Surface brightness cuts parallel and perpendicular to the radio axis. The labels correspond to those in Fig. 3. The upper 3 rows are cuts from regions W1-W3 and E1-W3, where the positive x axis corresponds to the northern part of Hercules A. The lowest row is cuts from regions N and S, where the positive x axis corresponds to the western part of Hercules A. The dashed black lines are reflections of the solid lines about the central bin (x = 0). The orange boxes illustrate the location of the cavities; within them the solid red lines mark the location of the greatest brightness deficit.