Shooting into the Indonesian Sun

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Sep 102014
 
Shooting into the Indonesian Sun

About the dives As you might have gathered from the last three weeks of posting, I had some great dives through Komodo and Alor on the Arenui. The water was warm and clear, the little fish were plentiful and the corals were healthy. There’s only so many ways to say – the diving was very nice! – so today I thought I’d talk about these photos instead. About the photos Clear water and bright sunny days up top creates pluses and minuses for wide angle photography. One of the definite advantages is that up in the shallows when the surface is calm you can capture these incredible sun rays. The key to good rays is a fast shutter speed and [read more…]

Very small things seen in Komodo

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Sep 022014
 
Very small things seen in Komodo

About the dives The first half of our trip from Alor to Komodo was more focussed on muck diving, but it was on the last couple of days on the Arenui that I got some macro photos that I really love. There was less tiny life around and it was easier to focus on a subject photographically without getting excitedly distracted by the next tiny thing. I also had a few great photos achieved which helped with the confidence to try new things. In this instance it was photos of things I generally consider a bit too small to sensibly take photos of with my lens setup. About the photos Both of these shots were taken at the maximum capability [read more…]

Backlighting leaf fish on the Arenui

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Aug 262014
 
Backlighting leaf fish on the Arenui

About the trip For the first few days of the trip on the Arenui, we meandered along the lovely mucky shores of Alor. This meant lots of fantastic critters – mantis shrimp and little cuttlefish, ribbon eels and orangutan crabs, rhinopias, frogfish and pipefish. These critters come in fantastic shapes, sizes and colours but all manage to blend in exceptionally well with their environment. I was especially impressed with our dive guide Ronald when he managed to spot a small clown frogfish from over 15m away. I wandered away while others took photos and despite knowing exactly where he was, then came back and spent 5 fruitless minutes searching a very small area. As it turned out he was right [read more…]

Komodo on the Arenui

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Aug 202014
 
Komodo on the Arenui

I have just returned to the world of internet connectivity from an amazing trip through Alor and Komodo with the Arenui. Organised by the very helpful Greg from Liquid Diving Adventures, the trip took us through amazing reefs and some very productive muck diving.   Along the way I had the opportunity for a daily presentation on photography. From the simple fun of correct exposures to the slightly more complicated fun of creative techniques, each day I was out taking sample pictures to demonstrate the concepts. This gave me the opportunity to think about what I was doing in a new way, and I have a bunch of pictures to share.     First up though, rather than the teachable [read more…]

Dive Trip Planning

 Ocean diving, Other, Reef diving  No Responses »
Sep 242012
 
Dive Trip Planning

Sometimes I think that the planning and anticipation of future dive trips is the best part of the whole process. Then I remember that the diving is pretty good too, which leads to more anticipation. As such, I’m very excited to be diving from The Arenui in the seas of Indonesia, from August 6th to 19th, 2014 with Liquid Diving Adventures. The Arenui provides a luxurious setting for divers keen to experience the remote and pristine waters of Indonesia. On this 14 day trip I’m hoping to encounter big pelagic life, and hopefully get up close and personal with a manta ray or three. As with all wildlife diving, there are no guarantees, but I know if it’s not mantas we [read more…]