How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

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How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

Postby steven skelly » Jul 14, 2013 11:32 am

Hi everyone, I have a Panasonic Linux TS20 camera and I can't seem to figure out how to set it up to take pics in caves. In almost all the pics I take, my camera focuses on the fog and not the thing I'm trying to take a picture of. Is there a simple way to set up my camera to stop this from happening? I tried reading the camera manual but it really didn't help me at all. Any info would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks, Steve
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Re: How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

Postby rlboyce » Jul 14, 2013 7:39 pm

Try an off-camera flash or light painting with your headlamp. It's not so much that your camera is focusing on the fog as much as the light from the on-camera flash is reflecting off the fog and back into the lens. Some cameras deal with this issue better than others, but at the end of the day you're almost always going to have the fog/dust particle issue, especially if what you're taking a shot of is more than a few feet away. Most cameras nowadays adjust to whatever light is available; if you're taking a shot of something more than a few feet away, the cave environment sucks up a lot of the light from the flash, so the reflection of light off the fog actually becomes the brightest reflection and ultimately what the camera focuses on. By offsetting the light source at an angle, you almost completely eliminate any visible reflection off fog in the picture. Of course, introducing off-camera light sources creates new challenges to deal with.

I've also found that you can reduce the amount of fog if you don't breathe. :tonguecheek:
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Re: How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

Postby GroundquestMSA » Jul 14, 2013 8:12 pm

First of all, I have to say that I'm NOT a good photographer. I know only a few basics that allow me to at least get a "legible" photo. As rlboyce said, don't use the flash on your camera. If the passage is small, or not too foggy, you can light it up with a few headlamps and get a well lit photo. Have your buddies help you light the shot and try not to allow any light source to shine from directly beside the shutter. If you have a big passage or lots of fog to deal with, you can "lightpaint," meaning that you put the camera on a tripod or set it on a ledge or so on, and take a long exposure shot while evenly "painting" the scene with your headlamp(s). Your Lumix camera doesn't allow you to manually set a specific exposure length, but it probably has a fireworks scene mode, which will give you an exposure of up to 8 seconds.

More advanced methods call for additional off camera flashes, but I know nothing about that.

Have fun!
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Re: How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

Postby captnemo » Jul 14, 2013 11:54 pm

The lumix ts20 doesnt list manual settings ao you'll have to try the various SCN modes to try and find one that works, as already mentioned fireworks is one commonly included, look also for "night portrait" or "museum mode: hopefully something along those lines will give you a longer shutter opening, you\ll need to have the camera completely steady.
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Re: How do I set up my camera to take photos in caves?

Postby steven skelly » Jul 16, 2013 10:55 am

Great! Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Hopefully some better pics for me next time out.
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