Abandoned train tunnel

WHAT

This location is an old abandoned train tunnel at the town of Mooloolah (about 1 hr north of Brisbane City). The tunnel was part of the original railway linking Brisbane and Gympie but fell into disuse in 1931. It's now part of the Dularcha National Park.

The tunnel is constructed of concrete and is quite spooky - it's dark, damp, has a resident bat colony and a massive echo effect.

WHY

I'd been to this tunnel a few weeks prior to taking this shot but failed to take multiple exposure shots on that first visit. This time, I returned with a friend (as I said, it's very spooky!) and took multiple exposure shots at -2,0+2 for HDR processing.

Prior to getting this particular shot, I had been taking photos a little way inside the entrance to the tunnel looking straight ahead to the opposite end. When I reviewed them, I discovered they just weren't all that interesting - yes, there was an old tunnel and yes, there was a light at the end of it...but that was about all.

I looked around for further inspiration and saw the arch-way (seen on the left of the image) further down the tunnel. So I picked up my tripod and marched myself further into the darkness and positioned the camera off to the right hand side and pointed it at the arch-way.

This new position resulted in light from the entrance behind me being cast onto one side of the arch-way, breaking up the monotony of the dark tunnel walls. Overall, a more interesting photo I thought.

HOW

Once in position, I set the camera to take 3 bracketed shots at -2,0,+2 exposures whilst in aperture priorty mode. I used a remote cable shutter and a tripod to ensure the camera was completely still.

POST PRODUCTION

Once home (and no longer in fear of being bitten by a bat on the back of my neck), I imported and tonemapped the three shots using photomatix to produce an HDR image. In photoshop, I then made slight adjustments to the contrast to really bring out the differences in the light/shadow areas.