12/5 Maui pics

Today's dive was on the wreck of the St. Anthony at 63 feet.
Several years back the State sank old tires in concrete footings to create an artificial reef. Some residents dubbed it the "Uniroyal Reef". A few years back they sank the St. Anthony in the same area.
The main attraction to the wreck is the many turtles that inhabit it. I must say they have become very used to scuba divers. I had no problem getting within 12" or less of this one. I did not use a strobe due to the closeness to its eyes, just the WAL and Manual White Balance.

Great shots, especillay the turtle head: can't get much closer than that!

I love the texture on the turtle. Very cool...Makes a great desktop!

Yet another set of great photos, Gilligan. You brought up a concern that more photographers should be aware of, the affect of strobes on a turtle, especially a sleeping one. When I was in Kauai a few years back, the dive operator briefed us on a dive to some lava tubes that we should be careful not to disturb the turtles sleeping in the tubes b/c their first reaction is to take flight and breath when surprised. I wasn't an u/w photographer at the time, but one diver didn't heed the warning and woke up pretty much every turtle he strobed. The turtles woke up and immediately bolted to the surface. This exposes them to sharks, and at night it's even worse b/c they can't find their way back to a safe hiding place. Thanks for the conservation tip and sharing a little part of your world.

great pics, I missed being able to take WAL and closeup shots on the same dive with on camera.
Sipadan in Malaysia also have lots of turtles and a big cave where turtles often get lost in there at night and could not get out to breathe on the surface and drown. The large cavern is full with turtle skeletons.

I think we've touched on the turtle thing before.

I have never had a turtle here react to the strobe. I used to shoot with the strobe/internal flash off whenever I got close to a turtle, then for whatever reason one day I didn't. It wasn't fazed so I have pretty much stopped not using the strobe when I take photos of one.

We have resident turtles on a wide range of our dive sites and none have moved from their favourite resting positions and none show much interest in divers with or without cameras most days. Most of our turtles are green or hawksbill and the ones that allow divers anywhere near them don't seem to care about the light. Some have been here for years.

It also doesn't seem to deter other turtles from visiting these same areas on a semi-regular basis.

We have never visited these sites with clients at night, but a friend has on his private boat and used video lights which again did not cause the turtle to change behaviour. He's still there six months past the last night dive...

We are so remote that we don't drop 300+ divers/day on a site and we rotate sites throughout the week. Don't know if this makes any difference, but I would guess that 20 divers/day does impact in a different way than 300/day would.

We also have a very strict no-touch policy on all of our dive sites...there are two resident turtles, several olive sea snakes, and about a million octopus who actively seek attention as you go by, however.

Just another anecdotal post from the other side of the world...

alcina:

We also have a very strict no-touch policy on all of our dive sites...there are two resident turtles, several olive sea snakes, and about a million octopus who actively seek attention as you go by, however.

Just another anecdotal post from the other side of the world...

Click to expand...

Hmm, I wish I can see octopus who actively seeks attention, octopus over here are incredibly shy and every time I try to take its picture, it would try to squeeze itself inside a crevice or hide under anything it can find.

Never did see turtles at night except once but he was not asleep either but during the day, I have not seen any turtle got excited or panick by strobe either. May be I was not paying enough attention, will be more careful next time.

I didn't mean to start a controversy over using the strobe on the turtle closeup nor did I mean for my not using one to be a guideline for anyone else.

I simply did it as a personal preference for whatever was going on in my mind at the time.

I don't think there is any controversy here, just some discussion. I think your photos especially get a lot of attention from divers who want to take photos and the proper etiquette for photographers is extremely valuable for all of us.

One of the best things about talking about things like this here, in Gilligan's thread (or in any photographer's thread) is that others can actually SEE that fabulous results are possible while maintaining the highest safety and ethical standards. One does not have to touch, move, ride, manipulate, torture, confuse etc one's subject!

Not only are these pictures wonderful, but they are great examples of what to shoot for!

IMHO.

Aloha Gilligan,

Great shots! I dove the wreck later that day and I must say the visibilty was spectacular. I took Torpedo scooters from Keawakapu. I think I remember seeing your truck parked along the road. We saw a lot of turtles and an Eagle Ray with a kinked tail...did you see him? He cruised us twice. It was one of the clearest days I can remember. Just got back from hitting it again this morning and it was good, but not as clear as yesterday. Only about a half dozen turtles today compared to well over a dozen yesterday.

Here's a couple of shots I got while I was there. See you down there!

Oh yeah, about the strobe...I don't think it bothers the turtles too much but it's probably better if you don't get really close and flash it right in their eyes, yeah?