way. I did a significant chunk of the trip with the camera bag held in my mouth.
Basically a complete failure in all respects - but at least the camera survived.
I saw some cracking photo opportunities and would love to do them justice.
The second trip was more successful and I got some images I'm proud of.
But the challenges weren't what I was expecting and conditions were much tougher I had anticipated.
I solved carrying the camera by using a caving rope sack; it is purpose designed for the job with drain holes to avoid flooding and handles to aid pulling / pushing / kicking the bag through squeezes.
De-gloving / cleaning / drying my hands, then extracting the camera from it's multiple layers of protection was a time consuming chore. Not sure how how to improve this, but the group had to hang around while I did it and I feel there is definitely room for improvement.
Communication was a problem as it was extremely noisy in the caverns. All shouting did was get peoples attention, but they couldn't make out what I was saying.
But the big problem was mist - I hadn't anticipated this and it's serious!
I was only using on-camera flash and event the slightest hint of mist ruined the shots.
A combination of high humidity and no air movement means breath hangs in the air for a long time.
Breathing while setting up the shot ruins the shot. Blowing out the side of my mouth didn't help much as regardless of where I blew it, the mist seemed to drift back towards me.
Moving a few paces and then shooting wasn't particularly practical with the rough slippy terrain and loss of focus and composition.
I think off-camera flash is probably the way forward. I've a feeling that even holding the flash at arms length will help a lot with the mist, but I'm worried about the distinctive shadows it will create.
I've just ordered some cheap radio triggers which will allow me to put the flash in a clear bag and give me a lot more options.
I love a challenge,
But it is a horrible environment to experiment and I could really use some help and advice.
For amusement, here's one of the photos from the second trip...
And it is MUCH harder than I thought it would be.
If anyone has any relevant experience and tips I'd be very grateful.
On my first cave trip I never actually got the camera out the bag.
It was slung around my shoulders and badly got in the way. I did a significant chunk of the trip with the camera bag held in my mouth.
Basically a complete failure in all respects - but at least the camera survived.
I saw some cracking photo opportunities and would love to do them justice.
The second trip was more successful and I got some images I'm proud of.
But the challenges weren't what I was expecting and conditions were much tougher I had anticipated.
I solved carrying the camera by using a caving rope sack; it is purpose designed for the job with drain holes to avoid flooding and handles to aid pulling / pushing / kicking the bag through squeezes.
De-gloving / cleaning / drying my hands, then extracting the camera from it's multiple layers of protection was a time consuming chore. Not sure how how to improve this, but the group had to hang around while I did it and I feel there is definitely room for improvement.
Communication was a problem as it was extremely noisy in the caverns. All shouting did was get peoples attention, but they couldn't make out what I was saying.
But the big problem was mist - I hadn't anticipated this and it's serious!
I was only using on-camera flash and event the slightest hint of mist ruined the shots.
A combination of high humidity and no air movement means breath hangs in the air for a long time.
Breathing while setting up the shot ruins the shot. Blowing out the side of my mouth didn't help much as regardless of where I blew it, the mist seemed to drift back towards me.
Moving a few paces and then shooting wasn't particularly practical with the rough slippy terrain and loss of focus and composition.
I think off-camera flash is probably the way forward. I've a feeling that even holding the flash at arms length will help a lot with the mist, but I'm worried about the distinctive shadows it will create.
I've just ordered some cheap radio triggers which will allow me to put the flash in a clear bag and give me a lot more options.
I love a challenge,
But it is a horrible environment to experiment and I could really use some help and advice.
For amusement, here's one of the photos from the second trip...
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