Carlsbad Caverns
There are currently 3 ‘cave’ National Parks: Mammoth Cave, Wind Cave and Carlsbad Caverns. Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave preserves the world's longest cave at over 400 miles. South Dakota’s Wind Cave preserves rare cave boxwork formations along with prairie lands. New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns preserves one of the world’s most decorative and accessible caves. Situated just 30 minutes north of Texas’ Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns is an easy stop on a 2 national park trip in west Texas / southern New Mexico.
Carlsbad Caverns holds the reputation as the best place for underground photography in the country. First, the main caverns have the most accessible stalactite and stalagmite features out of any preserved cave in the country. Relatively speaking, Carlsbad Caverns is a wet cave and has significant surface water drippage. As the water seeps down into the cave and through limestone, it slowly evaporates and absorbs gasses which can slowly shift the mineral bases at the cave. Over time, this effect has been more prominent at Carlsbad, giving it the reputation as having the most cave features in the National Park System. In addition, while close quarter passages in Mammoth and Wind Caves prohibit tripods, the wide expanses of Carlsbad Caverns give visitors the opportunity to bring tripods into the cave. Carlsbad Caverns also has self guided, paved trails, opportunities, giving me the time to carefully set up compositions. If that wasn’t enough, the main cave is also favorably lit for photography!
So, the chips are in play for great cave photos within the national park. There are just a few tips I have to make sure you can get the best pictures during your trip to the national park!
First, the National Park Service has employed a time entry ticket system to go into the caves at the park. The ticket times are slotted roughly 1 hour apart beginning at 8:30am. To avoid the largest crowds, I would suggest trying to secure tickets for the 8:30 cave entrance group. When rangers at the visitor center call for your group to head into the cave, I recommend staying in the back of the pack. To take photos, you will naturally walk at a slower pace and take more stops than those strolling down into the cave. By staying in the back of the group, you can ensure that your photos are ‘people-less’ (you can even try using the empty trail as cool leading lines into the cave). Just make sure to not let the next group catch you!
Being at the back gives photographers peace and quiet, and the ability to explore the cave at your own pace. With this time, make sure to find unique perspectives and details in the cave– oftentimes the best views are behind you! With millions of different rock formations, a handful are bound to pique your interest. Take some time observing those elements and try different photo compositions. Wide angles can place formations into a whole landscape while telephotos can bring out the incredible detail of individual formations. Also make sure to vary your photo’s lighting. Both fully lit and fully shadowed cave photos can lose depth. Instead look for places where individual formations are lit, and find a perspective that places the formation onto a dimmer backdrop.
My final piece of advice is use your tripod well! Take advantage of both the ability to bring a tripod into the cave and the paved path which makes a perfect flat surface to set up a tripod on. By using your tripod, you should be able to push the aperture up towards f8 and f9 and use longer shutter exposures. With a higher aperture, you can take photos with a sharper focus and a longer depth of field.
Scroll through my cave photos to see how I worked with the unique conditions within Carlsbad Caverns.
Carlsbad Caverns is a photographer’s playground. The self-guided trails and lenient photography rules make it the best American cave for photography. But make sure not to spend all your time behind the camera! Make sure to take in the spectacles of the national park with your own eyes. For instance, the Big Room of Carlsbad Caverns is the largest single cave chamber in America and is way too large to perfectly capture in a photo. And before leaving, don't forget to go through the excellent visitors center with information about the cave’s formation, flora and fauna, and history.