A Spooky One for Halloween

amcinroy

Beneath the immense fortress is a cavern of proportionate vastness; its vault is more than sixty feet high, and its length exceeds three hundred feet. The sea enters it with a roaring sound. Above is the dread tower, where the Banshee of the Macquillains, the ancient lords of Dunluce, appears. I passed under its walls; there is the turret of Mava. I was desired to remark how carefully it was swept."Who undertakes that office?" I asked. " No living being," was the answer. " Every night this prison-like chamber is cleaned like a ball-room, and yet no one enters it." " Who then keeps it in order?" "Mava, the sweeper of Dunluce, and the Banshee of the Macquillains."
The Three Kingdoms: England, Scotland, Ireland
Charles Victor P. Arlincourt, Published 1844

And the photo I took of it last week.

Eirebear

Lovely shot, very atmospheric.
Shooting in caves like that must be a fairly awkward condition to shoot in?
May i ask how/what you used?

gonker

Wow! That is Stunning.

amcinroy

Thanks guys,

Yes, the difference in light levels between the sky outside and the cave walls is extreme. The only way to do it is blending and it's very easy to overdo the effect such that the natural light no longer looks natural.

This is a 5 exposure HDR blend spanning approx 8 stops (1/90th, 1/15th, 1/4, 1, 3 secs)

Andy

Jesus Wept

Brilliant

Eirebear

amcinroy wrote: »

Thanks guys,

Yes, the difference in light levels between the sky outside and the cave walls is extreme. The only way to do it is blending and it's very easy to overdo the effect such that the natural light no longer looks natural.

This is a 5 exposure HDR blend spanning approx 8 stops (1/90th, 1/15th, 1/4, 1, 3 secs)

Andy

Cool, finally ive found an HDR approach that actually looks real!
Its wierd, and probably because i havnt been looking in the right places, but i always find the colours unreal rather than the full tones that theyre supposed to be.

amcinroy

Eirebear wrote: »

Cool, finally ive found an HDR approach that actually looks real!
Its wierd, and probably because i havnt been looking in the right places, but i always find the colours unreal rather than the full tones that theyre supposed to be.

Yes, I'd normally never use it. But for this application it's ideal. Did you see the other 2 in the series? Both of these are HDR too. The second here spans down from 1/15th sec to 30 secs !!! And still the shadows are pitch black.

Eirebear

Awww that bottom ones a belter!
reminds me of the ship in Alien or something like that, really interesting.
Im guessing these places arent all that easy to get to?

amcinroy

The Cathedral Cave one is very tricky and quite hazardous. Portcoon and Dunluce are a little easier.

Here's a sneak preview of the three articles that are going up on my webpages in November, December and January. There's a lot of information on the making of these three images, the history and also on the logistics of getting into the caves.

The Ghost of Cathedral Cave
http://www.andymcinroy.com/0711note.htm

Portcoon Cave - The Giant's Causeway's Best Kept Secret
http://www.andymcinroy.com/0712note.htm

Mermaid's Cave - The Deep, Dark Depths of Dunluce
http://www.andymcinroy.com/0801note.htm

Andy

Eirebear

Nice one, ill have a read through them at lunchtime.
Cheers
And again, nice work

Third_Echelon

Stunning set of pics...

Where exactly is this location?

Stephen

Fantastic stuff. I've never tried any HDR myself. Has anyone done it using free software, i.e. the GIMP or paint.net ?

amcinroy

Third_Echelon wrote: »

Where exactly is this location?

Thanks guys,

The 1st photograph is in Mermaid's Cave below Dunluce Castle. The path down to the cave is currently closed due to rockfall so if you want to visit it then keep a watchout for the warden or go when the castle is closed. At your own risk of course.

At the bottom of the path you'll see the land entrance to the cave. You can then get down the eroded bank with care.

Andy

Fionn

these are great - very nice set,
the third one (ir281) looks like a ultrasound image.