{"id":6497,"date":"2025-01-19T00:31:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T00:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpanphotography.com\/?page_id=6497"},"modified":"2025-01-25T07:28:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T07:28:37","slug":"2411-chile-blog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kpanphotography.com\/index.php\/2411-chile-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"2411 Chile Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Marble Caves<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marble Caves is one of the main reasons for me to be on this trip and I have been dreaming about coming here to see them for quite a few years.  <\/span>It paid off and paid off well.<\/p>\n

There are several difficult technical issues in taking photos with Marble Caves and here they are:<\/p>\n

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  1. The weather.  <\/span>The weather is always the biggest variable especially for outdoor photography and it\u2019s no difference here at the Marble Caves.  <\/span>It\u2019s located at a lake and the weather in the area could change in minutes from pouring rain to sunny day.  <\/span>According to the locals, the best time to visit those caves is early, very early in the morning.  <\/span>I always took local people\u2019s advice seriously so I headed out at 7:30am in the morning, the first boat available to be out there on the lake.  \"\"<\/span>The trip started with calm weather but soon the rain started pouring and I was lucky that I had my rain coat on before I got onto the boat.  <\/span>I only regretted that I didn\u2019t put on my rain pants too.  <\/span>As you could imagine, I was half wet through the entire trip.<\/li>\n
  2. The instability of the boat.  <\/span>The boat is relatively big which could accommodate 12 people or so but still very tiny in such a vast lake.  You may easily see the waves caused by the moving boat in the following image:\"\"<\/span>Because of the instability, I need to use higher shutter speed to freeze a shot.  <\/span>Otherwise, it\u2019s very easy to get blurred images.<\/li>\n
  3. Lighting.  <\/span>Lighting is the biggest and very tricky issue in taking photos at Marble Caves.  <\/span>It\u2019s not only that the light is low in caves but also the range of the available light is very broad.  <\/span>It could be as much as up to 10 stops in variant and not even the most advanced camera could cover it well.  <\/span>Because of the instability of the boat, bracketing is not an option.  <\/span>With higher shutter speed because of the instability of the boat and the low light, it\u2019s quite a challenge to take photos at the Marble Caves.  (This following image is a good example on lighting issue.  It was taken inside a cave shooting toward outside and light difference is too broad for the camera to handle.  The bright skylight was burned out and couldn’t be recovered.  I tried to do multiple shots and then HDR composing but because of the moment of the boat it didn’t work.)<\/em>\"\"<\/span>Another lighting problem is there are sky, white clouds, dark clouds, caves, rocks, trees and grasses and lake water and all these absorbing and reflecting lights in different ways which complicates things enormously.  (The following image is yet another difficult lighting situation.  Post processing couldn’t save it very well.)<\/em>\"\"<\/li>\n
  4. Surprising objects.  <\/span>When I came onto the boat, my mind was set at photo opportunity on the subject of landscape.  <\/span>I was very wrong.  <\/span>Halfway through the trip, the local guide started to introduce a few local wildlife including a very special bird, Ashv-headed Goose, residing on the lake.  <\/span>Even though we repetitively seeing the birds, I had hard time to take good images of them because I didn\u2019t have my long lens with me on the boat.  (Here is an image of Ashv-headed Goose and it’s heavily cropped because I didn’t have my telephoto lens with me.  It’s shot with Nikon Z 24-120mm at 120mm.)<\/em>\"\"<\/span>This is one of the biggest regrets for this trip.  <\/span>I never knew that I could have the opportunity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The entire trip took about two hours and it\u2019s a very intense two hours because of all the above reasons.  <\/span>The boat kept moving and I must give my undivided attention to every single moment.  <\/span>I actually regret that I missed a few shots just because I was looking at one direction but missed excellent opportunity at other directions until it was split second too late.  <\/span>If I could have another chance to go back and do it again, I won\u2019t hesitate to take it and vow to myself that I must do better.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    Driving in Chile<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I have been traveling and driving around the world quite a bit and driving in Chile is relatively easy.  <\/span>I live in the US and the rules and regulations aren\u2019t too much different than in the US.  <\/span>However, there are a few differences other than the kilometer vs mile and so on worth noting.<\/p>\n

    First of all, though the road signs are mostly similar with in the US but most of the time they are decoration only.  <\/span>People generally ignore the existence of them.  <\/span>For example, if I drive at 50 km\/h at the 50 km\/h zone, I am impeding the traffic heavily and dangerously.  <\/span>When I drove 120 km\/h at the speed limit on a highway, cars zoomed me by constantly.  <\/span>What even more astonishing me was that people generally ignore the \u201cno passing area\u201d sign.  <\/span>I was passed by the other cars in the double white or yellow line zone all the time even I was exceeding the speed limit already.  <\/span>I sometimes got cold sweat just by looking at them makes this stunt.  <\/span>This really surprised me because to my observation Chilean are very relaxing, lay-back and optimistic people, what\u2019s the hurry when they are behind the steering wheels?<\/p>\n

    Second, people here like to use the emergency lights and tend to over use them from my point of view.  <\/span>If there is a red traffic light and they would turn it on while slowing down and stop in front of the traffic light.  <\/span>Or, when they tried to stop and park on the side of a road, they would turn on the emergency signal too.  <\/span>I could fully understand that they were trying to warn the cars behind them to slow down too but wasn\u2019t that the purpose of breaking lights?<\/p>\n

    Third, because of the narrow alley or streets around towns, it seems people could park their car anywhere and ignore any regulations.  <\/span>I saw cars parked at a zone clearly marked no parking which is a capital \u201cE\u201d with a slash on it.  <\/span>It sometimes makes passing through the already narrow streets very difficult.  <\/span>Nevertheless, I also must say they do sometimes park half the car on the street and half on the side walk, pedestrian walkway, to make things slightly easier.  <\/span>I guess this is a compromise with the narrow streets and people\u2019s need.<\/p>\n

    Forth, many of the roads weren\u2019t paved but rough gravel roads.  <\/span>When I was at the car rental pick up site, the staff led me to the car, open the trunk and show me where was the spare tire, tire replacement tools and even briefly introducing how to use these tools, I was a bit excited with their thoughtful service because this was a first after I rented and drove a rental car at 30+ countries.  <\/span>I then soon found out why.  <\/span>Some of the rough gravel roads worried me quite a bit and made me prey that I won\u2019t need to open the trunk for the purpose of replacing tire in a heavy rainy day.<\/p>\n

    Other than the above observations, I really enjoy the traveling and driving around Chile.  <\/span>It\u2019s a beautiful place and people are generally very nice and friendly.  <\/span>If you speak Spanish, this is really a place for you to enjoy beautiful scenery, relaxing and interacting with different cultures.  <\/span>Come, come and experience all these yourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    A moment with Wildlife<\/strong><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s late in a day after dinner and shower and a bit stuffy staying in the hotel room so I decided to take a walk along the shoreline while there were still some daylight.  <\/span>As soon as I get to the nearby shoreline, I realized that it\u2019s low tide and there were plenty of birds seeking for food.  <\/span>Immediately I turned around and went back to my room to grab my photo equipment.<\/p>\n

    It was a long day and I was tired so I picked a big rock, sat on it to make myself comfortable first and then set up the tripod and my camera gears.  <\/span>Because of the low tide, birds were not far from where I was, approximately 30 to 50 meters (100 – 160ft).  <\/span>It\u2019s like fishing, shooting wildlife requires patience and most of the time nothing exciting happens.  <\/span>I sat there for about forty-five minutes and took quite some not so interesting or boring birds pictures and switching between a small group of Blacked-face Ibis and an lone Whimbrel.  <\/span>I started with the lone Whimbrel and followed it from left of the shoreline to the right then back and forth quite a few times.  <\/span>Nothing special happened and I got bored.  <\/span>In the mean time, I noticed that there was a small flock of Black-faced Ibis close by and hoping to see some interaction among them so I switched my attention to them.  <\/span>After another period of time, I got bored with them too because there was no interaction among them like I expected.  <\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s late in the day, almost 8:00pm.  <\/span>The light was getting insufficient and the temperature was dropping.  <\/span>Just as I was thinking about retreating back to my cozy little hotel room, I decided to give that lone Whimbrel a last chance.  <\/span>About 10 seconds after I switched back to the lone Whimbrel, I saw it picked up a small crab.  <\/span>Without hesitation and like instinct reaction, I triggered the shutter but questioning myself in my mind is this even real?  \"\"<\/span>There was not much room for me to have any doubt or think.  <\/span>Once an action started in wildlife, it\u2019s like lighting fast and short.  <\/span>I couldn\u2019t think and must gave my 100% attention to the viewfinder.  <\/span>All I saw was the lone Whimbrel kept picking up the crab, shook it violently a few times and then dropped it back into water.  <\/span>I was confused for this kind of action.  <\/span>Why wouldn\u2019t the Whimbrel just eat the crab?  <\/span>Why would it shake it violently?  <\/span>And, even more puzzling is why would the Whimbrel drop the crab back into the water?  <\/span>What if the crab escaped?  \"\"<\/span>With all these questions bearing in my mind, my eye were following the Whimbrel in the viewfinder constantly, checking the exposure data and zoom focal length repetitively and my finger kept pressure on and off the shutter.  <\/span>To me, it\u2019s like a twenty minutes process and the action was like last forever because I must give all my energy and attention to the moment.  <\/span>Only later while I was doing post-processing, I realized that the entire action lasted only close to three minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n

    After I didn\u2019t know how long at the time, I finally realized what was the Whimbrel doing.  <\/span>The Whimbrel picked up the crab, shook it violently to \u201cdis-arm\u201d the crab.  <\/span>In this picture, we could see one of the claw was broken from the crab.  \"\"<\/span>That\u2019s what the Whimbrel doing!  <\/span>It\u2019s smart, way more smart than I could imagine.  <\/span>In the remaining time, the lone Whimbrel repeated this action till all the limbs were removed from the crab.  <\/span>We could see this from the following pictures.  \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span>Finally, the crab became \u201cnaked\u201d, limbless and defenseless and only by then the Whimbrel swallowed it in whole.\"\"<\/p>\n

    In the real wild nature environment, a show like this re-playing itself all the time.  <\/span>Some may think it\u2019s cruel and brutal but it\u2019s real and it\u2019s happening.  <\/span>To me, I observed and recorded a true moment of wildlife in the natural world.  <\/span>I was excited and joyful.  <\/span>A lot of effort, a little patience and a grain of luck paid off and paid off well.  <\/span><\/p>\n

    You may also see the entire process in the following time-lapse action clip:<\/p>\n