The Macocha Abyss
Propast Macocha is a 138.5-metre deep collapse doline — a sinkhole formed when a cave ceiling collapsed. It is the deepest abyss of its kind in Central Europe. The bottom holds two lakes connected to the Punkva River system. The upper viewing platforms are reachable by a short footpath from the visitor centre near Blansko; the lower viewing platform, near the lake, is accessible only via the Punkva cave boat tour.
From the upper platforms, the composition is vertical — the eye travels down the walls to the green lake at the bottom. The depth is 138 metres, which means the far wall and the lake bottom are rarely in the same focal plane at standard apertures. Most successful images use f/8 to f/11 with a wide-angle lens to render both the near rim and the distant lake with acceptable sharpness.
Light at the upper platform
The abyss runs roughly north-south. The upper eastern rim receives morning sun; the western rim catches afternoon light. The lake at the bottom is effectively in shade for most of the day — direct sun reaches it only around midday in summer when the sun is high enough to clear the south wall. On overcast days the lake colour is a consistent deep emerald green, which provides the most saturated result without harsh shadows on the walls.
The Punkva Caves
The Punkevní jeskyně (Punkva Caves) are the most visited cave system in the Czech Republic, with around 350,000 visitors per year. The tour route passes through two sections: the dripstone chambers (stalactites, stalagmites, columns) and the underground river section where visitors board flat-bottomed boats to cross the Punkva lake to the base of the Macocha Abyss.
Photography is permitted throughout the tour. The caves are lit with permanent artificial lighting — a combination of warm white and coloured spotlights positioned to highlight individual formations. This lighting was designed for visual drama rather than photographic accuracy, which creates several practical issues:
- The artificial light sources are visible in most wide-angle shots unless carefully excluded through framing.
- Mixed colour temperatures (3000K warm spots alongside 5600K daylight LEDs) make a single white balance setting incorrect for different parts of the same frame. Shooting in RAW and correcting per image is the only reliable approach.
- The boat section of the tour moves continuously; tripod use is not feasible on the boat. ISOs of 1600–3200 with image stabilisation are required for the underground river section.
- In the dripstone chambers, tripods are permitted but must not obstruct the path. A small travel tripod positioned at path edge is generally accepted by guides.
Sloupsko-Šošůvské Caves
A less-visited alternative approximately 12 km north of the Punkva Caves entrance. The Sloupsko-Šošůvské cave system is drier and less humid than the Punkva section — condensation on the lens is less of a problem. The tour covers three separate chambers including the Eliška's Cave and the Knights' Cave, which contains one of the largest underground spaces in the system.
The artificial lighting here is more conservative — fewer coloured gels, more neutral illumination. This makes white balance correction more straightforward. The tour groups are smaller and guides generally allow more time at specific formations on request.
Karst Surface Landscapes
The surface terrain above the caves is itself photogenic. The plateau is characterised by dry valleys (called "slepá údolí" — blind valleys), rocky outcrops and a beech forest that is among the oldest in Moravia. The Suchý žleb valley, running south from Blansko, is accessible by road and provides access to several surface viewpoints above the main cave systems.
The valley walls are exposed limestone with distinct horizontal bedding. In autumn, the beech trees along the valley floor turn yellow against the pale grey rock — a colour combination that does not require any particular light quality to read well in photographs.
Technical Considerations for Cave Photography
Caves present a specific set of conditions that differ from surface photography in several ways:
- Humidity: The Punkva Caves maintain near-100% relative humidity. Lenses brought from outside will fog for 5–15 minutes until they reach cave temperature (approximately 7°C year-round). Allowing the camera to acclimatise in the entrance chamber before shooting reduces this.
- Ambient light level: The caves are completely dark without the artificial lighting. Exposure times without tripod support require ISO 3200–6400 at f/2.8 to achieve shutter speeds above 1/30s.
- Flash: Flash photography is generally permitted but produces flat, featureless images of cave formations — the artificial lighting is specifically designed to create depth through directional illumination that flash eliminates.
- Movement: The tour pace in popular caves does not allow extended composition work. The most productive approach is to identify key compositions during the first visit (without extensive photography) and return early in the day when tour groups are smaller.
Access Information
The main entrance to the Punkva Caves and the Macocha Abyss upper platform is near Blansko, accessible by train from Brno (30 minutes) and then a short bus or cycle path from Blansko station. Cave tour tickets require advance booking in peak season (June–August). Current booking and pricing information is available at cavesmoravian.cz.
Last updated: 28 February 2025. Image sources: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA licence.
