uwmp enews issue 18 - 2014 - underwater macro photographers · adriano morettin (italy) title :...

UWMP eNews issue 18 - 2014

· January & February 2014 Top 10 Photos From DSLRCamera and Compact Camera and CSC

· 2nd UWMP Group meeting in Tulamben, Bali

· UWMP Survey Results... - What do you do when you are happy with photos that you take underwater? - Rules that UW Photographers should be aware of!

· Monthly Theme Photo Competition Winners and Spotlight UW Macro Photographers Winners Profiles

· The Most number 1 - 2 - 3 LIKE on the UWMP PAGE in January & February 2014

· Our Official Sponsors Profile

· Monthly Theme Judges Profiles· Diving in the Seychelles

Editorial

03January & February 2014 Top 10 Photos From DSLRCamera and Compact Camera and CSC

70UWMP Survey Results... - What do you do when you are happy with photos that you take underwater? - Rules that UW Photographers should be aware of!

Contents

Cover photo by.... Ah Chee Ken Thongpila

Issue 18 - 2014Page 02 Copyright © facebook.uwmacrophotographers.com and www.uwmacrophotographers.com

36The Most number 1 - 2 - 3 LIKE on the UWMP PAGEin January & February 2014

65Monthly Theme Judges Profiles

38Monthly Theme Photo Competition Winners and Spotlight UW Macro Photographers Winners Profiles

68Diving in the Seychelles

74Our Official Sponsors Profile

Dear Members,

Welcome to the first edition of the eNews for 2014. We have more than 13,700 members on the Group, and 17,300 Liked on the UWMP PAGE.

In this issue we have the top ten photos from January and February for DSLR and the Compact camera and CSC categories. The photos, as usual are beautiful and inspiring and I would like to congratulate all photographers who appear in this issue and thank you for supplying additional details. I would also like to congratulate members who received the top 3 Like in January and February for their photos.

Our monthly theme photo competition has had a very good response. Thanks to Marcello Di Francesco, Christian Vizl and Alex Tyrrell who had a tough job of judging from August 2013 to January 2014. From February 2014 the judges will be: Alex Tyrrell, Jerome Kim, and Iyad Suleyman, find out more on their profile pages, they will also have a tough job ahead of them. Also, I would like to thank Bluewater Photos for sponsoring the competition each month and Lissenung Island, in PNG and Liberty Dive Resort in Tulamben for the end of the year prizes. These competitions should help members gain confidence and set their standard to get ready to enter the major underwater competitions or shootouts and also some great holidays to go diving.

Part of the winning prize for the monthly theme photo competition, is the chance for the winners to show us their profile and portfolio in the “Spotlight UW Macro Photographer”. Congratulations to all winners, Pasquale Carvelli, Rudolf Svensen, Adrian Dan, Ruggero Pastorino and Salvatore Ianniello and enjoy fantastic portfolios.

We have a very interesting article on diving in the Seychelles from Raoul Caprez. Great details and very nice photos.

In February we had a great survey “Rules that UW Photographers should be aware of!”. I really hope everyone will read it and hope it will help everyone to understand a bit more about what you should do and not do when you take photos underwater.

I would like to thank Ah Chee for the great cover photo, everyone who has contributed to this issue of eNews and as usual a big thank you to the Admin Group and Page teams.

732nd UWMP Group meeting in Tulamben, Bali

January 2014 - Top 10 DSLR Photos(in no particular order)


Ahmet Yay

Dany Weinberg

Matteo Visconti

Mike Bartick

Adriano Morettin

Taiwan Stone

Yann Oulia

Kisang Lee

Carl-Johan NilssonGiacomo Marchione


Dany Weinberg (Israel)

Title : Jellyfish and shrimp

Critters name : Pelagia noctiluca

Location taken : Eilat, Israel

Personal Website : www.danyweinberg.co.il

Camera : Nikon D300

Lens : Nikkor 60mm Macro

Housing : Seacam

Strobes : 2 x Ikelite DS125

Camera Setting : F16, 1/160 sec, ISO 200

Additional information or tips about how to get this photo :

The Story: "As hundreds of jellyfish congregated off Eilat, I decided to spend a couple of dives just a few meters below the surface with the enormous mass of jellyfish. I spotted a pink-purple jellyfish I'd never seen, Pelagia noctiluca, known for the ability to become bioluminescent. Like most jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca is poisonous, catching and digesting small pelagic crustaceans. I assume the small shrimp hikes a ride on the jelly to avoid being stung and to avoid other predators unwilling to enter the jellyfish tentacles range.

I took the picture at a depth of 50cm, just below the surface. Taking the picture was a little challenging because of the strong currents and the rough sea that make me hard to stay stable. I used high f stop (f16) in order to get both the Jellyfish and the shrimp in focus.


Ahmet Yay (Turkey)

Title : Leaffish with backlight

Critters name : Leaffish

Location taken : Anilao, Philippines

Personal Website : www.ahmetyay.com.tr

Camera : Canon 600D

Lens : Canon 60mm Macro

Housing : Sea&Sea

Strobes : 2 x Sea&Sea YS-D1



I had seen a leaffish photo that was taken with back light. I liked it and wanted to take the same photo. We found a leaf fish during a dive in Anilao where I spent some time using back light torch but I didn't like it so I decided to used one flash in front and the other behind the fish.

This photo was taken with the back flash lit normally but the front flash lit lower ...

Later I used the white balance tool to balance the colour tone of this photo.


Mike Bartick (Philippines)

Title : Eruption

Critters name : Cerianthid Tube Dwelling Anenome

Location taken : Anilao, Philipines

Personal Website : www.saltwaterphoto.com

Camera : Nikon D7100


Housing :

Fluoro lighting kit: 1 x Sola Nighsea excitation light/interruption filters x 21 x Nightsea strobe filter Sea&Sea YS d1 on a strobe



Fluoro photography is fun and interesting simultaneously as some organisms glow and some don’t. I found 2 of these Anemones that glowed amongst 6 or 8 others that didn’t, all of them were clumped together. As soon as my Sola light shone on them and as I approached them, they looked more and more like a volcano erupting on the horizon.



Tulamben is amazing place for muck dive, plenty critters and plenty marine life. Blue tunicates are everywhere but one of them caught my attention: a red goby lying there… I thought nice, perfect contrast, blue and red but when I got closer I saw sparkling dots also, they were goby's eggs, very tiny! to take that picture and got black background I have used craft snoot put onto my single strobe. Using snoot by yourself it's not easy, very hard to align the spot light of the snoot with focus line alone that's why many photographers have buddy who put for them. I love snoot's effect even if it's hard to do alone mostly when the sun is strong and you can't see clearly the spot light of your strobe.

Matteo Visconti (Italy)

Title : Shine like a diamonds

Critters name : Goby with eggs on tunicate

Location taken : Tulamben, bali, Indonesia

Personal Website : www.matteovisconti.com

Camera : Canon 5D Mark II

Lens : Canon 100mm L Macro

Housing : Isotta

Strobes : Sea&Sea 110a

Additional equipment add on : Snoot



Adriano Morettin (Italy)

Title : Fingerprint shrimp

Critters name : Coralliocaris sandyi

Location taken : Lembeh, Indonesia

Camera : Nikon D800E


Housing : Seacam Silver

Strobes : 2 x Seacam 150



This shrimp is fairly rare and hard to see, was discovered in 2008 and is considered one of the major attractions of the critters of Lembeh.

Lives with his head down and is about 1.5 cm., It is quite difficult to see and photograph because it blends very well with the coral on which they live.

I have to thank for this picture Johni, the good dive guide that I had at the Kungkungan Dive Resort.



I'm looking to concentrate on nudibranchs, inadvertently I found sea spiders are moving, because it is stop in the wall so I let me stop myself and stabilized then pick up the camera to take this photo. In the sea wall to shoot me first adjust the position of the flash. Avoid light reflection or blocked, and then wait for it to move to a quiet location I wanted, because I want to capture the feeling of the dream changed, so I will pay attention to aperture settings.

Taiwan Stone (Taiwan)

Title : Light stays

Critters name : Sea Spiders

Location taken : Anilao, Phillpines

Personal Website : Facebook Taiwan Stone

Camera : Nikon D800

Lens : Nikon 60mm Macro

Housing : Sea&Sea

Strobes : 2 x INON Z-240

Dioptre : Subsee +10


Issue 18 - 2014 Copyright © facebook.uwmacrophotographers.com and www.uwmacrophotographers.com

Kisang Lee (Korea)

Title : Mirror

Critters name : Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus)

Location taken : Anilao Philippines

Camera : Canon 600D


Housing : Patima

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS-250



At 18 m depth on steel structures is one long nose fish. When shooting a few times on the right side the other one was hiding in a small cave, fish rose long shot to right to find out the guy next to me and moved to the other one went with me, with the help of two long birdie Rose Fish success of fish gather in one place for a while and did not run away.





It is not very obvious to get to shoot in what subjects are very small. We must remain calm as well as soon as we approach the coral where they arise, they may start soon.

Yann Oulia (Reunion Island)

Title : On the coral

Critters name : Bryaninops natans

Location taken : Mayotte Island

Personal Website : Facebook Reunion Underwater Photography



Housing : Sea&Sea

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS250 Pro




This shot is very difficult for the small size of the critter, no more than 2 cm. It lives in middle of tentacle of the mushroom coral, where it hides and lives together the Periclimenes koronensis. For the small size it is necessary for one additional macro lens ( subsee +10)

Giacomo Marchione (Italy)

Title : Crystal

Critters name : Egg shell shrimp

Location taken : Gangga island, Manado, Indonesia

Personal Website : gmphotosub.com



Housing : Seacam

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS120


Carl-Johan Nilsson (Sweden)

Title : Hairy Goby (Paragobiodon echinocephalus)

Critters name : Hairy Goby


Camera : Nikon D7000

Lens : Nikkor 105mm VR Macro

Housing : Ikelite

Strobes : Ikelite DS-160




Goby is found in thin yellow Branching Coral - Seriatopora hystrix. These Corals are pretty common and can be found all over Indo-Pacific, at least in Philippines. Trick is to find one that are not too big and dense since the Goby is very active. According to dive guide Alexis Principe it's easier to shoot at night since they seem to be less active then. Choose +10 because it was very small, about 10-12mm. They grow bigger but then the corals are often bigger too. Studied the fish for quite some time trying to find places where it liked to stop, prefocused on one and waited. Whole series, 4 decent shots, took about 40 minutes. Picture is slightly cropped, couple of backscatter removed, lighted up and sharpened.


February 2014 - Top 10 DSLR Photos(in no particular order)

Yatwai SoPietro Cremone Dag Leslie Hansen

John Ng

Gregory Piper

Ah Chee

Yorko Summer

Yury Ivanov

Marcello Di Francesco Gabriel Barathieu


Pietro Cremone (Italy)

Title : Feeding Nembrotha

Critters name : Nudibranch (Nembrotha chamberlaini)

Location taken : Puert Galera, Philippines

Personal Website : www.cremone.it

Camera : Canon 60D


Housing : Nauticam

Strobes : 2 x INON Z240

Camera Setting : F20, 1/250sec, ISO 200


This is a simple shot, but the beauty of the subject and its position has made possible to me a very beautiful image. The secret is the camera positioning, the shot has been taken from below so that the nudibranch stands out.


Yat-wai So (Hong Kong)

Title : Shrimp

Critters name : Whip Coral Shrimp (Pontonides Ankeri)


Personal Website : flickr.com/photos/40229527@N02/

Camera : Canon 5D Mark III


Housing : Sea&Sea

Strobes : 2 X INON Z240

Dioptre : Subsee +5



Strobe positioning:

This photo was using back lighting. This is because the coral was semi transparent, back lighting can let those part come with pale blue colour.

This was done by putting both strobes behind the subject and be careful not to put the strobe inside the field of view. In this picture, I had extended both strobes arm nearly straight in order to get a totally back illumination. Also don't point the strobes directly towards the subject in order to avoid scatters.

Composition and setting:

This was a typical diagonal composition, I point my camera from low to high in order to let the coral look like a bit pointing towards the picture and the upper part of the picture (far side) had mild bokeh. This effect can be more obvious by decreasing F number (i.e. larger aperture), but beware of too shallow depth of field may cause not the entire subject (i.e. shrimp) in focus.


Dag Leslie Hansen (Norway)

Title : My soft home

Critters name : Hyperia galba

Location taken : Langangen, Norway

Personal Website : www.sue.no



Housing : Aquatica

Strobes : INON Z240

Additional equipment add on : Fisheye 48dx focus light



This Hyperia galba lives in a Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata). I normally find those big one in dead jellyfish drifting around in the end of summer up here in the south Norway. I took this photo with a normal 100mm lens without a diopter, because I had none. I will normally take this shot with a 5x diopter. And if the jellyfish is really stable I can use a 10x diopter. Both my strobes are set right beside the lens on full. The size of this animal is about 5-6mm. Taking photos of these small animals in a drifting jelly is setting your buoyancy and breathing on a test.


Gregory Piper (USA)

Title : Yellow Head Daddy

Critters name : Jawfish with Eggs

Location taken : Grand Cayman Island

Personal Website : www.gregpiperart.com



Housing : Aquatica




I was on a quick trip to my favourite local dive destination, Grand Cayman. This is where I always go when I need a quick fix of sand and salt water. I was out with my friends from Sunset House doing an afternoon Dive on Killer Pillar. With only three days to shoot the first two were so great that even if Killer Pillar turned out to be a bust I would leave Grand Cayman with a smile! I had already shot at least 10 different sets of Jawfish with eggs on my first two days, including two on Sunset Houses, "house reef." In fact I have never had a trip to Grand Cayman where I have not found yellow headed jawfish with eggs. the key to these guys is knowing where to look and patience. If you are a diver that needs to see the whole site then chances are you have never witnessed this and never will.


John Ng (Hong Kong)

Title : Alone with the pink eyes

Critters name : Pink eyed goby

Location taken : Manado, Indonesia

Personal Website : facebook.com/JohnNg.Photogallery

Camera : Nikon D300

Lens : Nikkor 105mm VR Macro

Housing : Nexus


Camera Setting : F7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 200


I took this photo at Manado. Normally these pink eyed gobies are found in 20 metres or above. But this time we were very lucky and found this at about 10 metres. So we can stay longer to take this photo. I've spent about 45 minutes by using 105mm macro lens for this shot without disturbing them.


Ah Chee (Malaysia)

Title : Pika Chew

Critters name : Nudibranchs (Thecacera sp.)


Camera : Canon 6D


Housing : Sea&Sea

Strobes : 2 X Sea&Sea YS D1


Additional equipment add on : Sea&Sea Snoot



I'm very lucky I can get this photo because of the Nudibranch is not big moving, and no current, then I got time to use my snoot to properly focus to the object, and I still had my time to set the effect what I want and adjust the focusing.


Yury Ivanov (Thailand)

Title : Chick

Critters name : Nudibranch (Cadlinella ornatissima)

Location taken : Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia

Personal Website : www.diveivanov.com

Camera : Nikon D80

Lens : Nikon 105mm VR Micro

Housing : Sea&Sea


Additional equipment add on : Sola Photo 500



This picture was not so hard to do, but in order to get the fine details of the object had to be completely fixed, as well as have a good light for focusing and of course try to make as many shots in the end at least one of them will be good.



Observed marine life’s behaviour is always make me so much fun. While I dived at Lembeh Strait I found a cute and tiny frogfish, size around 3cm in length. Then I decided to spend a whole tank dive to wait and try to take a mouth open shot. Suddenly, this small stuff hunted down a fish for meal in front of me. The moment happened very quick go beyond my reaction. But I still had a couple of chances to shoot, it swallowed the fish piece by piece. I was lucky to see the whole process and outcome. The trouble is making me feel so hungry!

Yorko Summer (Taiwan)

Title : Having Meal

Critters name : Frogfish

Location taken : Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Personal Website : www.yorkosummer.com



Housing : Nexus







I am always very attracted to these colourful porcelain crabs, especially while they are hunting for food. Patience is the key to the success of these type of macro shots, we have to wait for the crab to position himself comfortable on top of its anemone then use our light's strobe to highlight the main subject. In this shot I used strobes in reverse position in order to use light scrap to emphasise crab's details and at the same time not light up the anemone on the background.

Marcello Di Francesco (Italy)

Title : Put'em up!

Critters name : Porcelain crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus)

Location taken : Mabul island, Malaysia

Personal Website : www.marcellodifrancesco.com



Housing : Nauticam



Gabriel Barathieu (Réunion Island)

Title : Squid night

Critters name : Squid

Location taken : Réunion island

Personal Website : flickr.com/photos/barathieu/



Housing : Subal

Strobes : 2 X Subtronic Nova



To make this shot, I had to use a light source to attract the squid. We must focus on low ISO to have good dense black and not saturated squid.


January 2014 - Top 11 Compact Camera and Compact System Camera (CSC) Photos (in no particular order)

Benjamin Choong

Walter BassiChris Kroll

Ben Sarinda

Ajiex Dharma

Sol Alcazar

Stefano Scortegagna

Patty Woo

Ivan Manzanares

Joey Hong

Nicholas More


Walter Bassi (Italy)

Title : Cleaning

Critters name : Muraena Helena and Parapandalo

Location taken : Bergeggi Island (Savona) Italy

Personal Website : sitohd.com/uwpwalterbassi/

Camera and Housing : Olympus EPL-1 and Olympus

Lens : Olympus 60mm Macro

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS 110@ and YS 02



Photo taken in Bergeggi Island dive spot "The gully", 20 meters depth. This Murena is getting into this hole with one or two shrimp.

The shrimp is always shy, he walks on Murena then begins to clean the mouth and eyes. Important approach plans, moray and shrimp if they are still not flee, some photos you can do.



Finding this fella was easy enough, taking a decent shot of it poses a real challenge. Usually around the size between 3-7mm, the critter moves around rapidly on pieces of green algae (with a post like "stalk" and a flattened plate-like "leaf") found 3-10cm along sandy bottoms.

To take this shot, I had to patiently lower myself all the way, digging into the sand to achieve the same level as the nudibranch to obtain the shot. This way, I was able to shoot the nudibranch’s frontal facial shot, while also obtaining the look as if it is grazing on the green meadows. All this would only be possible by double stacking 2 Subsee +10, giving it magnification while maintaining the clarity of the subject. (Other wet diopters create bokeh/blurring effect).

Benjamin Choong (Malaysia)

Title : Sheep grazing on the meadows

Critters name : Nudibranchs (Costasiella kuroshimae)

Location taken : Melasti, Bali, Indonesia

Personal Website : facebook.com/benjamin.choong

Camera and Housing : Canon S100 and Ikelite


Dioptre : 2 x Subsee +10

Camera Setting : F8, 1/500 sec, ISO80


Chris Kroll (Thailand)

Title : Tiny Pygmy Squid

Critters name : Pygmy Squid (Idiosepius sp.3)

Location taken : Lembeh Straits, Indonesia

Camera and Housing : Canon G12 and Recsea

Strobes : INON Z240


Additional equipment add on : Sola 800 focus light



This tiny squid was only a few mm long and was not an easy subject to photograph - swimming from one blade of sea grass to the next (very hard to follow something so tiny!). Finally it decided to settle on one piece giving me the opportunity to take a few shots. I chose a slow shutter speed for a light coloured background which I think complements the colours of the squid and sea grass nicely. The original image was taken upside down and has been flipped 180 degrees for a more pleasing aesthetic perspective.


Ajiex Dharma (Indonesia)

Title : Cuthona sp

Critters name : Nudibranchs (Cuthona sp.)

Location taken : Seraya Secrets, Bali, Indonesia

Camera and Housing : Canon G10 and Canon WPDC-28

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS120

Dioptre : Subsee +5



I love to see all of the pictures of UWPG members, they have really nice pictures and that is inspires me a lot. First I saw this nudibranch hanging on hydroid and this nudibranch was feeding on the hydroid, I was thinking to make black background.

I put my camera under of this nudibranch, so the lens is trough to the ocean, I think that is the reason I got black back ground. Cause I have shot this from top and I saw the sandy ground and that did not make the colour of the nudibranch come out. I took some pictures and I got this Amazing shot for me.


Ben Sarinda (Indonesia)

Title : Colorful

Critters name : Vomer conch

Location taken : Lembeh strait, Indonesia

Camera and Housing : Olympus EPL 3 and Olympus

Lens : Olympus 14-42mm

Strobes : : Sea&Sea YS-D1


Additional equipment add on : Home made snoot



Vomer conch feed nocturnally on fish, invertebrates, sponges, algae and ascidians. They grow to a length of about 15cm.

Found singly on sand and rubble areas of coral and rocky reefs, lagoons and estuaries, at depths of 10 to 30 metres. They have a scattered distribution across the Western Pacific but are generally uncommon.

I found those things in very shallow water about 3-4 meters.



The solar powered nudibranch, Phyllodesmium longicirrum, consumes zooxanthellae algae from the octocorals they live on without harming the algae. The living algae survive in symbiosis within the nudibranch and photosynthesise simple sugar from sunlight as a food source.

Sol Alcazar (Philippines)

Title : Solar Powered Nudibranch

Critters name : Nudibranch (Phyllodesmium longicirrum)


Camera : Olympus XZ-1

Housing : Olympus

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS-D1





This hairy shrimp (size less than 1 cm) was found at about 18m at a dive site called Nudi Fall. I would say this is a lucky shot because not all the hairy shrimps found carry eggs. Honestly, I did not notice there were eggs until I viewed the picture on the computer monitor. With the surge underwater, it was quite difficult to focus with a compact camera due to its small size. The key point to take this shot is patience.

Patty Woo (Hong Kong)

Title : Hairy Shrimp with eggs

Critters name : Hairy Shrimp with eggs

Location taken : Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Personal Website : facebook.com/woo.patty

Camera : Panasonic Lumix LX7

Housing : Nauticam

Strobes : 2 x INON S2000

Dioptre : Subsee +10 and INON UCL-165 x 2

Camera Setting : F7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO 80


Nicholas More (England)

Title : Proud Parent

Critters name : Red Sea Anemone Fish (Amphiprion bicinctus)

Location taken : Northern Red Sea, Egypt

Personal Website : facebook.com/nikonunderwater

Camera : Olympus OM-D E-M5


Housing : Nauticam

Strobes : Sea&Sea YS-D1



The shot was taken on a photography trip to Northern red sea, Egypt organised by Paul Duxfield, in January 2013. We had seen a number of anemones with immature clown fish eggs during the week so I was pleased to find more developed eggs on my last dive of the holiday. The anemone fish kept returning to the same spot every 30 seconds to tend to the eggs, so I patiently waited for it to return with my focus locked to capture the moment. I tried to frame the anemone fish tending the eggs and part of the anemone to give context to the shot. I lit the shot using a single YS-D1 strobe with the fastest shutter speed sync (1/250th) to capture the behaviour. I set the aperture at f11 to allow some depth of field but also to allow some bokeh to concentrate the eye on the interaction of the anemone fish with the eggs. I spent approximately 15 minutes getting the shot, not a bad way to end my weeks diving!!


Ivan Manzanares (Philippines)

Title : Shrimp Portrait

Critters name : Harlequin Shrimp


Camera and Housing : Olympus SP 510uz and Ikelite

Strobes : Internal flash only

Dioptre : INON +6

Additional equipment add on : torch



I shoot this shrimp at night, because in the morning they are always underneath the rocks, when I saw this shrimp on top of the sea star, I put on my close up lens and then zoom in over 50% and put my INON close up lens, and then slowly approach the shrimp.



This shot was taken in Trieste Italy, Adriatic Sea, at a depth of about 4 meters, the hour at 12:00, when the light was perpendicular.

I used a Focus Light to help me in the manual focus, and two INON Z-240 Flash for your subject lit properly. It is a subject rather difficult to photograph because jumping from side to side all the time and so it is not easy to compose the shot. Canon G12 is also slow in the manual focus compared to a SLR and this does not help with subjects that move quickly.

Stefano Scortegagna (Italy)

Title : Flie Clam

Critters name : Flie Clam (Limaria sp)

Location taken : Trieste, Italy

Camera and Housing : Canon G12 and Isotta


Dioptre : INON UCL 165

Additional equipment add on : Focus Light Protre




It’s an interesting symbiotic relationship between the emperor shrimps and a range of nudibranch and sea cucumbers. The shrimps lives on the host, which gives him protection from predators and source of food. In return the shrimps consumes any parasites on the host.

I’m lucky that Kisang Lee showed me this symbiotic relationship towards the end of our dive. In order to get a good frontal shot, you need to go low and be at the same eye level as the subject which, at times can be quite challenging. Also, take some shots, left 45° shot, right 45°, front shot, top shot and side shot. Surely one of it will work out well. That’s what I was taught. Lastly, patience is a virtue.

Joey Hong (Malaysia)

Title : Free Ride

Critters name : Emperor shrimp on Nudibranch


Camera : Olympus E-PL3

Housing : Olympus

Lens : Panasonic Leica 45mm Macro

Strobes : INON S2000


Additional equipment add on : iTorch focus light



February 2014 - Top 10 Compact Camera and Compact System Camera (CSC) Photos (in no particular order)

Kévin Bourdon

Adita Agoes

Lucky Manzano

Gabriel de Leon

Marjon Phur

Stefan Follows

Kim Foss-Pedersen

Gareth Bowen

David Gentile Gayle Van Leer



This photo was taken at night at 1 meter depth in a very small lagoon of Reunion Island in Indian Ocean. It was six months I expected to be able to find this specie as we see that in January and February. The rest of the year observations are very rare.

After an hour drive I arrived at the place and I was able to photograph this specie for two hours. To be able to shoot without frightening and have a good angle I lit with a red filter and I waited for the time to have this angle.

Kévin Bourdon (Reunion Island)

Title : Sweety Nudi

Critters name : Hydatina amplustre

Location taken : Saint Pierre, Reunion Island

Personal Website : flickr.com/photos/113319628@N03/

Camera : Sony RX100

Housing : Acquapazza


Dioptre : Nauticam SMC




This was a dream shot come true. I've always been fascinated by frogfishes especially catching their yawns. This frogfish was pretty "cooperative", kept yawning. I had to wait for about 10mins at 20ft, to catch his shot. The trick with frogfishes is look at their chins for movement and their "mini-yawns". Once they start doing small yawns, about 80% there will be a big yawn right after.

Lucky Manzano (Philippines)

Title : Sleepy boy

Critters name : Frogfish

Location taken : Anilao, Phlippines

Camera and Housing : Canon S100 and FIX

Strobes : INON D2000

Dioptre : Subsee +5

Additional equipment add on : INON Snoot



Gabriel de Leon (USA)

Title : Fire

Critters name : Tube Anemone

Location taken : Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Personal Website : flickr.com/photos/gabriel24

Camera and Housing : Canon G12 and Ikelite

Lens : M.Zuiko ED 60mm Macro

Strobes : Ikelite DS51

Dioptre : INON UCL 360

Camera Setting : F6.3, 1/125 sec, ISO 100


I captured this image while diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Although tube anemones are common in this part of the world, this one caught my eye with its intense green coloured centre. My objective was to highlight the vivid green colour against the softer coloured tentacles by positioning the strobe above and slightly to the side of the subject and focusing at approximately 3” from it. The resulting image after slight cropping and minor adjustments in post processing shows beautifully vibrant detail.


Adita Agoes (Indonesia)

Title : Green hairy shrimp

Critters name : Green hairy shrimp

Location taken : Ternate, Indonesia

Personal Website : facebook.com/kaleumm

Camera and Housing : Canon G15 and Canon


Dioptre : F.I.T +10 , Subsee +10 , F.I.T +8



I set my ISO to 80 ( to get as much details as it can be), f-stop to 8 (to get enough depth of field), and speed to 1/160 (to have enough ''shake-proof'' speed for me but won't drain my strobe's battery). Then I zoomed out the camera to the widest and start looking the shrimp through the live view of the camera.

Since f.i.t +8 has a smaller diameter than the lens of g15, I have to zoom in until the step down ring adapter is out of the frame. I usually max it out by zooming in until the maximum analog lens zoom level (marked by a line in the middle of the zoom bar). I don't do it until the maximum zoom level, since beyond the analog zoom is actually digital zoom, which means a digital crop from the camera.

The benefit of doing the zoom in is that we can gain extra focus distance from the object so that we won't touch them by our lens, and have enough space between the lens and the object for positioning my strobe to create an ambient light.

Since I only have a single strobe and positioned it on the left arm of the tray, I think it will be better to shoot this shrimp when it's facing to the left. Because it has a white section at the bottom and tail area of their body. When facing left, the green area of the body can be well lit by the light from the strobe without making the white area kind of over exposed.


Marjon Phur (Australia)

Title : Snowflake

Critters name : Donut Nudibranch

Location taken : Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia

Camera and Housing : Olympus EPL-5 and Olympus

Lens : M.Zuiko ED 60mm Macro




My image was taken at a dive site called Melasti in Tulamben Bali in approximately 8 meters of water. I applied the golden rule of underwater photography and got down low, shooting up and combined with a light coral background this made for an interesting background.



Recently, I’ve been trying to get really low, or eye to eye as it were with my subjects so for this shot I wedged the bottom of the housing into the sand so far that even the front of the port was in it! I put myself a little way ahead of where I thought the Flatworm was heading and waited. I positioned the strobe directly above and close to the subject because I wanted to see if I could show how thin and transparent these critters are. I used the smallest autofocus point I could and positioned it where I hoped the Flatworms ‘head’ was going to be. With the three diopters, the depth of field is crazy shallow, so I set the f stop to 8 to give me the thinness I wanted. As it approached the front of the port I took six shoots as quickly as the recycle time allowed. This is greatly speeded up by shooting manual on the D2000 and turning the EM5’s kit strobe down to its lowest setting.

Stefan Follows (Thailand)

Title : Flat Worm

Critters name : Flat Worm (Polycladida Sp.)

Location taken : Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

Personal Website : facebook.com/KohPhaNganPhotographic

Camera : Olympus OMD EM5

Housing : Nauticam


Strobes : INON D2000

Dioptre : 1 x Inon UCL 165 and 2 x H2O Tools +5




This was my first trip using the snoots. I wasn’t sure they would work well with a compact and the max F8 that the G12 is capable of. It was challenging at first - you could probably hear my cursing on the surface. To get this shot I set the arms of the snoots coming in from left and right pointing forwards into the frame at around 45 degrees so that the beams crossed around the focal point having zoomed in all the way. I took around 20-25 shots of this particular nudibranch as he wandered along the reef, moving the camera instead of changing the zoom, but this was my favourite. I spent around 15 mins processing the RAW image, tweaking colours and removing a small amount of backscatter (there was almost none thanks to the snoots). I used Adobe Lightroom 4 and CS6. My tip for Lightroom is to export using pro-photo colour profile instead of SRGB as it retains much more vivid colours, particularly good for Facebook.

Gareth Bowen (UK)

Title : Out of Darkness

Critters name : Nudibranch Nembrotha

Location taken : Puerto Galera, Philippines

Camera and Housing : Canon G12 and Fisheye FIX

Strobes : INON Z240

Dioptre : Fisheye FIX

Additional equipment add on : Reef Wreck&Critter Fiber Snoot




Additional equipment add on : Sola Video 1200



Aplysia punctata (Sea hare) with defensive ink. I spent around 50 minutes in 2C (35F) at 8m (26 feet) just looking for a sea hare. And I was very lucky to find one sitting on a rock. I guess I scared it with my camera and it started squirting defensive ink.

In Norway they usually are in this colour and grows to 70mm. And usually we find it in spring time / early summer. But this year has there has been a warm winter.

Kim Foss-Pedersen (Norway)

Title : Seahare

Critters name : Sea Hare (Aplysia punctate)

Location taken : Svestad, Oslo fjord, Norway

Personal Website : www.marine-foto.com

Camera and Housing : Sony NEX-7 and Nauticam

Lens : Sony 30mm Macro




It is always very interesting to see how the sea creatures try to communicate with us. In making this picture I felt the feeling of this vain Flabellina that it was stretched towards me, putting posing and letting immortalise as a model with photographer, with the awareness of being an exemplary extraordinarily beautiful! Situations like this make our "work" extremely rewarding!

David Gentile (Italy)

Title : Vain Flabellina

Critters name : Nudibranch (Flabellina Affinis)

Location taken : Livorno, Italy

Camera : Olympus EPL-3

Housing : Olympus

Lens : Olympus 60mm macro

Strobes : INON D2000 and S2000




Usually found only in our coldest winter months, these nudibranchs live in our "algal mat" (an area of broken off loosely piled up grass and kelp detritus). If you try to shoot one crawling around in the detritus the background is horrible and you rarely get an unobstructed shot. What I do is set my lights really tight not more than 6” to 8” (150m-200m) from each other shining so as to create just a small pocket of light, similar to using snoots on strobes. Once I have my lights set and turned on to full power I pick up whatever the nudibranch is on and hold the camera in one hand and the grass/kelp in the other hand while the subject continues to move across it. It is lucky to get a shot like this where everything goes right, meaning the nudibranch is "posing" just right, the exposure is right, and the focus is sharp. I have had my best luck keeping the shutter speed higher than those of you that are shooting with strobes. Since my lighting source is always ON, shutter speed plays an important role in getting sharply focused shots especially with this one handed shooting technique.

Gayle Van Leer (USA)

Title : Nudibranch

Critters name : Nudibranch (Janolus barbarensis)

Location taken : La Jolla Shores Marine Park, San Diego, California

Personal Website : facebook.com/gaylevanleer

Camera and Housing : Sony RX100 and Nauticam

Strobes : Continuous lighting with 2 Sola lights, a 1200 and a 2000


Underwater Macro PhotographersThe Page Statistics January and February 2014


1. Iyad Suleyman

741 LIKEs3. Ivan Manzanares

529 LIKEs2. Sevil Gürel Peker

684 LIKEs

Article by Chris Kroll

2013 proved to be an excellent year for UWMP and we finished strong with a total of 15,790 Page members.Over the month of January we gained 563 new members and an additional 710 in February. These new members bought us just over the 17,000 mark a few days before February ended finishing us up with a total of 17,063.A big thankyou to our dynamic and hard-working team of Page Administrators; Elly Jeurissen, Erik K F Goossens, Evie Go, Isabella Maffei, Tammy Hauk and Walter Bassi. 105 images were posted to the Page in January and Facebook Statistics indicate that these photos generated 43,211 Facebook stories (due to Likes, Comments and Shares) and therefore were displayed on Facebook user’s Newsfeeds and Tickers (both members and non-members worldwide) 546,906 times!

The Underwater Macro Photographers Facebook Page is a showcase of our member’s best and most interesting photos picked by our team of administrators and selected from our Facebook Group.

We predominantly choose photos that have been very popular in the Group, but occasionally we select shots that were not as popular that we feel deserved more attention than they received.

These photos almost always have an excellent response once posted to the Page – showing us that there is a distinct difference in the dynamic of the Group and Page (the group being more of a social community of photographers and the Page is purely a showcase of photography to a much wider audience.)

These are the top 3 most liked images from the month of January

These are the top 3 most liked images from the month of February


1. Henry Jager

739 LIKEs

3. Oleg Fendin

694 LIKEs2. Shigeru Harazaki

723 LIKEs

We posted a total of 127 photos to the Page in the month of February. Statistics from Facebook tell us that these 127 photos generated 73,812 Facebook stories (due to Likes, Comments and Shares) and therefore were displayed on Facebook user’s Newsfeeds and Tickers (members and non-members worldwide) 426,836 times!

2013 October Theme “Seahorse” Winners

Elly Jeurissen Francesco BazzottiPasquale Isabella


Spotlight UW Macro Photographer2013 October Theme “Seahorse” Winners

Favourite macro diving trip (Holiday): Mediterranean Sea

Favourite macro subjects: Galathea with Serpula

Pasquale Carvelli(Italy)


-: Equipment for Macro photograph :-

Camera : Canon EOS 500D

Lens : Canon 60mm

Housing : Nimar

Strobe : 2 x INON Z240

I love the sea since I was little and I always had the curiosity to discover what the concealed depths.

In 2003, while vacationing in the Maldives I took the first diving license and from there I went straight to my first photo shoot with a simple disposable Kodak and returned to Milan I have never stopped and I continued with patents and passion of photography.

The passion for the sea and photography has led me to travel the world with ever greater dedicated to underwater photography, it was the best trip in Indonesia and Malaysia where but unfortunately I did not have the proper equipment underwater photography and I could not bring home worthy memories of those wonderful backdrops.

In the years that have passed since the SeaLife Canon G11 with Isolde big step up to SLR with the Canon EOS 500D in Nimar housing still the Canon 7D.

Over the years I have had the small satisfaction in the first three placing in various international underwater photography competitions.

Today I am 38 years old and that I always wanted to immerse myself and take pictures then.

The Winning photo

Canon 500D - F/11, 1/125, ISO 100www.pasqualecarvelli.com

Canon 7D - F/11, 1/125, ISO 100


Pasquale’s Portfolio

Canon G11 - F8, 1/500 ISO 80 Canon 7D - F/16, 1/125, ISO 100

Canon 7D - F/14, 1/125, ISO 100

Canon 7D - F/11, 1/125, ISO 100

Canon 7D - F/18, 1/125, ISO 100Canon 7D - F/16, 1/125, ISO 100Canon 500D - F/16, 1/1250, ISO 100

Canon 7D - F/11, 1/125, ISO 100

2013 November Theme “Cephalopod” Winners

Nicolas Terry Raoul CaprezRudolf Svensen


Spotlight UW Macro Photographer2013 November Theme “Cephalopod” Winners

Favourite macro diving trip (Holiday): Trondheimsfjorden in Norway

Favourite macro subjects: Glacier lanternfish (Benthosema glaciale)

Rudolf Svensen(Norway)



Camera : Nikon D300

Lens : 60mm Micro Nikkor

Housing : Subal

Strobe : Sea&Sea YS-D1

Dioptre: Subsee +10

Additional equipment add on: Sola 1200

Rudolf lives on the Island Hundvåg, 5 km north of downtown Stavanger, and just at the seafront. Approximately once a week, he leaves his house with a camera in his hand and a diving tank on his back. Rudolf seems to regard Breiaviki ( the "Broad Bay" ) as some sort of extension of his garden. Many bypassers on the path along the sea may have wondered about the bubbles and flashing light out in the water late at night, in good weather or in gales.

He is married to Sigrun, and together they have two sons, Håvard and Øyvind. By occupation, Rudolf works as an engineer in the oil industry.

Rudolf has always been interested in the ocean, and the creatures you find in it. He started diving in 1980, and diving has since then been his great passion. He has dived in most parts of the world, but he actually prefers diving in Norway. Among the different stages in Rudolf’s career as a diver, he has been a member of the Norwegian Clearance Diving Team in the Royal Norwegian Navy, and IANTD nitrox diving instructor.

In 1989, he purchased his first underwater camera, and has since taken thousands of photographs. He is a regular writer and photographer for the leading Norwegian diving magazine 'Dykking', and has seen his pictures published in books, articles, advertising material and various publications in addition to the nature photographs. Rudolf has also been so lucky to have four of his images displayed on Norwegian stamps.

One of his speciality is mixed gas diving. As early as 1996, he photographed the wreck of the steamship (D/S) TINN, which rests at a depth of 100m in lake Tinnsjø in eastern Norway. The utilisation of mixed gas has enabled him to photograph marine species that are unavailable by the use of "ordinary" diving equipment. In total, Rudolf has logged more than 3000 dives, which equals 2 dives a week for 30 years. Few leisure divers in Norway have such a broad experience.

The Winning photo60 mm Macro Lens - F11, 1/125, ISO 200

www.uwphoto.no


Rudolf’s Portfolio

Amphipod (Hyperia galba) on a moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)1/250, F32 ISO 250

Juvenile Whiting (Merlangius merlangus)1/200, F18, ISO 400

Juvenile Gray Sole (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus)1/200, F13, ISO 100

Nudibranch Flabellina pedata1/100, F32 ISO 100

Sea angel (Clione limacina)1/160, F22 ISO 200

Juvenile Whiting in Lions mane jellyfish 1/125, F10, ISO200

Velvet Belly Shark with an amphipod1/200, F14 ISO 200

Juvenile Garfish (Belone belone)1/125, F13, ISO 400

2013 December Theme “Behaviour” Winners

Salvatore IannielloSuzan Meldonian

Adrian Dan


Spotlight UW Macro Photographer2013 December Theme “Behaviour” Winners

Favourite macro diving trip (Holiday): Anilao, Batangas

Favourite macro subjects: Crabs

Adrian Dan(Philippines)



Camera : Sony NEX-7

Lens : Sony E-Mount 18-55mm

Housing : Nauticam

Strobe : Sea&Sea YS-D1

Dioptre: Subsee +10

Additional equipment add on: UK Aqualite Video & Snoot

I began diving in 2008, brought by an obsession with marine life. I grew up looking through coffee table books, most memorably Jacques Cousteau’s “The Ocean World”. Day in and day out, it was about sharks and the animal kingdom for me. Being related to Robert Yin, one of the pioneers of underwater photography in the Philippines, did not help with this spiralling need to be in the water, either. Having a professional mentor brought me to dedicate myself to the discipline of macro photography and drove me to share my own photographs with others.

The sheer purpose of my photography is to bring people to see more of the underwater world. No matter how eerie the creature may be, whether it be a moulting crab or the face of a stargazer, it will make you wonder what else the world has hidden in its watery depths.

Although I am currently a freelance photographer, it's my personal dream to one day make a coffee table book of my own. I strongly believe that through photographs, more people will understand the delicate and amazing world we live in, and become more active in doing their part to take care of our oceans.

The Winning photo - ISO100, F22, 1/160 Aeolid Nudibranch: ISO100 F16 1/160


Adrian’s Portfolio

Janolus Nudibranch: ISO100 F14 1/160Red Spotted Blenny: ISO100 F22 1/160

Crocodilefish: ISO100 F6.3 1/100Xeno Crab: ISO100 F6.3 1/100

Coconut Octopus: ISO100 F18 1/160

Blue Ring Octopus: ISO100 F32 1/160

Peacock Mantis Shrimp: ISO100 F25 1/160

Lissocarcinus Sp: ISO100 F18 1/160

2014 January Theme “Frog Fish” Winners

Patty WooShin

ArunrugstichaiRuggero Pastorino Suzan

Meldonian


Spotlight UW Macro Photographer2014 January Theme “Frog Fish” Winners

Favourite macro diving trip: Puerto Galera, Philippines

Favourite macro subjects: Shrimps

Ruggero Pastorino(Italy)



Camera : Canon EOS 600D

Lens : Canon 60mm

Housing : Easydive Leo II

Strobe : Sea&sea Ys-D1 and Ys-02

Dioptre: Subsee +5

Additional equipment add on: INON Le555 focus light

I was born in Italy in 1976, since I was a child I have always been fascinated by sea creatures, environment and biology (even if I have a degree in marketing and economy).

I started scuba diving only in Dec 2010 taking some pictures with a cheap toy camera. In mid 2012 purchased my first DSLR camera and after some time its housing.

In Dec 2012 I made my first underwater photography holiday in the Philippines (Cabilao and Malapascua) finding most part of the subjects that a macro photographer can dream.

In Dec 2013 I went back to Philippines (this time in Puerto Galera) in order to improve my skills.

Very addicted to do-it-yourself, I feel satisfied in making small things with my own hands (supports, gear rings, optic fiber cables and similar), both to save some money and for the pleasure to use a customised equipment.

At the moment I am building an optic fiber snoot. The Winning photoISO 100 - F/11 - 1/250

ISO 100 - F10 - 1/250ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250


Ruggero’s Portfolio

ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250

ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250ISO 100 - F13 - 1/200

ISO 80 - F7.1 - 1/500 ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250

ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250

ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250

ISO 100 - F13 - 1/250

2014 February Theme “Crab or Squat Lobster” Winners

Raoul Caprez Bo MancaoSalvatore Ianniello


Spotlight UW Macro Photographer2014 February Theme “Crab or Squat Lobster” Winners

Salvatore Ianniello(Italy)



Camera : Nikon D700

Lens : Nikon 60mm and 105mm

Housing : Isotta

Strobe : 2 x Ikelite DS 161

Favourite macro diving trip (Holiday): Mediterranean in volcanic areas

Favourite macro subjects: Anything under Serpula

I was born in Naples, Italy, and I am dental technician I dedicate my spare time to wildlife photography, especially underwater because I'm diving for thirty years. Like many I started fishing, but for 20 years I have put aside my rifle and joined nature photography.

Prefer usually the night dive at a shallow depth using the 60mm and the day 105mm.Di usually love match almost always two or three marine subjects, I go in search of the composition, colour-matching with natural marine life, I do not love so much super macro for a reason, take away the little creativity available in the macro.

The Winning photo, F/14 - 1/125 - ISO 200

F/25 - 1/200 - ISO 200

F/25 - 1/160 - ISO 200


Salvatore’s Portfolio

F/11 - 1/125 - ISO 200F/25 - 1/250 - ISO 200F/29 - 1/200- ISO 200

F/20 - 1/125- ISO 200F/22 - 1/100 - ISO 200F/20 - 1/250 - ISO 200 F/20 - 1/100 - ISO 200


Alex Tyrrell(UK/Thailand)

WonderpusNikon D7000 and Tokina 35mm

F/13 - 1/320 - ISO 100

Threadfin DartfishNikon D7000 and Nikkor 105mm VR

F/16 - 1/320 - ISO 200

www.Dive4photos.com

I started out taking underwater photos on a compact camera in 2003, getting more serious by 2006, when I upgraded to DSLR. After working as a dive instructor in Thailand and then spending a season on a live-aboard in Borneo, I worked as the Photo Pro at Atlantis Dive Resorts in the Philippines, spending nearly 4-years diving and shooting at the macro hot-spots of Puerto Galera and Dauin. I have written articles on u/w photography techniques for DivePhotoGuide and UWP Magazine and had my images published in the dive media. I am now based in Thailand, operating Dive4Photos, providing underwater photography training and running photo trips and workshops throughout Asia.

Broadclub CuttlefishNikon D7000 and Nikkor 60mm

F/13 - 1/200 - ISO 100

Juv. Common LionfishNikon D7000, Nikkor 105mm VR and MacroMate

F/29 - 1/320 - ISO 100

Monthly Theme Competition Judges Profile


Iyad Suleyman(Ukraine/United Arab Emirates)

Canon 60D, 100mm Macro - 1/200s F18, ISO 100

He began diving in 2008 and at the same time he was amazed with the beauty of seascapes and underwater inhabitants. Short time after that he bought his first compact camera and UW photography became his passion. In a little while he switched to D-SLR cameras.Several times a year he travels to different interesting dive destinations to take underwater pictures. The waters, where he dives, are at the different sides of our world (the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Egypt, Djibouti, Ukraine etc.), but as he is based in Emirates - almost every week he dives and takes UW pictures in Indian Ocean, UAE coast.He likes every kind of underwater photography, but especially he is carried away by the macro and super macro photography. He likes to capture small subjects in details to show their hidden beauty and singularity. His favourite subject is Blenny and his collection of bellies’ portraits is quite big and impressive.

Canon 60D, 100mm Macro1/200s, F14, ISO 160

Canon 70D100mm Macro1/160s, F10, ISO 100

Canon 70D, 100mm Macro, 1/160s, F10, ISO 100

www.iyadphotography.com



Jerome Kim(Korea/Philippines)

Hairy Algae OctopusCanon 5D mark II and 100mm macro Plus INON Snoot

1/200 F22 ISO 200

www.jeromekim.com

Born and raised in Korea, Jerome Kim has been based in the Philippines for the last 13 years. One of the reasons why he moved here was for diving. He considers Anilao as his favorite dive spot in the whole Coral Triangle because of the great macro opportunities. Coincidentally it was also on Anilao where he got his first taste of diving in early 1990’s.

He became a certified open water diver in Boracay, and four years ago become a certified SSI Instructor in Anilao. Currently he has logged over 1,500 dives and hits the water at least twice a month. He got into underwater photography around the same time he moved to the Philippines. By then he needed a new challenge when diving so he started off with film cameras. In 2006 he made the jump to go digital.

He likes Macro photography and taking photos of small critters. He has won a bunch of awards from several UW photo competitions in Korea and abroad. His photos and columns were published in several dive magazines.

Brooding Black CardinalfishCanon 5D mark II and 100mm macro

1/200 F16 ISO 100

Skeleton ShrimpCanon 5D mark II and 100mm macroPlus Subsee +10 - 1/200 F22 ISO 100


Bumblebee on SeastarCanon 5D mark II and 100mm macro Plus Subsee +10

1/200 F22 ISO 200

by Raoul Caprez

Diving in the Seychelles


The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands located in the Indian ocean on the East coast of Africa. The tropical climate found in the Seychelles is very attractive. The water and land temperatures are consistent throughout the year and diving in the clear turquoise water is possible year-round. English and French are widely spoken there.

How to get there:

Daily flights from the United Arab Emirates to Victoria on Mahe can bring you to this paradise. And then, a lot of small planes can bring you to other close islands that you will maybe choose.

Diving Details:

The three central and bigger islands Mahe, Praslin and La Digue have nice white beaches and diving centers. What makes the diving different is the typical granite rocks covered by hard and soft corals that you can appreciate during your dives. Usually, the dive sites are close to the islands and it takes around 20 minutes by boat to get there. It is a good place for both experienced and beginners divers. There is a large variety of dive sites chosen depending on the current with a depth around 20 meters. The visibility is generally good (25m).

F14, 1/250, ISO 200

www.capraoul.ch

Macro Marine Life Highlights:

As you know, it is almost impossible to predict exactly what animals you are going to see underwater. So, except the common eagle rays, white tip reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, humphead parrotfishes, batfishes, octopuses, moray eels, lion fishes and schools of fusiliers, there’s a really interesting macro life. So, diving with your camera equipped with a macro lens is also a good idea there. Even if it’s not Indonesia (famous for their amazing small creatures), you can find a lot of small animals such as coral crabs, blennies, or colourful little fishes. Some nudibranches, little cow fishes, leaf fishes, frog fishes, Syngnathdae, Synodus sp., and a lot of others can be found as well.

What you liked about this trip...

What makes the Seychelles a unique destination is certainly the landscapes. Visiting the earth and the deserted little white beaches is very easy by car (Mahe & Praslin).

If you travel with your family, it is a good destination for children (warm and calm waters and sandy beaches).

The diving staff is professional, organized, knowledgable, and friendly.

What you did not like about this trip...

For those who like going out at night, don’t choose this destination, you are going to be bored.

Extra details

Finally, if you plan to go to the Seychelles, due to the nice and beautiful place, it is highly recommended to book your accommodation in advance. After having discovered the Seychelles underwater and on the earth, you will know that you will come back there one day. So instead of spending a week in a luxurious hotel or on an expensive cruise, I recommend you self-catering apartments much cheaper. That way you will earn money to come back again. By the way, whatever you choose, you will find the same warm pristine water and paradisiac typical landscapes and seascapes with granite boulders.


Resort Rating: 5 (Excellent)Dive Operator Rating: 5 (Excellent)Dive Guide Rating: 5 (Excellent)Macro Diving Activity Rating: 5 (Excellent)Marine Life Rating: 5 (Excellent)Visibility: 18+ Metres

Overall Rating: 5 (Excellent)

Resort and Dive Operator Name:

Aquario Villa (Praslin)www.acquariovilla.com

Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino (Mahe)berjayahotel.com/mahe/

Dive Centres :

Whitetip Divers (Praslin) www.whitetipdivers.com/?lang=en

Underwater Center (Mahe)www.diveseychelles.com.sc/

F16, 1/250, ISO 200

Diving in the Seychelles

F14, 1/160, ISO 200F14, 1/250, ISO 200F14, 1/200, ISO 200

F29, 1/200, ISO 100 F36, 1/250, ISO 100

F18, 1/200, ISO 100 F29, 1/200, ISO 100

F22, 1/200, ISO 100

What do you do when you are happy with photos that you take underwater?

When it comes to our Underwater Images we all have an element of Narcissism in us. So for this months survey we wanted to know……. What do you do when you are happy with photos that you take underwater?

There are a number of ways available to us to tell our stories of the underwater world through our images. With the advent of Social Media, Facebook is by far the main outlet for show casing our images with a number of Facebook options utilised by our members.

36% of our members post their images on their own Facebook pages, with 27% of members posting on the UWMP group page followed by 15% posting on other Underwater Facebook pages.


Article and graphic charts by Chris Spence

I can safely say that we the Admin Team are always very excited to see all of the images posted by our members. They are by far some of the most inspirational images posted on the Internet today. We would like to thank you all for inspiring us each and every day and thank you to all the members who took the time to vote.

UWMP Survey Results

Rules that UW Photographers should be aware of!


A number of articles and commentary in Underwater Photography books have been written over the years regarding how Underwater Photographers should conduct themselves whilst taking images of the underwater world. Most of these rules are well known and adhered to by the majority of the community. So for the November Survey we wanted to ask our members to vote on the rules we listed to create the top 10 rules that photographers should be aware of. That list has been extended to the top 15. The rule that UWMP photographers felt was the most important:

“Don’t damage the reef to get the shot” We certainly believe that every rule in the list is as important as each other and should be observed.

The list we have compiled will certainly be adhered to during the 2014 UWMP trip to Tulamben. All members and dive guides will be asked to follow these guidelines and lead by example for other divers and photographers. Thank you to all those members who took the time to vote on this important issue for us all.

15 Rules that UW Photographers should be aware of!


1. Don’t damage a reef just to get a shot2. If other photographers are waiting take turns photographing the subject3. Must have good buoyancy4. Don’t silt up an area before or after taking a photograph5. When waiting for another photographer, give them some distance6. Don’t touch the animals7. If too close to coral, gently push away with one finger or Lembeh stick8. Don’t Grab on to Coral9. Always show your buddy interesting subjects you find10. Be extremely careful when shooting around Sea Fans11. Don’t let your dive guide manhandle or position the animals for your shot12. Don’t stress animals by crowding and taking too many shots13. Don’t Touch14. Educate People with the wrong attitude15. When diving with others always discuss dive etiquette rules ahead of time

Our 2nd UWMP Group meeting is on 16-21 September 2014 at Liberty Dive Resort in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia for 6 days 5 nights. After great success of our first meeting in Tulamben, all members who came to our first meeting enjoyed the beautiful food, relaxing with resort facilities, diving and meeting other group members each night. For those reasons, we would like to announce that we will have a second meeting again there.Please select the type of room you wish to stay. There are 4 different room types, one room can accommodate 1-2 people. Cost is for 5 nights at :-- Deluxe Garden Cottage US$325 - Standard Garden Cottage US$275- Deluxe Resort Rooms US$275 - Standard Resort Room US$225 Diving package US$415Included :-1. 12 Dives, can be 12 dives (daytime) or 10 dives (daytime) and 2 night dives.2. Group pick up around 10:30am on 16 September 2014 around Kuta and Airport areas3. Group drop off around 12:30am on 21 September 2014 to Kuta hotels and Airport4. All breakfasts and buffet dinners5. 2-3 divers per 1 dive guide6. Tanks and weights7. Free Nitrox if you are certified8. Free UWMP Group T-Shirt and Liberty Dive Resort T-Shirt

Example cost if you pick a Standard Resort Room US$225 (for room) + US$415 (Dive Package) = US$640 Excluded :-1. Lunch (as everyone might arrange different dive times)2. Dive gear rentals3. Arrival and departure at different times will cost US$45 per car (for 1-3 people)As there is limited space, a 30% deposit will be required before 1 February 2014If you need more information or want to reserve a place, please contact Ken Thongpila on Facebook or email [email protected]


Full

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US$100 Gift Certificate

From Bluewater Photowww.bluewaterphotostore.com


Monthly Theme Photo Competition Prize Sponsor by...

10 nights in a single room with ensuite bathroom8 dive days with 2 boat dives per dayAfternoon shore diving on our house reef

www.lissenungisland.com

End of the year first prize sponsor by....

3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch & dinner)Return Kavieng airport transferTanks, weights, dive guide & snacks onboard

10 Nights Diving Package


End of the year prize sponsor by....

Deluxe Cottage Room

6 Days 5 nights & 10 Dives Package8 Shore Dives & 2 Night Dives

Liberty Dive ResortTulamben, Baliwww.libertydiveresort.com


Thank your very much for your kind support for this group and I hope you like this eNews and are enjoying learning with us.

For the next few issues we are looking for...

Macro diving trip article or report Tips and Tricks for UW Macro Photography

Any topic to help our members take better photos Any interesting Photo Competitions and Shootouts

If you have any comments or feedback or want to be part of our eNews, please feel free to email me at

[email protected]

uwmp enews issue 18 - 2014 - underwater macro photographers · adriano morettin (italy) title :...

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