Need help and advice on settings to use for cannon 50d inside a cave

[scampbell70]

I am going to Mammoth Caves in KY next week for four days and I want to take photos in the various caves while I am there. Some caves allow a flash and some do not. I do not own an external flash, just have the one built into the camera itself (for the caves I am allowed to use flashes in). I have two lenes the stock 28-135 that came with it and the fixed 85mm I bought for $600 brand new as my first add on lens. I have only had my camera about six months and I am not the greatest with it yet, I mainly shoot in auto mode and find it works for most situations. However, I know that it does not work for darker shoots, so my question is how will I get my best photos in the caves, what settings should I try for the best results? Any help will be greatly appreciated to help me get some good pictures for my family to remember our trip.

I should also mention that I have UV filters on my lenes that have been on them for the past 6 months, should I remove them? I have bought several cannon how to take better pictures and use your camera videos but I am still a complete noob. Thank you for any help that the community can give an aspiring photographer.

 

[tirediron]

What you need is a GOOD tripod and a remote release. Unless these are very, very small caverns, your pop-up flash is going to be one step below 'useless'. In fact, even a high end speelight would be of limited value. I would guess (without knowing these caverns) that you'll probably want to spend most of your times at your shorter focal lengths. Determine (if you don't already know) what your camera's highest usable ISO is, and be prepared to shoot at that. Shoot in RAW (or RAW + JPG) and auto-WB. I would probably shoot in full manual, but if you're not comfortable with that, go for shutter priority (you'll be shooting wide-open pretty much all of the time I will guess). Good luck!

 

[Kerbouchard]

Yep, sounds like a good tripod is what you need. I would take the zoom and if you aren't comfortable with manual mode, I would actually shoot in aperture priority around f/8. If it's a dark cave, like not a lot of light sources and black walls, set your exposure compensation to -1 or -2 so everything doesn't turn out grey.

If you can't bring a tripod, you can always look for rock shelves, tables, etc to set your camera on to take the shot. A remote release or delay will help with the sharpness.

Basically, based on the conditions you are describing, your gear, and your experience, I don't see any way you will be able to get good shots handheld.

Do you want pictures of the cave or pictures of people in the cave?

 

[scampbell70]

I do have a good tripod but I dont think they will let me use it,, but I will be taking it. These are moving tours and you have to stay with the group. The caves are quite large. Some are 2+ miles long and some of the larger caverns are the size of a football field with 50+ ft tall ceilings. I have been there once before yrs ago and only had a small cheap $100 handheld dslr. I am hoping to take pictures of both the caves and my family in the caves.

I should also mention some caves have great lighting because they have electricity and lighting ran through them, and some are pitch black and you can hardly see 10 ft in front of your face. I am not looking for professional magazine quality pictures because I know I am not that god yet, but I hope to be someday. My goal however is studio work and outdoor work with live models/subjects.

I find that when I am in the high school auditorium taking pictures for my son on stage like during a band concert or something the lighting is so low that on auto setting with the built in flash the pics are grainy, blurry and very dark, I am not using a tripod and I use the 28-135 lens. I am often less then 50 ft away as well. Because of the poor quality of those photos I really worry about these caves which are even darker. I know I am a complete noob but I am very disappointed in the cannon 50d for low level lighting. I am sure a lot of the problem is my inexperience though.

Thank you for the help and advice. I hope this reply helps give you more info on my problem. Is there any other advice or suggestions for me to try before I leave on my trip?

OH last thing I normally shoot in raw+jpeg and I own both photoshop elements and lightroom 3 but again I am not great at editing with them yet.

 

[jaomul]

Even though your 85mm would probably work better in low light I think you will bw using your zoom more for this occasion. If you can get a hold of a mononpod it may sort you, many can be bought that double as walking sticks so you should not have a problem bringing it into the caves.Also they are not to expensive , its the one piece of camera equipment that I believe you dont exactly get what you pay for, I have a real cheap one and it does fine. Due the low light I would shoot in Aperture priority and set it to about 5.6 (this will probably be the largest at your tele end but should be enough to give adequate DOF, also I imagine you will more than likely be shooting in the 28-50mm range for most shots).

I would select an ISO of 800-1000, Manually focus and set the timer to 2 seconds,Brace all as firm as you can and hit the shutter. It will then take 2 secs before the shot is taken but you should have everything firmly held at this stage.

Do as suggested shoot in Raw or raw/jpeg. Auto w/b will be best in the dark caves, but depending on the lighting in the lit ones tungsten or florescent may be better, but if you take them in raw you can sort that after

 

[andrewleephoto]

Shooting manual is not difficult at all. Just remember...

Lower shutter speed, more light

Lower aperture number (ie: 2.8 vs 5.6), more light

Higher ISO #, more light

The hard part is to get the correct exposure. There should be an exposure meter on your camera so use that to help you. However, when you're in a really dark place, you'll have to go by trial and error because the metering system cannot tell you the expected exposure when utilizing longer shutter speeds.