Ever since I saw a photo of Pindaya Cave in a travel magazine I’ve been smitten with the way over the edge array of caverns literally stuffed full of over 8,000 Buddha images lit in a bewildering number of different ways. The result is an incredible experience. But capturing more than a tiny slice of the cave can be a photo nightmare.

The cave is over 500 feet deep and in some places nearly 100 feet high, made up of a string of chambers crammed full of Buddha shrines. Only in one or two places can you see more than one chamber at a time.

In particular there is one vantage point where you can see into several of the chambers and there is a big stuppa in the background. On my first visit to the caves I worked hard to get the scene to look right but was never able to get a good color balance no matter how I deployed my flash units or set my White Balance. Of course the fact that any portion of cave without one of the variety of light fixtures was pitch black didn’t make things any easier.

HDR Image of middle chambers of Pindaya Cave
Shan State, Myanmar, Nikon D700, 2008

I finally resorted to shooting a set of bracketed images and using HDR processing to create the best image I could. Ironically in this version the lighting came out looking too similar so it didn’t truly convey the variety of light sources in the cave.

So when I got a chance to go back with my photo group this month I of course had to try again. This time I used an SB-800 to help balance the light on the nearby Buddha images and an SB-900 to throw some light on the large stuppa in the background, triggering both from the Commander on my Nikon D700. The increased power of the SB-900 was crucial to getting some light on the far away shrines. As you might expect it still isn’t possible to completely even out the light and frankly the whacky lighting is part of the charm of the cave, but the lighting combination worked out a lot better than last time.

Fortuitously a back light behind the far stuppa had also been moved which helps out a little with the background. The combination of flashes worked out well and created a fairly evenly lit scene that still conveyed the tremendous light variation in the built-in lamps.

Multiple Flash Photo of Middle Chambers in Pindaya Cave, Shan State, Myanmar
Nikon D700, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens, Nikon SB-900, Nikon SB-800

Some of the caverns are so crowded with Buddhas that it is difficult to find a place to stand and get a shot showing them. Below is a tiny portion of one of the maze-like areas towards the opening.

 
Array of golden Buddhas in Pindaya Cave
Nikon D700, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8, Gitzo 1541LS Tripod

If you’d like to take some shots of these unbelievable caves I hope you can join us in December, 2011 for yet another round on our annual Cambodia & Myanmar Photo Safari. The photo below shows the entrance to the cave. You can get a sense of scale from looking at the 60’ glass elevator shaft.