A good friend of mine (Pete) phoned me last night and spoke about a holiday he is about to go on. He is travelling with his wife to Zante, and they have already booked a trip to visit the Blue Caves. I was fortunate to take a boat trip to these caves a few years ago, and Pete was asking what I thought of them. He also asked, knowing that I am a keen photographer, if I had any tips and advice as to the best way to take photographs when in a cave. He is keen to take plenty of photos as a way of remembering the trip and so that he can show the images to his friends and family when he returns to the UK. We spoke for over an hour about everything, and I stated that I was looking forward to hearing about what he thought about the island and to seeing the photographs from the caves. Pete said that he was planning to print and frame some of the favourite photos from his holiday, including the ones he takes in the caves, to put into a photo collage when he returns home.
Cave photography tips and tricks
The biggest challenges of taking photos in a cave are mainly due to low light, humidity (especially during the summer in Zante, and in caves in countries with a similar climate) and the lack of space. What space there is can often be uneven and wet.
Due to what is likely to be a lack of light, it is prudent to bring your own, either in the form of a handheld LED torch or, potentially even better, via a headlamp. These will not only aid you in seeing more and to light up the cave, which in turn should enable you to take better shots, but they will also help you to see where to walk on what are often somewhat treacherous and uneven floors of the cave.
One of the issues of taking photographs in places that are humid, such as caves, is that the lens can quite quickly fog up. For this reason, it is advisable to take a microfibre cloth with you as it will be necessary to regularly clean the lens. It is also important to protect your gear from the humidity, and a good way of doing this is by using silica gel packs. Another option is to have a camera rain cover.
To show the true scale in the photo, it is a good idea to include a person in the shot but ensure that this person is not the dominating feature, well, at least not in every shot, as one of the main aims is to showcase the beauty of the caves.
It is not essential to take an expensive camera to the caves, as a smartphone can also produce some excellent results with the right techniques. The first thing to remember is to shoot in manual (Pro) mode if it is available on your phone. For long exposure shots using a smartphone, it is important to stabilise your phone. A compact tripod and a universal phone clamp will help you to do so.