Hello,
A few weeks ago I posted my intention to visit Luray Caverns, VA, and
asked for some photography advice. With your advice I visited the
facility, took some photographs, and posted a few to http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~neil/Luray/Caverns.html
The place is awesome. The initial view, the parking lot, overwhelmed me
as did the long line up to buy tickets and another to wait for a tour.
Each tour group has approximately 50 people and I believe there were at
least three groups concurrently touring. I made it a habit to hang back
in the group, as did a few others, to take some people-less images.
The tripod stayed in the car. Elbows on the chest, try not to breathe; as
you can see in the photos that was not successful. The suggestion of
bracing elbows on the hand rails is a good one as there are many. I have
never used a monopod, have seen them, and believe this would have been a
practical control method that is accomodated by the tour operation. No
limits on photograohy other than 'keep the tour moving'. There were many
flash photographers, video cams and cell phone photographers.
The Eastern states all experienced record low temperatures that week.
With the camera acclimated to the cold and the caverns being warm and
very humid my first problem was a foggy lens. While the situation
improved I was constantly wiping the lens before shooting.
I set the camera to Aperture Priority Mode, F2.7 (lowest value), ISO 200,
flash off. I turned on Auomatic Exposure Bracketing and gathered three
images per shoot. I used JD Smith's tutorial to blend the three images
into one and you can see the results in the web page. The utility's
default values are used and images had to be aligned as I did move the
camera through the bracketing process.
Enjoy. Oh, can you see Gollum, Bilbo Baggins or the lost ring? The first
two phot sets include a cave lake.
..../neil patterson
"Neil Patterson" <neil@uwaterloo.ca> wrote in message
news:Xns99166052F889Fneiluwaterlooca@129.97.128.18 6...
> Hello,
> A few weeks ago I posted my intention to visit Luray Caverns, VA, and
> asked for some photography advice. With your advice I visited the
> facility, took some photographs, and posted a few to
> http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~neil/Luray/Caverns.html
>
> The place is awesome. The initial view, the parking lot, overwhelmed me
> as did the long line up to buy tickets and another to wait for a tour.
> Each tour group has approximately 50 people and I believe there were at
> least three groups concurrently touring. I made it a habit to hang back
> in the group, as did a few others, to take some people-less images.
Interesting bit about the crowds. I went to Carlsbad Caverns about two
years ago in late March. There were points along the way that I stopped and
listened: I could not see or hear a single person -- eerie feeling when
you're that far underground.
>
> Interesting bit about the crowds. I went to Carlsbad Caverns about two
> years ago in late March. There were points along the way that I stopped and
> listened: I could not see or hear a single person -- eerie feeling when
> you're that far underground.
>
I'll be at Carlsbad Caverns the week of July 4, I got reservations
for the guided tours I want (in fact, I probably was the
first to reverve them .. I did so within minutes of their
new reservation system going online.)
Is photography allowed, and if so, presumably flash is not and
in any case it won't work in such a setting. I've got a Canon
30D and the kit lens (very wide, f/3.5 there, but not IS) and
the 24-105 f/4L IS. Will that do, even at ISO 1600?
M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> wrote in news:nospam.m-m-293482.11074318042007
@newsread.uslec.net:
> In article <Xns99166052F889Fneiluwaterlooca@129.97.128.186> ,
> Neil Patterson <neil@uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
>> I set the camera to Aperture Priority Mode, F2.7 (lowest value), ISO 200
>
>
> Why so low ISO? That should been as high as practical.
>
I was of the impression that a higher ISO is more beneficial in a low
lighting situation; I avoided 400, the maximum. Would you suggest 50, or
Auto, as more reasonable in an artificially lighted cave?
M-M wrote:
> In article <Xns99166052F889Fneiluwaterlooca@129.97.128.186> ,
> Neil Patterson <neil@uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
>> I set the camera to Aperture Priority Mode, F2.7 (lowest value), ISO 200
>
>
> Why so low ISO? That should been as high as practical.
He's hand-holding (with rails to lean on, though), which sets something
of a lower limit for shutter speeds. And you always want to keep the
ISO as *low* as is practical; high is something you resort to when
necessary, not a desirable condition.
In article <46263d35$0$272$8046368a@newsreader.iphouse.net> ,
David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b@dd-b.net> wrote:
> > Why so low ISO? That should been as high as practical.
>
> He's hand-holding (with rails to lean on, though), which sets something
> of a lower limit for shutter speeds. And you always want to keep the
> ISO as *low* as is practical; high is something you resort to when
> necessary, not a desirable condition.
This was certainly not a desirable condition: in a dimly lit cave. The
photos exhibit motion blur which would have been lessened with a higher
ISO.
On 2007-04-18 06:28:08 -0700, Neil Patterson <neil@uwaterloo.ca> said:
> Hello,
> A few weeks ago I posted my intention to visit Luray Caverns, VA, and
> asked for some photography advice. With your advice I visited the
> facility, took some photographs, and posted a few to
> http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~neil/Luray/Caverns.html
I haven't been there since I was a teenager. Bet the crowds are a lot
bigger now.
On Apr 18, 9:47 am, Doug McDonald <mcdonald@SnPoAM_scs.uiuc.edu>
wrote:
> Lee K wrote:
>
> > Interesting bit about the crowds. I went to Carlsbad Caverns about two
> > years ago in late March. There were points along the way that I stopped and
> > listened: I could not see or hear a single person -- eerie feeling when
> > you're that far underground.
>
> I'll be at Carlsbad Caverns the week of July 4, I got reservations
> for the guided tours I want (in fact, I probably was the
> first to reverve them .. I did so within minutes of their
> new reservation system going online.)
>
> Is photography allowed, and if so, presumably flash is not and
> in any case it won't work in such a setting. I've got a Canon
> 30D and the kit lens (very wide, f/3.5 there, but not IS) and
> the 24-105 f/4L IS. Will that do, even at ISO 1600?
>
> Doug McDonald
Photography is allowed. You will have to check on whether tripods are
allowed (and you will get MUCH better results if you can use a
tripod).
Carlsbad is way too big to use flash effectively without using several
slave flashes.
If you want a truly enjoyable adventure, get into a wild cave tour at
Slaughter Canyon Cave (formerly known as New Cave). There is no
crawling or climbing involved, and it is all by flashlight. If you go
to Slaughter, leave the camera behind and just enjoy the cave.
Return to Luray Caverns 
Linear Mode
