Cave Formation in Howe Cavern

[gahspidy]

While visiting Howe Cavern, I thought I would try to get a few nice shots of some interesting sights below but that proved to be very difficult as they do not allow any equipment in there other than a camera. No bags, tripods. . .nothing. So I went down with my 28-75mm with a 420EX flash. ( wish I had a monopod, small one as i think I could have gotten away with that). The flash was blowing out lots of my shots, as I suspected it might. I tried playing with a few different flash exposures and bouncing the flash off other walls and ceiling, but still proved to be difficult. I also had a hard time focusing as everything was so dark. I shot one roll and came out with maybe 3 shots that I think are ok. This is one. I cropped this one and adjusted levels and also cleaned it up a bit using a demo version of NeatImage. I had heard lots of good things about this software and after using the demo to try it out, I will surely be buying the full version of it.
Is this image strong enough to present or is one for the family scrap book.
Thanks ( sorry for the long winded presentation)

[mikehulsebus]

Certainly not one that you can just confine to the scrap book.
The most distracting thing about this one is the center and its purple color cast. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that the formation was all the yellowish orangish color? Looks to me like maybe the middle was burnt in (My burnt in stuff sometimes looks purplish depending on the camera and light). Don't really know what to suggest for this one, but I like it

[villenadecorte]

Not that there is anything wrong with the scrapbook ;) I think this shot is so unique it can't go unnoticed. I am stuck trying to figure where things begin and end in this picture.

I guess with the lack of light there, and the lack of area for light to travel when using the flash it would be tricky spot to capture.

I still think it looks incredible. How about the original? Would be curious to see what it looked like before adjusting levels.
-VillenaDeCorte

While visiting Howe Cavern, I thought I would try to get a few nice shots of some interesting sights below but that proved to be very difficult as they do not allow any equipment in there other than a camera. No bags, tripods. . .nothing. So I went down with my 28-75mm with a 420EX flash. ( wish I had a monopod, small one as i think I could have gotten away with that). The flash was blowing out lots of my shots, as I suspected it might. I tried playing with a few different flash exposures and bouncing the flash off other walls and ceiling, but still proved to be difficult. I also had a hard time focusing as everything was so dark. I shot one roll and came out with maybe 3 shots that I think are ok. This is one. I cropped this one and adjusted levels and also cleaned it up a bit using a demo version of NeatImage. I had heard lots of good things about this software and after using the demo to try it out, I will surely be buying the full version of it.
Is this image strong enough to present or is one for the family scrap book.
Thanks ( sorry for the long winded presentation)

[mikehulsebus]

Yeah, along with the original of this one it would be interesting to see some of the less successful attempts to get an idea of what you were working with

[mjs1973]

I like this picture! It reminds me of Michael Fatali's work. If you're not familiar with him, you should check him out. www.fatali.com Go to his Current Portfolios page and check out his Stone Cathedrals section and you will know what I mean. I have five of his images hanging in my house.

[gahspidy]

Thanks all for your time to comment.
Mike, there was very dim lighting set up by the Howe Cavern facility which gave it the yello, orange color, or at least they enhanced it. the flash definetely had something to do with the middle losing color. that middle area was blown out by the flash so I decided to burn it in , as you thought, and I even did a slight bit of cloning a small new formation just to the left of the middle peice to help eliminate the blown out area.
I have the original as anegative but saved my changes so I would have to rescan it to show you the original. I think I will do that so you can see what I was working with. As I said, I really was not happy with any of them but thought this one was salvageable.
Villenadecorte, the flash does lose the depth of this formation. Wish I could have had a tipod and use a long exposure. I think I coul;d find a way to set something up, but it may not be for a long time before i get back there.
Mjs1973, thanks for the thoughts and I will check out the link you included,
Thanks again