Caves

[microbat52]

Hi friends

 

Sorry I havent posted much lately. Ive been doing some caving and of course I take a UV lamp for extra fun. I dont carry a tripod though so the quality is not that great. 

 

Most calcite/ gypsum glow bluish but some glow orange. Also they phosforesce in green wich is super fun. 

 

IMPORTANT:

No formations were harvested or broken, thats 1) illegal and 2) awful thing to do. 

 

Helictites

 

Broken stalactite 

 

Soda straws and "bulbs"

 

Another broken stalactite.

[colinbm]

Good on you, thanks for sharing.

[Andy Perrin]

This is very cool! I still want to try the laser stimulated fluorescence in a cave. 

[microbat52]

Just now, Andy Perrin said:

This is very cool! I still want to try the laser stimulated fluorescence in a cave. 

Dude I would love to try that. Been talking to a friend that owns a UV laser hehe

[Doug A]

Great captures @microbat52. Didn't know things could be so colorful in a cave. 

 

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[Nate]

Great shots! I hadn't heard of these formations, seems like a lot of fun exploring.

[Andrea B.]

These are really lovely examples of fluorescent cave formations. I don't think we have ever had posted here this kind of work made in a cave. How fascinating it must be to see this for real and get to photograph it.

 

Here is a way to stabilize your camera when you cannot pack a tripod or monopod. 

https://www.instructables.com/1-Camera-Image-Stabilizer/

 

 

[ulf]

I used that tripod-less image stabilisation metod, with a twist, for getting the right distance to the hinge point when using a tilt lens. 

That is much easier to do in the field than the instructions in the lens manual.

 

For each degree of lens tilt there are a well defined distance from the lens to the intersect of the "plane" of focus defined by the Scheimpflug's principle:

https://lensnotes.com/articles/principles-of-view-camera-focus/

 

I tied knots on the line at the correct distance to set a foot plate position, for each degree of tilt.

[microbat52]

6 hours ago, Andrea B. said:

 

 

Here is a way to stabilize your camera when you cannot pack a tripod or monopod. 

https://www.instructables.com/1-Camera-Image-Stabilizer/

 

 

Ha! This is such a neat idea! Thanks

[Andrea B.]

Ulf wrote:  I used that tripod-less image stabilisation metod, with a twist, for getting the right distance to the hinge point when using a tilt lens. 

 

Excellent idea!

---

 

 

Here is a commercial version of the String Pod which has a retractable string. These are no longer made, but a few available on Ebay. I have no experience with this particular gadget, so do not know how well it worked.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2507978.m570.l1313&_nkw=steadepod&_sacat=0

 

And a few years ago Kirk made a Strap Pod which attached to a camera plate on the bottom of the cam. I have one of these and it is helpful. Sadly it is no longer made. However, the plate version style of Strap Pod can be quite pricey due to the need for the camera plate if you do not already have that.

Here is a B&H photo of another Kirk Strap Pod which screwed in. The benefit of a strap is that it is easier to step on. It would be fairly easy to acquire strapping and attach it to a screw-in ring bolt which fit the tripod mount.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/555223-REG/Kirk_SP_UNV_SP_UNV_Strap_Pod_with.html

 

[Andrea B.]

I'm going to make a String Pod topic. 

[microbat52]

I did some more, still havent made the stringpod but i tested the olympus "firework settings" and it does a fairly good job at light painting.

 

[Andrea B.]

These are truly otherworldly. Very enjoyable.

[Andy Perrin]

I missed these! Those are neat, Microbat!

 

Is the caving and your username somehow related?

[microbat52]

Glad you like them! #3 and #6 were really interesting. In visible It was all brown mud but in UV you can see different carbonate deposits doing glowy stuff. 

 

 

(Ha! I just happen to like bats and caves and a whole plethora of other unrelated things lol)

[Andy Perrin]

I tried enhancing #3 with the Topaz plugins (this was a combo of Gigapixel and the DeNoiser). I also boosted shadows a little. Will remove if you don't like it!

 

 

[microbat52]

Just now, Andy Perrin said:

I tried enhancing #3 with the Topaz plugins (this was a combo of Gigapixel and the DeNoiser). I also boosted shadows a little. Will remove if you don't like it!

 

 

Dude that looks SHARP! I love it, can I mail it to you full size? 

 

I need to look into Topaz...

 

Nevermind, so many $$...

[Andy Perrin]

Topaz does sales and bundles pretty often. Look for the sales. The last one was black friday but I'm sure there will be more.

 

You can certainly message me the full size, or the RAW if you have it. 

[Doug A]

@microbat52 just noticed you added more images. They are really beautiful. Your photos are the only UV cave shots I've seen. Looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[microbat52]

Glad you like them!! I bring more

 

Ive been trying using a phone instead of a point and shoot. The phone software makes my life fairly easy stabilization-wise. Even if sometimes I like the less sharp glowy look. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Perrin]

Whoa! I love these new ones! The last one looks like the mouth of some strange dinosaur.

[Doug A]

Impressive additions @microbat52. They  are sharp and vibrant. Great captures of a world very few will ever see.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A