A Kiwi photographer known as the "king of the time-lapse" has done it again, this time wowing audiences with long-exposure photos of New Zealand glow worm caves.

Photographer Joseph Michael shot to international renown last year with his spectacular time lapses of night skies and landscapes.

In an effort to "distract" himself from a large project on icebergs, Michael took to glow worm caves and shared his images - called the Luminosity Project - on art and design website thisiscolossal.com

JOSEPH MICHAEL Michael would often only get three or four usable pictures from an entire night in a cave

Since then, Michael said his inbox had been going "mental" and the photos had been shared over 100,000 times on Facebook.

"I've been super keen to develop a series on bio-luminescence for some time now, I was hoping to show these photos to a few people and get some funding to do a larger body of work that involves time-lapse and slow motion.

"People seem to be really enjoying them which is cool, it gives me confidence to develop this into a more significant body of work."

Supplied: JOSEPH MICHAEL Glow-worms are usually found above water

The photos were taken at Waitomo caves Ruakuri and Spellbound, and at Nikau Caves, Port Waikato and Waipu Caves, inland from Waipu, south of Whangarei.

Michael said he would spend all night in the caves and often only come home with three or four photos he was happy with.

"Being inside the caves is an incredible experience - one of nature's miracles. It's like staring up at an incredible starscape.

SUPPLIED: JOSEPH MICHAEL Glow-worms among stalactites

"The glow worms are always found above water, which creates a really bizarre sensation - the noise of moving water is amplified in the caves and becomes like a constant hum.

"After spending a night inside photographing when you come outside the sound of birds and insects seems quite intensified."

SUPPLIED: JOSEPH MICHAEL A glow-worm "city" on the roof of one of the caves

SUPPLIED: JOSEPH MICHAEL The caves are lit by bio-luminescence with Michael helping with a bit of "simple" lighting to bring out contours