The Morrison Spring Cavern Project

[mike_s]

why not take multiple pics and then use photoshop to combine/overlay? (i'm not a photoshop expert, so this is only an idea/suggestion).

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Slave strobes are really going to be the only effective way to do this right. Constant lighting is going to be far too dim unless the divers are right on top of the walls. Light falloff in the water is VERY fast.

I'm thinking we use the slaved strobes for the more important features, the HIDs painting the walls will add SOME detail, just not much, which is fine and will add more to the photo than a couple lit areas amongst black backdrop.

Here's a photo I took of the entrance with an Oly C5060WZ. I used a simple UK C8 light to paint the entrance while exposing for the ambient light in OW.

I took this picture with my old Oly C5060WZ on a weighted tripod sitting at the bottom of Morrison, facing up at the entrance.

That old camera wouldn't have the resolution or sensor needed for a decent sized print, its flooded anyway.

SeaYoda's E330 would do it fine. GlenFWB's G10 may even have everything we need?

 

[Hetland]

why not take multiple pics and then use photoshop to combine/overlay? (i'm not a photoshop expert, so this is only an idea/suggestion).

I think you would need to cement the camera to something to make that work properly, and it would look funny because the lighting would be inconsistant, and dark/bright areas would overlap each other. Not a photo expert myself, but leaving the shutter open for a long exposure is probably the simplest solution, and probably the best bet for a shot worth framing.

 

[Tom Smedley]

The way that I have seen large areas lit up like that are by using a combination of well placed slaves and HID lighting. You would have to plan the angle of the slaves and would have to coordniate the position of the divers with HIDs pointing in stragetic angles. Then you would have to take a whole bunch of pictures and use the one that comes out best.

 

[Capt Grumby]

Glen (and/or whoever else decides to take this on), count me in! I'm a camera idiot, but I can hold a light where I'm told to with the best of them!!!

Let me know the time/times and I will make arrangements to be there!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

why not take multiple pics and then use photoshop to combine/overlay? (i'm not a photoshop expert, so this is only an idea/suggestion).

Aligning issues...

UW housings don't really allow for burst shooting, but I guess you could rig up some sort of thing to hold the trigger down... Wouldn't work for compacts, but a dSLR will continually take pictures until the card is full if you rig the shutter button so it stays depressed. There's a fairly well known cave shot from a cave in France(Ressell, I think) that was taken from several shots merged together. His camera took continuous shots as it was on the tripod(rigged the shutter button depressed) as he swam around and lit up sections of cave with slave strobes.

No way in hell you'll keep the camera in the same place if you have to push the shutter on each shot.



I still say a long exposure is the easier way to do it. Keeps post processing far less intimidating. Camera needs aren't nearly as specific this way either.

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

So is this something that just needs a few divers or the more the better? Our eyes will adjust, but if we're all swimming around in the dark that's gonna up the risk, not to mention most of us in the thread are not cavern divers. Not trying to be a poopy head, just thinking about all angles of this proposed project.

 

[mike_s]

we could have a cool pic of a bunch of divers underwater in a cavern, or sitting on the log.

 

[GLENFWB]

I was really thinking of a well devised plan...once we work out the camera and lighting issues, then someone could work out a plan for the number of divers we would need in the cavern. There will be some areas not really covered in the picture, like behind the lens. We could post "safety divers" with stages just for backup and safety. That way we could plan for worst case scenarios that would provide backup gas for worst case scenarios. We do not want everyone trying to get out of the cavern at one time. Other issues like time of day would need to be considered. Doing an early morning shot before things get stirred up would also be a consideration.

Now that we have some interest in the idea, maybe we can get people to handle different phases of the project. Just some suggestions of areas we need to a person to coordinate:

Cameras
Lighting
Safety
Surface Support

I also think that once Morrison is open we could make some test dives with cameras and lighting, so we could refine our process before the actual day of the dive.

Just some thoughts....

So is this something that just needs a few divers or the more the better? Our eyes will adjust, but if we're all swimming around in the dark that's gonna up the risk, not to mention most of us in the thread are not cavern divers. Not trying to be a poopy head, just thinking about all angles of this proposed project.

 

[bamamedic]

I'm not cavern certified, but I'll gladly be surface support. Paramedics are good to have around