Image of the Month 2010
December 2010
Though not a new image in underwater photography these days, every underwater photographer wants to get the classic Mandarin Fish mating shot in their portfolio. I got a good opportunity at this when diving at Malapascua Island in the Philippines, at the Lighthouse site, with this image being the best. You get perhaps five or six chances in a very short window of time at dusk. Image taken on the 20th September 2010 using a Nikon D200, Subtronic strobe and a 60mm macro. Camera settings were ISO 400, 1/60th f22
November 2010
This image didn’t especially stand out until I reviewed it on the laptop after the dive. I’d been night diving on one of the interesting muck diving sites at Malapascua Island in the Philippines when we found a pipefish amongst the sea grass. I spent a while shooting images of it, trying a few angles before moving on, but hadn’t realised that I’d also managed to capture in focus one of the tiny shrimp that were darting around in the light of my strobe. This turned a solid but unremarkable image into something much more interesting and special. Image taken on the 17th September 2010 using a Nikon D200, Subtronic strobe and a 60mm macro. Camera settings were ISO 100, 1/60th f22.
October 2010
Our visit to the Undara Lava Lodge and national park was very enjoyable, but frustrating in that we were only there for a very short period of time. A good few days would have been much better from a photographic point of view. On the morning before we set off back to Cairns, we went for a trek on the Swamp Track, which is a great place to observe wallaroos and local bird life. There were plenty of rainbow lorikeets in the area with this image being the most pleasing of the bunch. Image taken on the 17th August 2010 using a Nikon D200 and a 70-300mm lens. Camera settings were ISO 400, 1/1000th of a second, f8.
September 2010
Gordon’s is a nice dive site on Flynn Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef. There’s some nice swim-throughs and overhangs here which are great for wide angle photography, and it’s just a case of finding something that works. Here, I found a pleasing vista and worked with Amanda to get the resulting image, careful not to “over light” the foreground with the strobe, and to get a good exposure for the background. Image taken on the 29th July 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fisheye and Subtronic strobe. Settings are ISO 100, 1/60th, f8.
August 2010
Lankayan Island’s jetty was heavily dived during our trip thanks to presence of mating cuttlefish. Here, I’ve captured a nice “split level” image of Amanda getting ready for a dive. Image taken on 1st February 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/320th second, f8, ISO100.
July 2010
Still on the Cuttlefish theme from Lankayan Island, this image featured as Sport Diver’s cover shot and captures fellow underwater photographer Helen Rushton looking intently at this “diver tolerant” specimen underneath the jetty. Image taken on 1st February 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/60th second, f8, ISO100.
June 2010
This image captures a pair of cuttlefish mating beneath the jetty and dive centre at Lankayan Island. I spent about an hour with one of the female specimens when we “bumped into” a male. Suddenly, they got interested in each other and proceded to mate right in front of my camera as I captured the action. This image was the last one of the sequence before they separated and was (in my opinion) by far the best one owing to the overall symmetry of the cuttlefish and the pier legs combined. Image taken on 30 th January 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/50th second, f16, ISO100.
May 2010
The spectacular Ribbon Eel can be found at certain sites around Lankayan Island in Borneo and are great subjects for photographers. Here, Amanda has spent an entire dive with this specimen and worked on both conventional macro techniques and also the “bokeh” (narrow depth of field) technique. This image was the best of the set and shows how this difficult technique can be employed to great effect. Image taken on 3rd February 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 60mm macro lens. Camera settings were 1/100th second, f5.6, ISO100.
April 2010
The highlight of our trip to Lankayan Island, off the coast of Borneo in the Sulu Sea, was the chance to photograph mating and egg-laying cuttlefish that were incredibly tolerant of divers (well, obsessed with reproducing really!). This image shows a split level image of a cuttlefish laying eggs in the small coral head next to the jetty. Image taken on 30th January 2010 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/80th second, f16, ISO200.
March 2010
This image is another one from the excellent “Keith Tibbetts” Russian Destroyer wreck at Cayman Brac. We only had one dive to make the images count, so Amanda and I worked hard on our “underwater co-operation” to ensure we got some decent stuff. This photo was a particularly nice “portrait format” from the set. Image taken on 29th July 2009 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with
a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/125 th second, f8, ISO100.
February 2010
On one of the excellent wall dives at Little Cayman, I came across this sponge specimen which had good photographic potential. After trying a few different angles, I gestured to Amanda to model for me, with this image being my favourite of the bunch. Image taken on 28th July 2009 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination, a 10.5mm fish eye lens and a subtronic strobe. Camera settings were 1/100th second, f8, ISO100.
January 2010
At the Meadows dive site at Little Cayman, I spent a long time attempting to get close enough to this lone tarpon, which would frustratingly turn away once you invaded its personal space. This image was the best, where I was able to compose the fish within the shape of the Cayman Aggressor liveaboard. Image taken on 28th July 2009 using a Nikon D200/Subal housing combination with a 10.5mm fish eye lens. Camera settings were 1/250th second, f8, ISO100.