We found this place, and I only got a handful of quick snaps before we left (due to motion sensors and not knowing if we tripped them), but I would love advice on tunnels... I want to go back and spend a great deal of time in these things, there are tons of them and they are pitch black and super long. I'm usually good with low light/no light and light painting, but these tunnels are so skinny and long that I'm finding I completely blow out the foreground in order to light the far end. Would the easiest fashion of lighting be to use a camping lantern and walk away from the camera down the tunnel in order to gain even exposure? Using my body to block the lantern from casting light backwards to the camera and previously exposed areas.


Examples, disregard any missed focus because I was shooting with a rangefinder lens and a definite inability to determine distance in these tunnels:

I can usually get good shots, this is a crop of a much larger image... The detail and lighting worked great for B&W because I took advantage of the ambient light at the other end of this particular tunnel.

1.


2.



But this is what I'm running into, #3 is the original and #4 is the crop and edit to bring some of the tones and structure back.

3.


4.




Thanks for any advice or help!

What kind of flashlight are you using? And are you using flash at all?

I assume these are a lot like drains in their difficulty to light.

I have a multitude of lighting options... Spot Light, Maglites, headlamps, etc. These were taken using a smaller led Maglite and no use of a flash. My incandescent one didn't touch these tunnels, poor little fella haha. I also have access to tons of camping lights as well. Just don't want to carry 15 lights with me just to figure out 13 of them are useless. Trying to speed up the learning curve since this is an active site and I don't have a similar location to practice on. And yes, I would assume this is super similar to drains.

I am going to use this one for a lack of a better example
DSC_4344 by astroberkman17, on Flickr


That I did with a flashlight, and I just swiftly paint it. But I recall having to do a lot of photos over and over again. A flashlight with a far beam is ideal, here, because it allows you to stay behind your camera and light (meaning you won't get caught up in the photo).

For that photo I used one of the ever popular "buddalights"
http://www.uer.ca/...=110894&currpage=1

Because he has the fucking of a wide, less concentrated beam, and then a mode where the beam is more intense, and the reach is further. This is good for distance lighting. All flashlights with a far beam can work, though. It requires you do more "painting" (which can be difficult to get even) but at the same time it allows you to not have an issue with the foreground being overexposed.

Once you take the photo, however long it is, you will be able to see the parts you either aren't lighting enough, or need to light less, as well. In my photo, I dind't light the bottom enough, resulting in dark water.

You aren't realistically going to get the ENTIRE tunnel perfectly, but the further your light reaches, the further you can light.

You can also try using flash in various ways, but then once you walk in front of the cameras, you are risking catching yourself.


I don't know if this helps any or even makes sense...but it's how I light drains. And of course can be tweaked a bit.

Yeah I had a badass 40$ version of that flashlight at one point... Tactical version for self defense as well! But I lost it, most likely it's sitting right where I set it down in some building haha

That does help, I guess the flashlight I had was too wide and there for cast to much light to the foreground. I guess I'll pick up a few of the cree's and see how it works out when I go back.

Thanks for responding!

hide flashlights in areas not visible to the camera (tucked behind some of the pipes?) and, if anything, light your shots from the far end of the tunnel pointing towards the camera. To avoid lens flares prevent the light from shining directly into the lens - it can be obscured by a human form, or just aimed in such a way that it hits a wall, and not the sensor.

Never light a tunnel from behind the camera unless you want a horribly bland, washed out exposure or are purely interested in non-artistic photo-documentation.

There are a million and one ways to light that tunnel and the best thing about underground photography is the challenge of making a boring, mundane (and usually cramped) environment look interesting. Try and deconstruct tunnel photos you've seen to figure out where the lights were placed, make a note of the techniques you like and go out and try as many as you can. Theres no singular formula that works for every space - experiment with trial and error and you can start to refine your intuition with lighting, but it's never an exact science, no matter how many times you've done it.

There's plenty of examples (good and bad) on my website - www.tohellandback.net - take a look and feel free to message me if you have questions about how I lit a specific tunnel.

good luck and keep exploring!

Posted by terapr0 hide flashlights in areas not visible to the camera (tucked behind some of the pipes?) and, if anything, light your shots from the far end of the tunnel pointing towards the camera. To avoid lens flares prevent the light from shining directly into the lens - it can be obscured by a human form, or just aimed in such a way that it hits a wall, and not the sensor. Never light a tunnel from behind the camera unless you want a horribly bland, washed out exposure or are purely interested in non-artistic photo-documentation. There are a million and one ways to light that tunnel and the best thing about underground photography is the challenge of making a boring, mundane (and usually cramped) environment look interesting. Try and deconstruct tunnel photos you've seen to figure out where the lights were placed, make a note of the techniques you like and go out and try as many as you can. Theres no singular formula that works for every space - experiment with trial and error and you can start to refine your intuition with lighting, but it's never an exact science, no matter how many times you've done it. There's plenty of examples (good and bad) on my website - www.tohellandback.net - take a look and feel free to message me if you have questions about how I lit a specific tunnel. good luck and keep exploring!

Great fuckin guy right there!!! ^^^^^^

thanks! Always glad to help, and it's a topic on which I could drone for hours