Cave Photography

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Hello all,

I'm planning on bringing my 4X5 with me when I visit Carlsbad Caverns later this month. I have several questions regarding photographing in the caves:

1) Are there any restrictions on tripods in National Park cave areas? I seem to recall reading something about that at some point.

2) Do I need to use different film, tungsten perhaps, to compensate for color shifts due to the artificial light sources in the caves? I'm used to using Velvia, and would prefer to just stick with that.

3) Any ideas for a ballpark exposure range, say using Velvia 50 at f22?

Thanks for your help!

[Tim Hettinger]

I have only done 35mm in the caves, but if I remember right, there are no tripods allowed, and no flash.

[Kirk Gittings]

Three years ago you could take a tripod. Check their web site. All the lights in CC are tungsten. Some are geled to odd colors for effect but the main ones are just tungsten. The light down there is very contrasty, very dramatic. If I was going there I would make two exposures, one for the highlights and one for the shadows, scan them and blend them in Photoshop. The last time I was there, maybe three years ago, I think I was having like 1 1/2 to 3 minute exposures at f22 with an asa100 film. Try to go during the week before turist season, because it can get very very crowded at some of the key places.

[QT Luong]

1) Depends on the cave. Lehman caves (Great Basin NP) and Mammoth both prohibit tripods, not Carlsbad when I
was there.

2) See:http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.carlsbad-caverns.html
Velvia with render the formations that look illuminated in a yellowish way very yellow, and the rest very green.
A magenta filter will help combat the green cast.

3) I remember longer exposure times, up to 10 min.

Kirk's suggestion of blending exposures is a good one. When I made the trip there, this wasn't yet in my repertoire of techniques, and this limited my possibilities to close-ups, as large views would be too contrasty.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Thanks for your help, guys. Tuan, what film did you use for the photos of Carlsbad on your website?

[QT Luong]

Astia. On a former trip, I used Velvia with fairly similar color results.