NIKON D300, NIkon 12-24, HDR in Photomatix
I had never visited a cavern before and the Inner Space Cavern in Georgetown, TX is located about 20 minutes north of Austin. I decided to take a work break yesterday and head up for a few photos. Nature in amazing! These caves were found by mistake years ago (story is below)! I took the Adventure Tour which lasts about 1 hour. I was there early and beat the crowds – I was the only person on tour and had a great guide named Brad. This shot was 5 exposures, tripod and cable release. If you click on the photo and see it larger on my site…you can see a nice natural water pool in the middle of the shot! 98% pure water…good enough to drink! This pool here is actually 2 feet deep! Amazing!
Tripods are usually not allowed due to time constraints and the concern about people tripping over them…but luckily they got me in early enough before other visitors arrived and I had a chance to use my tripod. I told him they were for my blog and said it free advertising for them, so he allowed me to use it. Thanks Brad! My guide was great and pointed out some great shots and even a few bats a foot or so right above our heads hanging upside down as we walked down the paths. Cute small little guys. He said there are about 100 bats inside the cavern. While walking and taking pics I did see a few cruising around. Very cool!
As it is nearly winter, we are getting rain in Texas and any water in the cavern is 98% pure! Good enough to drink! So there are quite a few little pools and water drippings throughout the cavern. I took quite a few HDR’s here. After post processing them…wow…add caves to a great spot to use HDR!!!! The dynamic range inside is perfect! I’ll post another shot from here next week.
Here is some info from the web on how these caves were found: Inner Space Cavern was discovered by a Texas Highway Department core drilling team in the Spring of 1963. While drilling through 40 feet of solid limestone, the bit broke into what is now known as Inner Space Cavern. An adventurous employee of the highway department was lowered into the hole while standing on the drill bit and holding tightly to the stem. He was the first human being to enter INNER SPACE. What an exciting voyage this must have been!
I’ll post more details about this cool spot next week. Whew I am so glad I didn’t see the Geico Cavemen in here!
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If you have any caverns near you…they are always a cool place to take photos. This shot above is from the Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, TX about 20 minutes from Austin. This day I took a tour first thing in the AM…and it was just me and the guide! He allowed me to take photos with my tripod (usually they do not). These caverns are slippery, so be careful! There are few more around here in Texas…one day I will get to them all!
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