Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  3 Responses »
Feb 252013
 
Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

About the site Tank Cave consists of several miles of interlinking tunnels and passages north of Mt Gambier. The cave has shallow, clear water and changes character as you swim through the different tunnels and rooms. I suspect I’m now well past 25,000 photos in there and familiarity gives me a great opportunity to experiment. About the dive With camera wrapped up and a mission in mind, Ken and I headed down the line, up the Goat Track and to the Elephant Room. We were trying a new strobe set up with an off camera strobe mounted on the top of each sidemount. This worked well through the restrictions, with Ken able to reach back and rearrange the strobes as [read more…]

A convenient restriction in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Nov 262012
 
A convenient restriction in Tank Cave

About the cave Tank Cave is a fantastic site in Mt Gambier, with miles of shallow, interconnecting tunnels. Shallow is definitely better from a photographic point of view, as it means a lot more time to play around and reduces the impact of narcosis on the artistic vision. Another very handy feature in Tank is the way the character of the cave changes from area to area. As you can see from my previous postings, there are large chambers, long dark tunnels, small silty tunnels and bright white breakdown piles. This variety means a great selection of places to take photos, as well as the challenge of remembering to change camera and strobe settings as you swim from one area into [read more…]

3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier, Other  No Responses »
Oct 292012
 
3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

For those CDAA members who attended the talks associated with our Annual General Meeting over the weekend, you will remember JDZ’s introduction to some new cave mapping techniques. Cave explorers are familiar with counting knots in the line and noting depth, direction and azimuth all the way home. Dive complete, you exit to dry land, translate your scribbled notes for entry into a computer program and check out the stick map of your progress. This time consuming exercise has been the only way for your average diver on a budget to produce accurate maps of our underwater travels. Beyond being time consuming, errors can creep into a survey over time. This is especially true in complex caves with multiple branching [read more…]

Backlighting Divers in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Sep 032012
 
Backlighting Divers in Tank Cave

About the site I realise I may be beginning to repeat myself in talking about Tank Cave again, but there are a few good reasons for it. Primary among them is that it’s winter in this part of the world, and the ocean gets particularly lumpy and hard to get along with. Mt Gambier is a great option for weather-independent diving, and Tank Cave is a fantastic playground for a fun weekend. I think one of the great attractions for me is the shallow depths through most of the tunnels. Narcosis makes me the best photographer in the world, right up until the moment I return to the surface and begin to review my shots. The high price of helium [read more…]

Rebreathers and Restrictions in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Aug 272012
 
Rebreathers and Restrictions in Tank Cave

About the site As I mentioned two weeks ago, when Dive Rite announced their annual photo competition, a weekend in Tank Cave seemed like the obvious place to take some shots of Dive Rite gear in action. I was lucky enough to win third prize against some very nice shots. Some of my other submitted shots from that weekend didn’t make the final, and luckily I’m the only judge on my own site. I love this pair of shots, and the first one definitely deserves a little explanation. About the dive Having brow beaten my buddies into wearing all their Dive Rite gear and none of the rest, we had a lovely series of dives over the weekend while also doing [read more…]

Dive Rite Photo Competition 2012

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Aug 132012
 
Dive Rite Photo Competition 2012

About the site I’ve talked about and shown photos from Tank Cave multiple times. With kilometres of beautiful, varied and shallow passages its a photographer’s delight in a relatively easily accessible location. When Dive Rite announced their annual photo competition, a weekend in Tank Cave seemed like the obvious place to take some shots of Dive Rite gear in action. About the dive This was the first dive of the weekend, as I wanted to take advantage of clear water throughout the system for the best photos. While 8kms of passage between 12 divers seems like a lot, there are some great shots to be taken in the regularly travelled places. By the last dives of a weekend these locations will be milky from the [read more…]

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