Diving Bintan Island, March 2015

I went to Bintan Island again last weekend, staying at Sahid Bintan Resort and diving with Tasik Divers Bintan again.  The diving was good but the shooting conditions were quite tough with current or strong surge on most dives.  Vis was somewhere between 5-8m on average but there was a lot of floating crap in the water.  On Sunday it thunderstormed for most of the day, making surface conditions very rough and soggy, but the diving was good.  The trip reminded me that shooting with a 105mm lens in surge is very very frustrating.

Highlights for me were bornella stellifer (3), phyllodesmium opalescens, and several small shrimp and nudis that I didn't photograph like nembrotha, tambja, and doto.

 Feeding bornella stellifer.  105 mm, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Rosy spindle cowrie (phenacovolva rosea).  60mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/22, ISO 100

A pair of large whip gobies (bryaninops amplus).  60mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/22, ISO 100

Phyllodesmium opalescens with eggs.  60mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/22, ISO 100

Lembeh Video, October 2013

It was ages ago now but here's the awesome video of Alex Mustard's Wetpixel macro workshop that I attended in October 2013.  Lots of great memories, thoughtfully and painstakingly put together.

Diving Pulau Hantu, November 2014

I joined GS-Diving for an afternoon trip to Pulau Hantu this past Sunday.  The boat was the Dolphin Explorer and departed from the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club.  We did a 2 dive trip, leaving the dock at 1.30pm and arriving back at 6.30pm.  The boat ride was about 60 min to the dive site, which was the Ghost Wreck, a small wooden wreck in about 10m of water.

Visibility was 2-4m and quite milky.  The wreck, though small, had a lot of interesting life.  The highlight for me was seeing a beautiful orange/brown ceratosoma trilobatum.  We also saw lots of blue dragons (pteraeolidia ianthina), a few large orbicular batfish, a school of large sweetlips, and 2 chromodoris atromarginata.  On our first dive, we also spent a few minutes on the nearby reef, which was ok but not as interesting as the wreck.

Overall, the trip was short and sweet.  Nice boat, short boat rides, and decent macro life.  I'd do it again.

Dog conch ((laevistrombus canarium).  60mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Ceratosoma trilobatum.  60mm, 1/320s, f/20, ISO 100

Bintan Island Photos, November 2014

Here are some of the photos I took in Bintan last weekend.

Snooted spider crab (achaeus spinosus).  105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/32, ISO 100

Mating doto bella and eggs. 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/32, ISO 100 

Rosy spindle cowrie (phenacovolva rosea).  105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Bornella stellifer.  105mm, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Bali Photos August 2014

Here's a selection of photos from Bali:

Selfie on deco at Gili Tepekong.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100 

Huge gorgonian sea fan on the USAT Liberty.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100

School of bumphead parrotfish on a dawn dive an the USAT Liberty.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 11mm, 1/30s, f/4.5, ISO 100 

 Huge soft coral cluster on the USAT Liberty.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 14mm, 1/30s, f/10, ISO 100

Costasiella kuroshimae.  105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s,  f/25, ISO 100

Stiliger ornatus.  105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s,  f/20, ISO 100 

Doto sp. with eggs.  105mm & Subsee +10 diopter, 1/320s,  f/25, ISO 100 

 Doto bella.  105mm & Subsee +10 diopter, 1/200s,  f/20, ISO 100 

Diving Tioman Island, June 2014

We had another fun weekend trip to Tioman Island last weekend.  The school holiday traffic made the journey to and from Tioman Island very painful, but the diving was worth it.  Highlights of the trip were bumphead parrotfish, 2 turtles, and lots of clownfish and anemones.  I had a lot of fun experimenting with the Tokina 10-17mm and Zen 4 inch dome port.  I'm finding it challenging to avoid/minimize backscatter in CFWA shots but am making progress.  Examining some of the pictures, I am not happy with the corner sharpness of the Tokina 10-17mm and mini dome at f/8, so I am going to try f/13-14 as my base aperture from now on.

Hard coral landscape in the shallows. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100 

Giant sea fan.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100

 Turtle.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100

Diving Tioman Island, May 2014

A couple of weekends ago, we had an excellent trip to Tioman Island.  It was Taitti's last trip to Tioman for now and a very apt farewell as the conditions and marine life were as good as any of us had ever experienced in Tioman.  It was also my first trip out with my Tokina 10-17mm lens and Zen 4 inch dome port, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of pictures that I was able to get.

Highlights of the trip were having a chance to shoot Grouchy, the resident turtle on Roger's House Reef, seeing 2 bumphead parrotfish and a cuttlefish couple laying eggs at Chebeh, lots of anemones and clownfish at Malang, the biggest spiny lobster I have ever seen on the House Reef, and lots of schools of juvenile fish in general.  The cuttlefish laying eggs in particular was very special for me as I felt blessed to witness such a tender underwater moment.  I saw her placing her eggs within the folds of a large hard coral head while her partner looked on.

This trip renewed my interest in Tioman and left me very grateful that we have such good diving so close to home.  Weekend trips to Tioman are tiring because of the long travel time and many transfers but totally worth it for this quality of diving.  I had a lot of fun with the 10-17mm lens and I'll definitely be spending more time with it learning how to shoot wide angle.

Goodbye Taitti and come back to dive with us again soon!

 Grouchy the turtle.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, 1/200s, f/8, ISO 100

Broadclub cuttlefish.  Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100

Giant spiny lobster.  60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100

Diving Catalina Island, March 2014

When I was in Los Angeles in March, I had the opportunity to sneak in a day of diving so I contacted Scott Gietler, owner of Underwater Photography Guide, Bluewater Photo Store, and most recently, Bluewater Travel.  He arranged a day trip to Catalina Island, about 1 hour south of Long Beach by boat.  While Scott was unable to join the dive trip, Brent Durand did instead.  Brent is a cool, laidback dude who has tons of experience with photography and diving Californian waters, and was the perfect buddy.

We met bright and early at Long Beach and after a slow start, were on our way.  Catalina Island is very accessible from LA and is a popular destination for short trips for both divers and land visitors.  We spent the day moored around the island and did 2 leisurely dives among the kelp forests.  The kelp forests are quite a unique underwater environment.  Kelp is a type of gigantic leafy seaweed that stretches from the rocky bottom all the way to the surface.  The fronds create a natural shelter for juvenile fish so the kelp forests tend to be quite fishy.  The highlight of the dives was seeing a few giant sea bass, which can grow up to 2m long, in the distance.  During the surface interval, we had a friendly baby sea lion hop onto the back of our boat and hang out for about an hour, which I understand doesn't happen too often!  We had a very nice sunny day but the water was around 13C, which was a little chilly in my DUI 30/30 drysuit.

My drysuit neck seal had deteriorated significantly since the last time I used it and I had to duct tape it to my neck to keep the seal watertight.  I had to be very careful not to move my head too much to avoid any leaks, and as a result, I wasn't very productive in taking photos.

It was a fun day out and a cool first experience in the kelp forests.  Next time, I will be back with a wide angle lens to try to capture the full splendor of the kelp forests.

Curious Garibaldi.  60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100

Spiny lobster.  60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100

Lembeh Photos October 2013

Here are some of the highlights from the Lembeh photo workshop:

Ceratosoma tenue and emperor shrimp.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Peacock mantis shrimp.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100

Juvenile pinnate batfish. 60mm & 1.4x teleconverter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100

Hairy frogfish.  105mm, 1/320s, f/20, ISO 100

Blue ring octopus.  105mm, 1/320s, f/18, ISO 100

Cuthona yamasui.  60mm & Subsee +10 diopter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100

Marionia pustulosa.  105mm, 1/320s, f/22, ISO 100

Mating mandarinfish.  105mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100

My New Camera

My wonderful wife bought me a new camera, housing, and associated accessories as part of her wedding gift to me.  So, I recently acquired a Nikon D7100, Nauticam NA-D7100 housing, Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes, and Reefnet Subsee wet diopters.

I’ve had a chance to take the new system out on a couple of short trips to Tioman Island now, and I can say unequivocally that this is a huge upgrade from my previous system.  There are lots of improvements but the ones that I’ve found that made a real difference to my underwater photography are the improved autofocus system, internal motor for non-AF-S lenses, 1.3x crop mode, and U1 and U2 recall modes.

With this system, I now have several options for supermacro photography: 1.3x crop mode, teleconverters, and wet diopters (or some combination of this).  The best thing about it is that I can choose at any point in the dive whether to use 1.3x crop mode and/or the wet diopters.

The YS-D1 strobes are great.  They are tiny, powerful, and user friendly.

I am reserving my judgment on the Nauticam housing until I’ve spent more time with it.  In general, I love the ergonomics and smart design, but I’ve been having a few issues with the housing.  Nothing huge, but annoying enough to make a difference. 

Tioman Island 

I spent 2 weekends in Tioman using the new camera system.  Having not been there for a few years, I was pleasantly surprised by the vibrant marine life.  I saw lots of clownfish and anemonefish, a few interesting nudibranches, lots of gobies and blennies, and millions of marble shrimp (which are very rare except in Tioman, apparently!).  Definitely enough to keep a macro photographer busy.  Conditions were generally benign except for some surge, which made supermacro photography challenging at times.

I tried the 60 mm & 1.4x teleconverter combination for the first time and it was great.  I didn’t really notice any deterioration in autofocus capabilities, which is really a testament to the camera’s good autofocus.

The things I don’t like about Tioman are the accommodations and the journey.  The accommodations are very basic and I didn’t have any hot water on both trips.  The journey involves a long van ride, going through Singapore and Malaysian immigration, and a long ferry ride.  The part I like the least is the long waiting time in between stops and the unpredictability of the ferry.

Salang panorama.  iPhone 5

 

Pink anemonefish.  105 mm, 1/320s, f/10, ISO 200

Striped triplefin.  105mm, 1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 200

Triplespot blenny.  105mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 200

 

Tiny Flabellina Rubrolineata, about 1cm long!  105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/29, ISO 200

 

Yawning tomato anemonefish.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter, 1/320s, f/18, ISO 200

 

Chromodoris Reticulata.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 200

 

False clown anemonefish in balled up anemone.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 400

 

Pink anemonefish.  60mm & 1.4x teleconverter, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 400

Cabilao Photos December 2011

Here are some highlights of my Cabilao trip. Full set of photos is here.

Dwarf hawkfish. 105mm, 1/250s, f/10, ISO 200

Bubble coral shrimp. 105mm & +7 diopter, 1/250s, f/25, ISO 200

Ornate ghost pipefish. 105mm, 1/250s, f/22, ISO 200

Spotted porcelain crab. 105mm, 1/250s, f/18, ISO 200

Network pipefish. 105mm, 1/250s, f/10, ISO 200

Halgerda Batangas. 105mm, 1/250s, f/18, ISO 200

Backlit leaf scorpionfish. 105mm, 1/250s, f/18, ISO 200

Rock's pygmy octopus. 60mm & +7 diopter, 1/250s, f/16, ISO 200