Bunaken Island - North Sulawesi, Indonesia

[ousnakebyte]

nice shots man....you've got a good eye for the nice angles

...even your above-water shots seem too blue (look at your mangrove and volcano shots, for example)....check the kelvin rating on the white balance...my guess is you have it set too low (ie. too blue).

That said, i use kelvin values to set my white balance and rarely the presets (auto, day, cloudy, tungsten, etc.) depending on the subject and environment i'm shooting in. Conversely, carry an expo disc with you...you can set the white balance fairly quickly that way.

RE: wide angle reef shots....best to take them in the shallower areas of the reef, as more red can penetrate at those depths, thereby giving you a more balanced colour palette. Otherwise, use a very powerful strobe to illuminate the area....but yeah, you'll always have blue areas in wide reef shots, albeit in the far-away areas of the composition.

Zach

Thanks Zach - I really do appreciate the tips. I have a trip coming up in May, and I am going to toy around with the settings. It's just to The Bahamas, and I have been there three times already, so this will be a good time to fiddle around.


Okay, I have a few more uploaded.

It's also oddly satisfying to see xenia on the reef...

Another!!! Talk about wishing we could keep different things. These would be so sweet in a nano!!

Glad I didn't step on him...

HUGE!! And, again this communal living - like the dorms in college...

Cheers
Mike

 

[ousnakebyte]

And mildly cute, even if a vertebrate... But, I of course was going for the invert...

A "self-portrait." I was trying to see if the flash was working... Ha, ha...

There has apparently been some reef restoration experiments on these previously blasted reefs. I don't know how well they are working; ours hosts and guides didn't seem to know much about the project.

And then, here is where my mind starts to wonder. Is this assemblage all colonized by clonal fragmentation? What's the genetics/relatedness of these corals, and why are they in such abundance in this particular tract? Is this a recovered reef from blasting, and if so, what contributed to their domination? Then, I tell myself just to get back and enjoy the dive...

Too blue - I need to work on the white balance, I guess - right?

Back to my favorite anemone. I simply cannot help myself from taking a photo of every H. magnifica that I pass...

 

[ousnakebyte]

Bicolors!!

I know, I know... more table corals...

Weirdest coral-eating sea star I've ever seen...

More various reef shots...

Arc-eye hawk!

Ned inspecting the reef

 

[ousnakebyte]

More pyramids!!

I'm also obsessed with and invert living on an invert...

I realize this is like the 5th or 6th photo I have posted of these gorgonians, but they were also spectacular

Copps's Regal Angel...

Cheers
Mike

 

[ousnakebyte]

Green Star Polyps - strangely satisfying to see...

Teeth...

I want it...

Cutie...

Love those contrasting polyps

So awesome

Check

Cheers
Mike

 

[ousnakebyte]

Purty dendros

Luv those little guys

I didn't touch! Just trying to help my camera focus. A whip coral shrimp of - I think - the geuns Dasycaris. The whip coral is, I think, a black coral (I'm pretty sure), Cirrhipathes sp.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Sloeber]

Nice job on those whip coral shrimp. I know how tough those can be to photo.

I'm no expert, but most your photos appear as if the strobe wasn't working. They are blue, and I would have assumed you didn't have a strobe if not for your self portrait where you mention you are checking to see if they are working. Maybe it wasn't directed properly? If it was, then your white balance is out of whack.

Thanks for posting your photos.

 

[colbar]

What wonderful shots, thank you so much for sharing. Looks fantastic.

 

[ousnakebyte]

Nice job on those whip coral shrimp. I know how tough those can be to photo.

I'm no expert, but most your photos appear as if the strobe wasn't working. They are blue, and I would have assumed you didn't have a strobe if not for your self portrait where you mention you are checking to see if they are working. Maybe it wasn't directed properly? If it was, then your white balance is out of whack.

Thanks for posting your photos.

Yeah, I was thinking about your shrimp/coral shots when I posted that.

I totally agree too blue - that's what Zach was saying earlier and trying to play with the white balance; something I'm going to do on my next trip to The Bahamas in May.... though, I will have a group of students with me, so I can't dork around too much with the camera. My biggest fear is that I'll come up with fewer than I went down with... :eek2:

Yes, I did have a strobe, but this was the maiden voyage with that whole setup (new camera, new housing, new strobe). I was very much trying to learn it on this very trip (not ideal, but... it was what it was...). So, there were times when it was syncing up fine, but the photos were too over exposed. Basically, I would take one shot with flash, one without (or 100... you know how digital goes...) and see which was better. Usually... the flash was over exposed. I want to work on this very thing next trip in May.

What wonderful shots, thank you so much for sharing. Looks fantastic.

Thanks!

 

[Patwa]

excellent shots......your shots of the whip coral really took me back to my recent dive in Flores, Indonesia. My piece of crap dive camera had failed a couple weeks earlier in the philippines, and the dive operator I was with in Flores didn't have one to lend me....ugh.....and then i see a BEAUTIFUL whip coral with symbiont crab AND lobster, i kid you not....and no damn camera to record the moment! arghhhh!

I might have some free time tonight...i'll see if I can photoshop a few of your blue-heavy shots and see if I can improve them a bit......apart from the colour balance issue, your shots are fantastic....so dont sweat it too much.

Do you shoot in RAW mode or JPG?

Zach

 

[ousnakebyte]

excellent shots......your shots of the whip coral really took me back to my recent dive in Flores, Indonesia. My piece of crap dive camera had failed a couple weeks earlier in the philippines, and the dive operator I was with in Flores didn't have one to lend me....ugh.....and then i see a BEAUTIFUL whip coral with symbiont crab AND lobster, i kid you not....and no damn camera to record the moment! arghhhh!

I might have some free time tonight...i'll see if I can photoshop a few of your blue-heavy shots and see if I can improve them a bit......apart from the colour balance issue, your shots are fantastic....so dont sweat it too much.

Do you shoot in RAW mode or JPG?

Zach

Thanks again Zach. I know the feeling - either with no camera and you see something awesome or, once I saw sharks feeding, and... the lens was malfunctioning and wouldn't open.... :furious:

I have searched all over this little camera and I don't think it allows me to shoot in RAW - only JPG. Oh well...

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

These photos are so awesome! White balance or strobe problems, who cares? These are the perfect remedy to a midwest winter.

Please post more!! I'll totally vote for thread of the month if you do

 

[chill105]

Mike!

These shots are incredible!
I'm invert-obsessed as well - this looks stunning.

Can you share any details from your trip?
My girlfriend and I have the opportunity to travel to SE Asia in August this year and I'm trying to mix some diving in the trip. A few criteria:
1) Accessible to Singapore
2) AMAZING corals
3) Good beaches and other activities besides diving

I'm sure you researched this trip for a while so I'm hoping to learn from your experience. Any tips?

 

[wowkingjames]

Amazing picture, if you have more please post more.

Thanks,

EB

 

[ousnakebyte]

Mike!

These shots are incredible!
I'm invert-obsessed as well - this looks stunning.

Can you share any details from your trip?
My girlfriend and I have the opportunity to travel to SE Asia in August this year and I'm trying to mix some diving in the trip. A few criteria:
1) Accessible to Singapore
2) AMAZING corals
3) Good beaches and other activities besides diving

I'm sure you researched this trip for a while so I'm hoping to learn from your experience. Any tips?

Thanks, I appreciate it. Sure, I can tell you about my travels.

I actually was able to put the trip together b/c I was traveling to Singapore for a coral spawning workshop. So, I took a week before just to have fun before I had to go to hell week...

I flew into Singapore, arriving around midnight and slept in the little hotel they have in the Singapore airport (VERY nice and well worth the $50 for a bed and a hot shower). The next morning, I took a Lion Air flight to Jakarta (~45 minutes) where I transfered to a flight to Manado, North Sulawesi (~3 hrs). This is the place that I stayed:

Bunaken Cha Cha

They arranged for a cab to pick me up and drive me to the dock, where I got in a boat that took me across to Bunaken Island. It was a full two days of traveling, but as you can see from the photos, it was WELL WORTH IT - absolutely stunning coral assemblages. I've never seen nearly 100% coral coverage like some of these reefs had. Incredible.

The people and our stay at Bunaken was fabulous - great food, super nice staff, fantastic dive master. The reefs are fringing and quite literally right off shore. So, when I wasn't diving, you bet I was out snorkeling.

It's a tropical island, so there was plenty of hiking to do around the island in the forest. However, if you are looking for those sandy beaches that stretch almost miles out into the water, this isn't like Grand Cayman and its "7-Mile Beach." The reef starts VERY quickly, though there are chairs to lay out on what beach there is (you can see in the photos on their website).

And, Lembeh is just on the other side of the tip of Sulawesi! I didn't make it though - had to go to the workshop.

For my next venture I want to make it to Raja Ampat/Papua New Guinea...


Zach (Patwa) has a thread going with some great pics too. He might be able to chime in on various places that suit your travel needs.

Amazing picture, if you have more please post more.
Thanks,
EB

I definitely will. I received a message from Photobucket that I was nearing my monthly free data limit, and I would need to pay or my photos would be temporarily cut. So, I'm waiting a week or so... :spin3:

Thanks for the compliments.

Cheers
Mike

 

[reefWW96]

AWESOME pictures!!!

 

[ousnakebyte]

Well, uploading and posting all these photos caused me to upgrade my photobucket account...

Back to the fun stuff:

Talk about a hitchhiker...

There's an invert on that invert - I see his leg!!

Cheers
Mike

 

[ousnakebyte]

Back to the tables...

More communal living...

At night

At night, carrying his sponge around...

Big 'ol nocturnal nudibranch

Okay, this next one might not look like much, but I was lagging behind - taking photos of course - and I see all this commotion with flashes going off, pointing, etc. So, I mosey on up to see what all the buzz is about. Ummm... am I missing something? Where is the awesomeness? It took a minute or two of the divemaster pointing (and getting frustrated), but I finally saw it - a squid! And a TINY one at that! I tried to circle it in the photo. Apparently - I was told - this little guy doesn't get much bigger than this. You can see the relative size next to the bryozoans and polyps at about 7 o'clock in the photo.

Cheers
Mike

 

[ousnakebyte]

Still on a night dive - man weird stuff comes out then - and this crab carrying around what looks like a sponge...

Squid!

Squid food...

Awesome sea pen

And he had a commensal crab! Invert on an invert! woo hoo!

S. haddoni, yes?

Hell's Fire Anemone

And this little crab was tough (or he thought he was...)! He's the little spotted one at the end of the pointer - TINY!

 

[ousnakebyte]

Stupid fish moved before I could get a pic with him and his housemate

The twins...

Invert and invert - I'm obsessed...

That's all for now kids...

Cheers
Mike