Carlsbad Caverns
On Tuesday morning (10-13), the van was DONE ! ! ! This would be our longest driving day - 476 miles to Carlsbad, NM.
I had been to Carlsbad Caverns about 40 years ago. I recalled mobs of people underground. There are 4 elevators that carry about 12 people each, making the 750 descent in about 2 minutes. There was a cafeteria underground.
In the Covid era, they only let 800 people down every day and they direct people down the trail instead of the elevators. This is also one of the places where the bats exit at dusk.
In the Caverns there was just enough light to see where the paved paths were with accent lighting for dramatic and aesthetic effect.
They did allow tripods. 40 years ago, I used a flash. That did not work out well. Even with a tripod, I used an ISO of 10000, because I didn't want to wait for exposures going into minutes.
When processing the raw images I had to balance the dramatic effect with the desire to open up shadows to show more detail (and reducing overall contrast. And there was noise, that I didn't try to remove. They were all pretty much a uniform color, except where they used cool light blubs. I considered converting them to BW, but left them as shot to show the color of the cavern.
When we were done, the only let one family group per elevator.
Read MoreI had been to Carlsbad Caverns about 40 years ago. I recalled mobs of people underground. There are 4 elevators that carry about 12 people each, making the 750 descent in about 2 minutes. There was a cafeteria underground.
In the Covid era, they only let 800 people down every day and they direct people down the trail instead of the elevators. This is also one of the places where the bats exit at dusk.
In the Caverns there was just enough light to see where the paved paths were with accent lighting for dramatic and aesthetic effect.
They did allow tripods. 40 years ago, I used a flash. That did not work out well. Even with a tripod, I used an ISO of 10000, because I didn't want to wait for exposures going into minutes.
When processing the raw images I had to balance the dramatic effect with the desire to open up shadows to show more detail (and reducing overall contrast. And there was noise, that I didn't try to remove. They were all pretty much a uniform color, except where they used cool light blubs. I considered converting them to BW, but left them as shot to show the color of the cavern.
When we were done, the only let one family group per elevator.
