LEVEL 1 - Equipment & Exposure Mastery

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #1 STEP 2: Watch Lesson #2 STEP 3: Watch Lesson #3 STEP 4: Watch Lesson #4

Now that you’ve learned about creating a good exposure underground it’s time to apply what you’ve learned. Don’t worry about creating an amazing image. Right now we are just trying create a picture that is not too light and not too dark, but just right.

I want you to go underground. You could always try this in a dark basement or in a forest outside at night, but why would you want to do that? You’re a caver for goodness sake. Anyway, I want you to experiment with what we learned in this lesson by setting up the shots listed below and adjusting; first, the aperture to see what happens; then the ISO; then the flash intensity; and finally the flash distance. Then adjust all four to come up with the best shot.

STEP 5: Complete Assignment #1 Brandon's Gear List

LEVEL 2 - Light Direction Mastery

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #5

Now that you have mastered exposure it’s time to start unlocking your potential. In this assignment you are going to play with lighting direction with a single light source. The most important thing you can do to improve your cave photography is get that flash off your camera. Once you have it off though the secret is knowing what to do with it. It this assignment you will play with lighting direction to see what effect the light has on your photograph coming from different directions.

STEP 2: Complete Assignment #2

LEVEL 3 - Mastering Shadows

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #6 STEP 2: Watch Lesson #7

Now that you have played with a single light coming from a single direction, it’s time to figure out how to fill in those shadows that are completely void of detail. In this level we’ll learn how to leverage fill light to bring your photographs to the next level.

STEP 3: Complete Assignment #3 PDF

LEVEL 4 - Mastering Multiple Lights

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #8 STEP 2: Watch Lesson #9

Now it is time to take everything you’ve learned so far and put it together to create some really great cave shots. As you do this beware of some of the potential problems we’ve talked about like halos and double images. See how creative you can be in doing more with less. While it is always nice to have access to more helpers and more lights, it is equally nice to know how to make due with what you have, so that when you don’t have everything you would like or your equipment fails you can still walk away with a killer shot.

STEP 3: Complete Assignment #4

LEVEL 5 - Colored Lights & Light Painting

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #10 STEP 2: Watch Lesson #11

This level is about having fun with light. I want you to try exploring colored lights and light painting. You may discover that sometimes it is just as important to document the feel of a cave as it is to document what it looks like and often adding some color and funky lighting can help you achieve that better than daylight balanced lights. Plus, the cool thing about light painting is that every shot will be completely unique because it is impossible to reproduce the same lighting twice.

STEP 3: Complete Assignment #5

LEVEL 6 - Compositing

STEP 1: Watch Lesson #12 STEP 2: Watch Lesson #13 STEP 3: Watch Lesson #14 STEP 4: Watch Lesson #15

Today is the day you pull it all together and break through the limitations of your equipment. Whatever your limits have been in the past with either having enough light to illuminating a room that seems too big for your equipment, or having enough lights to get the effect you are after, in this assignment you will leverage the power of compositing to overcome those limits.

STEP 5: Complete Assignment #6 STEP 6: Final Challenge

Other Course Resources

Some other resources you may find helpful as you are working through this course.

Exposure Log Interview with Cave Photographer Dave Bunnell Interview with Cave Photographer Ryan Mauer