Glow Worms

[ourkind]

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit a disused train line tunnel which reportedly had glow worms. Before this I had only ever been to one other tunnel in 'Newnes' which has glow worms but they were very seldom, only a handful to be seen. Possibly, actually without a doubt because it is a well known location for glow worms and it attracts 100's of tourists each week and like it or not we/humans have a negative impact on their delicate environment :sadeyes:

From what I have read glow worms are sensitive to light, noise, smoke pollution and touch. They only live in specific conditions, that is dark damp caves and tunnels. They are the larvae of insects belonging to the Order Diptera (Flies). They glow in order to attract and entrap small insects like mosquitos.

Respecting their environment, these images were taken with long exposures under very low light (most of the light was courtesy of the moon). This location is known to some but not many, it has been under the radar for some time and I would like to keep it that way.

Hope you enjoy the photos :)

[sheeny]

Very nicely done Carlos!

Al.

[Larryp]

Excellent work, Carlos!

[multiweb]

:eyepop: That is so cool. Terrific shots. Looks like the stickers you put on ceilings for the kids' room. :lol: I like the shot with the reflection in the water. Unreal. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[LightningNZ]

Wow, that's really beautiful. Nice to see old human structures being put to good use again. :)

Cheers,
Cam

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Very well done Carlos , looks like star fields .
Brian.

[gary]

Fabulous Carlos!

It is amazing how far the sensitivity and signal to noise ratio of camera sensors
have come to be able to do this with a commodity camera.

[astronobob]

Cool capturing Carlos, , These Glow-worms are an endangured species in parts, They have them up here in a few locations, one popular spot in Springbrook Natural Arch area, But there, they have too many visitors, disrespecting the "No Light" rule and the worms have starved from it, flat out seeing a dozen these days ! Keep your spot a secret, as dont want any Clu Clux Clanns lighting fires in there ;)
HavagoodN

[pluto]

Very nice! :D
I have a couple of mates that have shot that tunnel a few times, I was supposed to go with them the last time but we called it off after heavy rain made it look like this:

[multiweb]

Wow! :lol: You sure want to pick your day to go there.

[ourkind]

Thanks for all your comments guys.

Hugh! :eyepop: Holly floods!! That's awesome wow! I've been meaning to head back there to explore the rest of the tunnel i.e. walk to other end and see where it ends, I'll make sure it's a nice sunny day or clear night without the chance of any rain.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

That's so nice to see, I love glow worms. The second shot with the water reflection is superb!
We have these creatures all over the place here in the bush west of Auckland. Even around the house like under the deck etc., I see them often when I walk around at night during imaging. And in every old tunnel and really any kind of overhang they can find, it's quite amazing.
Unfortunately my camera is not sensitive enough to capture images like these. I only get the light specks but no surroundings.

[ourkind]

Hi Rolf! Thanks for your comments, yes they are beautiful enchanting creatures. Till recently I had never seen one, but I remember as a kid watching Walt Disney Cartoons and seeing glow worms/flies flying around in the forests and thinking wow is that real??

I don't know what camera you have but if it's a DSLR and you set it on bulb mode, you have the luxury of taking a long exposure because they barely move around unlike stars, so there's little to no streaking.

These were my settings f/2.8, ISO 1000, 70 second exposure (and longer if you like) and then with a torch pointed at my neck I illuminated the foreground and then switched it off after 15 seconds but continued shooting the exposure 70 or more seconds, 15 seconds with the torch was enough to light up the surrounds. A little bit of trial and error but eventually I found a good balance.

If you don't have a lens with f/2.8 just increase the exposure time to a few minutes.

I hope you can give it a try.

:)

[SkyViking]

Cheers Carlos thanks for the info, and yeah I should try with a torch that's a good point. My camera is a Canon S5IS, not the latest model but it has manual mode and bracketing etc. The main issue I have with it is that it's not particularly light sensitive compared to the newer models. But I'll see if I can scout some glow worm locations around here some time, I have some places in mind already. It would be fun to try!

[Astro_Bot]

Those are really great shots, Carlos. Nice work! :thumbsup:

[ourkind]

Thanks Astro :)

[adavis]

sensational Carlos!
I've shot Newnes twice now, but havent captured anything as captivating as those shots, fantastic!

I'd loe to know where that tunnel is, but respect the secrecy ;-)

Andrew

[ourkind]

Ever wondered what a moron looks like? Here it is.

This photo was taken by someone 2 or 3 degrees seperated from me in the same glow worm tunnel only weeks before I took my photos.

I mean who in their right mind would think to light up some steel wool and spin it around when you're surrounded by glow worms FFS!