Some of the most breathtaking moments in the series Planet Earth take place in the Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam. But capturing and showcasing the natural beauty of the world’s largest cave presented the crew with some lighting challenges.
The Emmy-nominated “Extremes” episode of “Planet Earth III” took us to Vietnam and into a world of darkness. Filming took 17 days and took us 700 feet underground. Cinematographer Luke Nelson and his team needed special cameras, lenses and a unique lighting rig to highlight the beauty of this subterranean world that would otherwise be a world of total darkness.
Getting there was the first challenge. “You have to walk for two days,” Nelson said in diversity Artisans, presented by HBO. “We had to hire 10 to 15 porters to help us carry everything from batteries, generators, drones and lenses.”
When the crew arrived, Nelson used a range of cameras, from various types of drones to large cinema cameras. While many wildlife filmmakers have at least one drone in their toolbox, Nelson had five drones – two of which eventually crashed. “We had small personal drones, FPV freestyle drones, and heavy-duty drones with lights. We had everything. There wasn’t a drone you couldn’t fly in that cave,” Nelson said.
Nelson tried to comprehend the cave’s enormous size, but it is beyond comprehension. He explained, “The darkness is so vast and the cave so deep that it is dark all around. You can catch a glimpse of static mites and the dimensions are impossible to judge because there is nothing else in there. So unless you get someone to go down and measure the cave for you, it is like being inside a mountain.”
Along the way, they discovered species like the translucent cavefish, which swam in the dark for years. To illuminate the cave, Nelson used everything from headlamps to cellphone lights to homemade LED panels. “Everything had to be battery-powered, so that was a challenge,” Nelson said.
When dealing with the black and negative space in the cave, Nelson said, “We prioritized lighting certain elements that we wanted to highlight.”
Nelson noticed that there were certain spots in the cave where sunlight would shine through, albeit only for 30 minutes a day when it wasn’t cloudy, so lighting the scene wasn’t as difficult as he expected.
“With so much water and so many reflective surfaces – because there is limestone everywhere – the sun’s rays hit the water and the cave walls,” Nelson said.
He added: “It is a blessing. Nature is illuminating itself.”
Watch the video above.
