Cave Photography

KelSS90 · Jul 11, 2014

The husband and I are taking a little weekend trip next weekend to Bowling Green, Kentucky. We are going to see the Mammoth Caves while we are there, so I've been reading up on photography techniques hoping to get some decent shots. We've signed up for the one tour that *does* allow tripods, and the caves are lit for tour purposes so I won't have so many options there (compared to if I were starting with a pitch black cave and controlling the only source of light).

My question comes in with the lens -- every source I have read says that a wide angle is a must. Buuut, I don't have one. I only have my kit lens and my 50 mm 1.8 prime (body is a D3200). Opinions on which I should use? I planned on taking both and kind of feeling it out once we got in there, but after some reading I'm worried about changing lenses due to the moisture and mineral - rich drips of water. I would like to avoid renting one as these aren't really high-priority shots... just thought I would try some out since we were doing the tour anyway. Any advice would be very appreciated!

TCampbell · Jul 11, 2014

If your subject isn't moving and also if your camera isn't moving, then you can leave the shutter open as long as you need to get the shot -- lighting is not a problem even in near complete darkness. If the tripod is not a big heavy beefy tripod then it will likely shake a little when you press the shutter button. To get around this, you can use a remote release (either wired or wireless) and/or just use the camera's self-timer so that you can press the button, take your fingers off the camera, and the tripod will have a chance to settle down before the shutter opens.

As for lenses... your kit lens goes out to 18mm. That's moderately wide but not super wide. If you don't want to rent then that's what I'd use.

Otherwise, rent something in the 10-20mm neighborhood... like one of these: LensRentals.com - Rent Nikon > Lenses > Wide Angle

KmH · Jul 11, 2014

If your kit lens is 18 mm at the wide end that is what I would use.

If you are making JPEG files in the camera I recommend you go into the Picture Control settings (pages 76 - 79 in the Reference Manual) increase the sharpening to 4 - 5.

KelSS90 · Jul 11, 2014

I do plan on taking my remote shutter release with me so I can use that... I'm not too concerned with the lighting as its essentially done for me. Its just a matter of shooting the provided lighting properly

KmH, I shoot in RAW and do all of my post processing in Lightroom. I'll put my kit lens on and go with that.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. I was/am mostly worried about noise, but hopefully with the tripod and a super slow shutter speed, I will be able to keep my ISO low enough that it won't be too much of an issue.

dennybeall · Jul 11, 2014

I would use the widest lens I had and for areas that were too wide for that lens I would shoot 2 or 3 shots in portrait (turn camera on it's side) side by side and put them together with Photoshop. A panorama can be just 2 or 3 shots it doesn't have to be 6 or 7.