Cave of Stakes Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Cave of Stakes (Wooden Stakes Cave / Hang Dau Go) is the name given to this cave by the Vietnamese. In the 13th century, one Tran dynasty general used to hide many wooden stakes in the cave to wreck the Northern invaders’ warships. (Chinese)

To the French, it was known as the Cave of Marvels or Grotte des Merveilles. The cave is in Ha Long Bay, a spectacular area of karst formations in the sea.

mumek, jrj, ngythanh, PixelTerror, carper, nwoehnl, robiuk, bpelvan, alford, cmartos, chinchini, archanabhimasen has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

aloyho (6105) 2005-03-30 4:18

Hi Chris,
The strong contrast bring out the textures which are beautiful. I have tried taking pictures in caves but not very successful in bringing out the details and colours. Nice work here. Syabas!

papagolf21 (55872) 2005-03-30 4:34

Cher Chris,
Nous pénétrons dans les antres de la terre avec ces stalagmites et stalactites qui forment un tableau vivant et merveilleux.
Couleurs merveilleuses.
Amitiés.
Philippe

greg64g (11193) 2005-03-30 4:34

Hello Chris,

This Cave is Huge ! i must say that the colors are amazing, is the way to go on the center of the earth ?

cheers
greg

mumek (17464) 2005-03-30 4:51

Good morning Chris!
Very beautiful contrast between darker foreground and background with very interesting light. Wonderful colors, shapes and textures. Very good light. Thanks for sharing
ziggy

jrj (34777) 2005-03-30 5:32

Impressive place Chris, strange and very 'underworld'. Good details where the people in there sure sets some scaling.

supereira (9576) 2005-03-30 6:04

Good shot.I like the composition and prespective.I like the detail of the persons.Very good colors and contrasts between them.Good textures,light and sharpness.Great details.Good job!

ngythanh (8490) 2005-03-30 7:38

Thanks for such helpful notes.

Shooting inside a cave without flash is a big challenge to me: I failed with more than one roll of film last time in Phong Nha Caves, Dong Hoi, last June 2004. Here you shown me your ability...

Regards,

PixelTerror (85994) 2005-03-30 8:03

Hi Chris,
I like the result of your cave shooting session, the rock formations are impressive and the lighting provides interesting color variations, the people are a good reminder that this has been shot on Earth ! Very good scan output.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

bantonbuju (48334) 2005-03-30 8:17

wow, its huge! what i like here in this photo is the fact that you did manage to reflect the vastness of the cave; good job, chris!
take care, j.

carper (63968) 2005-03-30 9:46

Indeed nice cave shot Chris,
the contrast between dark and light is nice, the colours are good, I think it can be done a tittle softer, but even I like the rtesult, good job.
gr. Jaap

Kenny10pin (19301) 2005-03-30 11:46

very ncie work, The colours of the illuminated rock are nice, Ive seen alof of these caves in China, its interesting

weswang (18223) 2005-03-30 12:29

Hi Chris, It is hard to take cave picture because the limited light sources. You have done a very good job here. I like the way you have the people in the view to provide a nice scale in comparing to this large sized cave.

nwoehnl (118) 2005-03-30 13:36

Interesting shot from inside the cave, Chris - the colorful illuminations sure are key for the atmosphere here, and good to have the visitors included for human interest and scale. Difficult to manage the exposure here, I would assume - overall you found a good balance and the loss of some texture in the ceiling is not too critical. Well done.

Fixfocus (9377) 2005-03-30 13:57

Hi Chris!
Looks really impressive!Wide range of colors,-I guess this is the result of the illumination?Excellent compo with the dark foreground,this brings nice contrasts.
Well done!

alainh (35341) 2005-03-30 14:50

Hello Chris.
Not easy at all. but the result is good. strange and beautiful colours. good to see people for the escale.
regards
alain

robiuk (10761) 2005-03-30 16:50

Unbelievable palette of colours you captured here, Chris!
Very good light control as well and your POV is good as it shows us th epath through the cave with people giving a true scale!
Thanks,
Robi

bpelvan (3786) 2005-03-30 19:10

Hi Chris,
Good to see the people here thus we're having an idea about the sizes. Good catch of the ligthing effects. Sharp and deep image. Good job. Thanks for sharing...

anakin (2775) 2005-03-31 6:45

Very interesting place and very good colours ang lights.
Seguro que fue una complicada toma, pero te ha salido un buen resultado.
Well done
Saludos

femkevdh (2633) 2005-03-31 15:52

wow Chris, nice game of colors and light. Are the caves enlighted with these colors or is this mainly because of maipulation? Still good details visible. Wonderful place.

alford (3897) 2005-03-31 20:20

Wow! Amazing lighting you've captured here, Chris! The cave looks massive, as scaled with the people. The sharp edges of the stones really make the place rugged! I like your POV, too, I think you've captured the main highlight of the cave. Thanks for sharing, I didn't know there are caves like these in Vietnam. rgds.

avigur_11 (21271) 2005-03-31 22:29

What an amazin place, Chris. You handled the colors very well despite the hard light conditions. Very good shot.

cmartos (6086) 2005-04-01 1:39

Wonderful shot of these caves. The light is really superbly caught. Good sense of scale brought by the presence of people here, really huge dimensions! Thanks for sharing Chris.

chinchini (27253) 2005-04-02 2:51

Quelle incroyable palette de couleurs. Sont-ce les lumières artificielles qui colorisent les parois ou sont-ce des couleurs naturelles ?
En tout cas, elle porte bien son nom de Grotte aux Merveilles.
Merci Chris
Amitiés/Pierre

archanabhimasen (270) 2005-04-11 22:46

Beautiful colors...was there a 'Light and sound' show that was conducted inside this cave?

Salocin51 (533) 2005-06-23 18:18

Wah les couleurs !
Un peu dommage que que ce soit aussi saturé, j'aurais bien aimé connaître les détails techniques de la photo pour savoir si tu avais utilisé un long temps de pose.
Mais en tout cas ça saute aux yeux, c'est riche, on se croirait dans une pièce de théâtre souterraine, aux décors surréalistes !
Très joli, bravo.