Question - Cave/tunnel photography

[KillerQueen]

Hi all, just want to ask what is the proper way to do low light/no light photography
I have a steady tripod with me and I have some basic idea how to play with my camera
I have read some articles reommended to use off-camera flash and I am thinking if it is neccessary as I do not have one and I dont want to bring exccesive equipment to do urbex
Is it ok to use a headtorch/lamp to do the lighting?
Thank you so much and sorry for broken English.

 

[pirate]

Don’t use flash it will bounce on dust/moisture
Manual mode f stop 8ish
10-30 second exposure dependant on size of tunnel cave
Light paint with torch

 

[Lenston]

Hi, I think most people on here will be light painting with torches and long exposures rather than using flash underground.

 

[Jack430T]

Best idea is to lightpaint with a torch. Using a flash will sometimes create harsh highlights so wouldn't recommend that. Depending on the size of the space you could need anything from a 5secs exposure all the way up to 30secs for a larger area.

 

[Down and beyond]

Head torches work very well it depends on the space you are in though , if you are going caving your best of forgetting the camera really in my view great for railway tunnels but not for caving unless it’s just the very rare walking caves and not crawling water etc , a tip I would say is if your going with others take ya time and use all your torches in very large caverns for maximum benefit

 

[Coxieboy]

Long exposures and torches, flash has a tendency to make a good photo look crap, especially on tunnels, you will see the first few feet great then blackness. Try experimenting somewhere dark before you go like a back garden or out in fields so you get an idea of what exposure/timings work to save you wasting valuable time when you are out.

 

[KillerQueen]

Head torches work very well it depends on the space you are in though , if you are going caving your best of forgetting the camera really in my view great for railway tunnels but not for caving unless it’s just the very rare walking caves and not crawling water etc ,

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I will try use few torches I have with me at home first.
But I don't really understand what u mean by forgetting camera.
Would u mind to tell what does that mean?
Cheers mate !

 

[KillerQueen]

Hi all, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me.
I will try to practise the light painting first

 

[Bertie Bollockbrains]

and in addition, one little thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is to use the shutter timer on your camera - usually either a 2 second or a 10 second delay... as pressing the shutter itself could cause wobble. Gives extra time as well to be ready to begin light painting

 

[Coxieboy]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I will try use few torches I have with me at home first.
But I don't really understand what u mean by forgetting camera.
Would u mind to tell what does that mean?
Cheers mate !

I think the suggestion is that if you take your camera with you, and you are crawling into caves, you are going to hit water and cameras and water dont mix.

 

[Down and beyond]

Apologies yes caving and cameras in my opinion don’t mix very well , their are many reasons but as said above is the main ones , don’t get me wrong in some places it works but none I have been

 

[wormster]

You've obviously never been into Wheelpit Swallet on Mendip then, its a totally aqueous venue and will take out an unprotected camera in 15 seconds flat!

With regard to the OP:

You can use off camera flash, but what you need to do first is get a bit of old 35mm filmstock and obscure the on board flash with the film stock, this lets the infra red signal out to fire slave flashes but mutes the onboard flash allowing photos on the hoof.

If howver you use a tripod with a small beacon lamp and a weight attached (stop the bloody thing falling over), a 2-10 countdown delay to abate tripod wobble, set your film speed to as fast as it will go, open the apeture as wide as possible, and your shutter to the longest exposure you can, then when the shutter opens wave your caplamp around like mad - Hey Presto, you've just taken your first underground shot!

Packing things in hard shell cases (peli, otter or darren drums) will protect from water and to a certain instance shock as well, but you will still need some form of transport bag to lug all the crap about.

BEWARE: others in your party will eventually get fed up with "Photogaye" and will either stop coming out to play, or convince you to leave "all that tat" behind becuse they are fed up of being cold and delayed on a trip!!!!