Caption:

PoTM 2011 June: Peak Cavern…

 

Commentary:

 

The idea of getting some caving stock was really exciting though following Tim into Peak Cavern and watching him throw the wet bag full of my strobes and Pocket Wizards into the streamway left me colder than the water I was wading through!

 

Cave photography is tough on gear like it’s tough on just about everything else. The theory is gloriously simple though, double bag all the individual items, then stash them into waterproof tubs and then put them into a wet bag which goes into a caving bag. The theory is that four layers of waterproofing should be enough. I was happy right up to the point where the bag landed in the streamway! Funny enough, I was carrying the equivalent bag with the camera and the lens in and I managed to keep that above the water mark – just!

 

Peak Cavern is a relatively simple affair but there are some great photo opportunities along the way. I was especially drawn to photographing Tim climbing up one of the little waterfalls. To accentuate the height of the waterfall I deliberately didn’t light the bottom of the waterfall just the sidewalls. As a fill light I used a second strobe – on a boom arm up and to the left of Tim. The fill light pulled in the detail in the streamway above the waterfall and threw light into the shadow areas which would otherwise have been pretty much pitch black. The fill light came from the master strobe which was turned right down (-2.3 EV) whilst the remote (Group A) was left on full power. A pretty simple strobe configuration really but it give quite a striking result. The wet rock and the cascading water all nicely picked up the strobe light as well.

 

I should say that the kit escaped just fine btw – even the Pocket Wizard which I somehow managed to let slide into the streamway – doh!

 

 

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300, 12 - 14 mm AFS f4 @ 17 mm, 1/60 secs @ f5.6, ISO 500, matrix metering in aperture priority strobe lighting (Master @ -2.3EV, Group A @ 0 EV)

 

Keywords:

Peak Cavern, caving, stobe photography