New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit" • Hacker News Board

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#31

Post by misotakacs » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 2:13 AM UTC

jcfrei wrote: post #8

I wonder how they took the pictures. Was there enough light in the cave thru some holes in the ceiling? Did they install huge lamps or did they use a very long exposure (seems unlikely by looking at the people). either way stunning and surreal photographs!

I watched a movie[1] about exploring some (huge!) caverns in Venezuela and IIRC they used many strategically positioned remotely controlled charges/flares. The guy was cavern-photographer and it seemed to be the standard way of doing it.

[1] http://www.k2studio.sk/?cube=text&c=559&lg=en

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#32

Post by shkb » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 2:14 AM UTC

Nice 3D fly-through. Nat geo also made a documentary about surveying the cave (World's Biggest Cave).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-iZ6WJeqhE

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#33

Post by cubicle67 » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 2:22 AM UTC

frou_dh wrote: post #6

That's gorgeous. Reminds me of the kind of scenes you see in adventuring video games, only more intricate.

I just hope no one in Hollywood sees these and decides that'd be a cool location for a movie

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#34

Post by cubicle67 » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 2:25 AM UTC

epochwolf wrote: post #29

The photo gallery requires flash which my iPad does not have. :(

nor does mine, but this is one of those cases where it's worth the effort of dragging yourself across to a machine that does (and I'm sure you've got one). trust me.

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#35

Post by WildUtah » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 3:01 AM UTC

kylelibra wrote: post #13

Isn't this part of the plot of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

That was in the Philippines. Totally different.

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#36

Post by CamperBob » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 3:30 AM UTC

cubicle67 wrote: post #33

frou_dh wrote: post #6

That's gorgeous. Reminds me of the kind of scenes you see in adventuring video games, only more intricate.

I just hope no one in Hollywood sees these and decides that'd be a cool location for a movie

Does anyone even bother to shoot on location anymore?

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#37

Post by slacker2 » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 3:49 AM UTC

I would love to find the set of pictures in hi-res.

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#38

Post by rrival » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 4:39 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #4

rrival wrote: post #3

This isn't reddit

New scientific discoveries are virtually always germane to HN.

Love new scientific discoveries, just haven't seen a lot of gallery links here and recall that that's a leading indicator of content noise ratio increase.

Thanks for posting the direct article link.

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#39

Post by B79 » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 4:45 AM UTC

epochwolf wrote: post #29

The photo gallery requires flash which my iPad does not have. :(

Try these jpg files:

Re: New cave found in Vietnam: "A skyscraper could fit"

#40

Post by wiredfool » Mon, Jan 03, 2011, 4:47 AM UTC

pmjordan wrote: post #15

ramidarigaz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a really bright flash is sufficient.

Not for that sort of size. Light intensity drops at inverse square of distance, reflected light intensity falls off at up to 1/r^4. I suspect a combination of massive floodlights and long/multiple exposure.

Actually, they _are_ probably using multiple really freaking bright flashes, or rather flash bulbs. There are still some around that blow away anything else you can get down into a cave for a power/size ratio. Think streetlight sized bulbs filled with magnesium.

There's probably some light painting going on as well with (bright) flashlights and long exposures.

The 1/r^4 really only applies if the light is coming from the camera position, and is unfocused. If you're illuminating the subject from another location, the only worry you really have is the 1/r^2 from the source to the lit object.