Onondaga Cave 1: Queen's Canopy by Zofodon

Photography • Landscape • posted on Jun 26, 2007

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Description

After a bit of a break I'm back to a new set of pictures. Onondaga cave is one of the more interesting caves to visit in the area, it has the largest open chamber room in the state, but it was much harder to photograph in because it wasn't very brightly lit. On a return visit I plan to take my SB600 flash for heavy duty illumination; it's okay as long as you don't flash a bat or one of the other inhabitants. The Queen's Canopy is the smaller of two canopies, massive flowstones of accreted minerals. Of the two this one is still active, and I believe the guide said it was the largest active one in the US. This was a particularly difficult shot to take because of the lighting and the dynamic range, going from the bright white lights to the dim corners and the water. I used my Nikon D50 at ISO 1600 with my fabled and fabulous Tokina 12-24mm wide angle, and took about a dozen shots. Then it was post processed for noise and sharpened slightly. If I had time I would have used a tripod and taken a series of images at different apertures to make a HDR image, but all I had was a guard rail to rest against and a few seconds, so you make do where you can. If you look at the very top of the picture you can just barely see (the 12mm image I'll post later shows it all) the foundation crack--I believe that's what they called it, the original break in the bedrock which let water seep in and create the whole cave.

Comments (9)

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MarciaGomes

7:57PM | Tue, 26 June 2007

FANTTICA FOTO.++++++++5

mitchej0

8:16PM | Tue, 26 June 2007

Amazing image! I must visit there sometime! I am jealous of your camera's! I think the image looks great for the low light levels. It reminds me of a couple of caves here at Lake Powell. Thanks for sharing!

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