Skocjan cave, Slovenia

[Olivier]

What an amazing place. So big, very well enhanced by the lights, I had the impression to be in another world. Many people say they have finally visited Tolkien's Moria Mines, and I must agree with this.
The place was actually quite dark (so large!).
This was shot with my X-T1 and the Samyang 12mm at f/2. No tripod, it was hard to avoid motion blur.

[elsa hoffmann]

That is beautiful. Interesting on many levels and many ways to interpret photographically speaking.

[Anthony]

Wow, you did very well with hand holding, dramatic image.

[Olivier]

Thanks. This is a 1/3s exposure, I was probably holding the camera on the railing for this one. My hands are not quite steady enough to hand hold under such circumstances!

[Jakov Minić]

Fantastic! Like a scene from Game of Thrones

[Tristin]

Interesting imge to look at.  I like the different lightings!

[Frank Fremerey]

I saw the difficulty of this shot immediately, yet I still love it. A gorilla pod might be a small & light option in such a situation, yet I never tried one.

[Olivier]

Thanks again!
Frank, yes, a Gorilla pod would have been ideal but I could not have entered the site with it as photo was actually prohibited... They want to sell their own very good ones btw and taken with a tripod of course, at quite high price actually. They also want to avoid the experience to be ruined by flashes going off and this is understandable. However my camera is not equiped with a flash so there is no risk! And I did some research before entering the site, it is illegal in Slovenia to prohibit photography in a publicly run site, so I felt it was appropriate to snap a few pictures, standing with a small group of well equipped people behind the crowd. The guide was perfectly aware ot this and did not insist on fighting a lost battle...
Some of their commercial pictures were actually taken from the stairs that can be seen on the left wall. These stairs also help getting an idea of how gigantic the cave is.

[Akira]

Olivier, this is, again, an excellent image.  I feel as if I'm there!

It would have been too difficult to frame using a camera with only EVF/LCD in such a situation where the frame of the display is hardly discernible to me.

[Erik Lund]

Spectacular place and a great capture!

IMHO it's too bright - Doesn't really convey the feeling of deep underground cave so well.

[Olivier]

Thank you.
Akira,  must say I was pleasantly surprised by the image that the EVF presented in such dark conditions. I was still able to focus more or less accurately although it is not so difficult with at 12mm lens, to be honest.
Erik: OK, I will check how much detail is lost if I darken the image. It was already shot with -2/3 exposure compensation and it would be easy to go further, of course. I agree it would change the atmosphere and may improve the image, especially the lower part.

[Tristin]

The lower portion would certinly benefit from having the shadows/blacks lowered.

[Olivier]

OK, here is an overall darker version, with a special emphasis on the lower part.
Any better? I prefer it as it is now.

Thanks everyone.

[Ron Scubadiver]

The ring of invisibility is at the bottom...  Quite a scene.

[Olivier]

he he... can you see Gollum climbing on thr wall?