Belize - Moray with a Mouthfull - Nikon 4300

More pictures to share from Belize. I found I got great contrast and exposures from our Night Dive.

First up, an encrusting Gorgonian in Macro mode.



And one of the best action shots I've snapped......We were in a group of 5 divers, and I was about 3rd or 4th back in line about 4-5 feet off the bottom of Hol Chan at Ambergris Caye. Looking ahead to the dive master, I noticed a huge 6-7 foot long moray staying right below the divers and all our lights. He was cruising along with us keeping pace in diver formation, and I was worried a lead diver may actually kick him with a flipper or knee.

Nah, this was one smart Moray. He was in hunting mode and using our lights to help get some prey. In a flash he darted into our light path and grabbed this rather large fish which had to be 12-15" and bigger than a dinner plate. As you can see, he got his dinner that night!

Enjoy the action shot.



Once again, I'm very impressed with the Nikon 4300, its internal flash, and Fantasea Pro housing. You can get into this set-up for $450-500.

Cool action shot!

Not for the Tang!

you can say that again! good shot!

For the moray picture... have you shot in auto mode? Any settings on flash?

RockyHeap:

More pictures to share from Belize. I found I got great contrast and exposures from our Night Dive.

Once again, I'm very impressed with the Nikon 4300, its internal flash, and Fantasea Pro housing. You can get into this set-up for $450-500.

Click to expand...

Cool Moray shot!!! More!!! More!!!

Uhmmm...I don't see a link. Did you edit the message?

Peace,
Cathie

wow... nice shot... but yeah, bummer for the blue tang

Thanks to all for your compliments...........I still have a longgggggggg way to go to get as good as many of you other U/W photographers who have much more experience than I.

We were able to get in 12 dives in 5 days of diving in Belize, (and this was my first time U/W with the Fantasea housing), so trust me these are total newbie pictures you're seeing.

Just Point and Shoot! Not too bad aye? Pretty easy really.

Sure you're seeing the best of the best of my pictures, I must of shot at least 600-700 shots underwater, trimmed that down to about 150 keepers, and I've got about 30 of those I'll be sharing on this forum every couple days.

My own self-assigned Mentor is Gilligan from Maui, as I look forward to seeing his almost daily dive "diary", so I'll dollup these Belize photos out every other day or so.

We're headed to Maui next week, (hope to dive with Gilligan too!) and I'll be trying out a new Bonica external strobe. Wish me luck, and it'll be nice to throw more fill-in light underwater for more distant shots.

All my Belize photos were shot in Auto mode with a forced-on internal flash. The one downfall of the Nikon 4300 and Fantasea housing, is you can't access the menu that gives you a manual white balance while under water.

I did shoot in manual mode a bit, but I found I was fumbling too much with all the shutter and f-stop settings instead of really enjoying the dive and soaking up all the neat stuff to see while on vacation.

Being a newbie diver and photographer, I'd rather squeeze off 50-60 shots per dive in auto mode and delete 1/2 of them top-side, then sit wait and crop hoping for that one or two perfect pictures per dive.

Joys of a digital camera, big memory cards, and several rechargable Ni-mH batteries!

More shots to come, trust me. I do enjoy sharing these with you, as much as I enjoy when other people blow me away with what is possible. Gives me something to strive to become.

That is truly an awesome shot!!!

Look like that Moray likes to eat like an astronaut....Tang for breakfast (sorry, couldn't resist the pun)

Jeff