A Withyhill Photo Book

The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
In one 5 hour trip I took 315 photos using just the Olympus TG 2 and Helmet lighting. These were edited down to 128 and as usual uploaded to Photobox to create an album        ( Now my 38th album for various subjects but mostly caving.) Photobox were running a %60 discount for projects of over 100 pages so my total cost with minor upgrades was less than ?60. So from time to time I thought I might add some of the betters photos here. Mainly to show that simple and quick photography with a camera less than ?250 can be done. Mind you the subject cave helps a lot.





I was surprised when editing this one. Looks like spider's web.











A selfie of course.







Hard getting the light right on this one.



I can do a few more if you like ---
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Hooray a sole response even if it is from my loyal fan club. :bow: I am so overwhelmed with the gratitude that I will add a couple more. :doubt:

Lighting just by Caving lamp and camera.





 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
And while still infused with that warm glow of peer gratitude and admiration a few more.



I think this sort of thing is very rare. That's two places in Withyhill where we have calcite crystals in mud cracks.





Calcite lace.











Yup. I could be lured back for more. The warm glow is receding now --- :coffee:
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
You are lucky. It's raining -- Same trip.



Baby heli





Yes, Yes. Another selfie. And yes I am looking old and knackered but I am 70 this year and have done 16 caving trips since Christmas. Funny I do far more now than I did 50 years ago. Anyone else similiar ?



Where none have entered.





 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member




Getting the starburst effect and back lighting from a helmet light might mean trial and error. It's the most basic form of posing I ask for. Just moving the head about really and hides the fact that the caver might be out of focus.



False floor with boulders.





Some " fun " photos coming up next if nobody is bored yet. Er Fan Club ? :beer:
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Thanks Tony. Posting images here is a bit troubling. I can understand those that dont. In a way you are exposing your meager talents to ridicule or criticism and there used to be those grumbling about the image size which seems to have abated a bit. The resounding " silence "  is un nerving as well. I never profess to be any good at this lark. I just really want to keep pressing on how easy it is with little equipment and dither. So this piece is one trip taking three hours to take the images. Not a lot to ask of anyone with a little bit of caving nous. I will add some more later on. (y)
 
tony from suffolk

tony from suffolk

Well-known member
I do wish I'd spent more time taking photos when I was actively caving. I found my caving companions used to get rather impatient when I stopped progress so I could open up the ammo tin to drag the camera out, so I tended to not bother as much as I should have done.

One of my cameras still resides inside an ammo tin at the bottom of the Lower Traverse in Eastwater, with lots of photos on its 120 cassette. Unless someone rescued it. And a Marathon bar...
 
tony from suffolk

tony from suffolk

Well-known member
Getting a suitably long pole into that bit of the Lower Traverse and manipulating it would be an interesting challenge! J-Rat reckoned he managed to hook lots of dropped gear out of there, but he couldn't recall my ammo tin when I asked him about it.
 
Roger W

Roger W

Well-known member
Anyway, some excellent photos of very interesting formations there.  I presume those columns are really tiny - or are they actually 7 or 8 feet tall?
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
I used to worry about indicating scale Roger but far less so now. Straws help with scale as they are always the same diameter. Macro stuff you have to accept as they appear and with larger formations you can stick a willing model in. Sometimes ,though, conservation issues make it difficult to include a figure. Quite often now I like to show formations as I see them without anyone else being in the way. Oh. The columns are 15 ft high. :halo:
 
Laurie

Laurie

Active member
The Old Ruminator said:
And while still infused with that warm glow of peer gratitude and admiration a few more.
Click to expand...
108.gif
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Oh all right. I will do some more. Same trip etc --- (y)



Thought I would try something different here. Its a fragile false floor some 3m up. All the sediment beneath has been washed away.



So I sent my trusty colleague up with the camera as he is more nimble than me. I then shone my helmet light up through the hole. It would have looked great with just a hand but was too far up for that.





Again no scale with the above as that would not have been possible. The hole is about 4 inches long.

False floor with rocks and later stal flow. Same passage.





 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Boulder retained in false floor.



I liked this angle as you see both sides of the curtain at the same time.





Now almost my trademark. A bit of Scurion spot just off the main subject.



Scurion light just creeping in from the left. A good helper will know where to add this without me asking.



Those calcited mud cracks in macro. My helmet off and low to the side. Always difficult to focus in caving macro.You can prefocus on a bit of card. I always back up a macro shot with a normal one. At least you can save something by cropping down. The TG series give good macro but there is fall off in definition at the edges so you usually need to crop macro in any case. Just the one go here so it is as it is.



The larger view.



One not knocked off.





Completely unposed as he moved quickly through. The telltale Scurion dab top right.



Still a few more to come. The Withyhill photo trips at an end now for the moment as two trips a week were getting hard for me. Vurley tomorrow as usual. Nearing my 80th digging trip in under two years.

Tomorrow will see the return to " La La Land ". Here is me coming out from there last week.


 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Yes Yes Quite Right :bow: Taken by " The Master " ( That could be a shortened reference to something else ). Caught me rock polishing with my duster. I do hate mucky digs.

Undercut stal. Main passage. The process continues.



Cobble bank. Main streamway.



Main streamway.



Looking up. Main streamway.



Colour variation makes Withyhill special.






Oh still a few more -- ;)

Right. It's early Tuesday. Kit packed and off to" La La Land". Wherever that is. :unsure:


 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Mr O' Doc has a photo trip with Amy  :kiss2: soon in Withyhill. That combination should produce something special in the way of images. Perhaps they might be kind enough to post a link here. :beer:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top