Mactan to Negros dive trip

[Bowmouth]

Hi,
Just finished my third dive holiday in the Philippines. Had a great time as always, especially on the black sand at Dauin, Negros Island.
Enjoy the pics!

 

[super7]

Wow!! These photos are great.
Looking forward to seein more

 

[Bowmouth]

Wow!! These photos are great.
Looking forward to seein more

Thanks!
OK, some more then....

 

[craracer]

What camera and strobes are you using? Nice shots! Is that last one a juvenile Cuddle-fish?

 

[Bowmouth]

What camera and strobes are you using? Nice shots! Is that last one a juvenile Cuddle-fish?

Thanks.

Yes, one of the pictures is a tiny cuttle fish. At Dauin (Negros Island) there is some incredible "muck" diving on black sand sloping reefs. I have dived Lembeh Straits in North Sulawesi (Indonesia) extensively and thought that Lembeh had some of the best "muck" diving in the world. After diving Dauin in the Philippines I think that both Lembeh and Dauin are at a very similar quality of muck diving.

As you can see are my favorite subjects smaller animals. I have a Canon G11 and shot all pictures without external strobe. I just used the internal strobe and a flash-diffuser and shot most pictures in the Manual mode. I have an external Ikelite strobe at home that I will bring next time I go diving.

It really is not all that difficult to take fairly good macro pictures with this camera. Use the right f-stop and shutter-speed (for starters try F5.6 with 1/125 or F8.0 with 1/500), an ISO value of 100 to 200, white balance on day-light, macro mode ON, underwater mode OFF, flash output for most pictures on "medium" and very importantly come close to your subject, compose the shot well (no "tail" shots or "sky-diver" shots!), make sure the subject is in focus and keep the camera steady when you press the shutter. Do not come TOO close if you have no external flash because then the build-in flash will not be able to light up the whole subject. You can use the zoom a bit but not more than half of its range. If you use more it will be very hard / impossible to get the subject in focus.
Good luck and enjoy!!!

 

[BigJeff]

Nice Pictures, and a very nice selection of critters.

Are you using RAW, or are those pictures shot in JPG?

 

[Bowmouth]

Nice Pictures, and a very nice selection of critters.

Are you using RAW, or are those pictures shot in JPG?

Thanks BigJeff!

It's actually a bit embarrassing.:confused6:
I thought I had set the camera for shooting both JPEG and RAW files and only found out towards the very end of the trip that I had it set only for JPEG (best quality) and not RAW. Then I changed it but had only a few more dives left where I shot in both JPEG and RAW. So most pics this trip were shot just in JPEG and a handful in RAW and JPEG.
Next time I c u you'll have to give me a hand with opening the RAW files. I've downloaded and installed the DNG converter but am a bit lost at how to proceed.
I need expert advise!:uwphotographer:

 

[Dive_pa!]

wow! these are precious shots :cool2: ! I dove Dauin for the first time two weeks back and made a serious, serious mistake of not bringing my cam down with me on the first dive! and there were tons of critters down at the 'car wreck'. Will surely plan a trip back. hope to see that cute hairy frogfish next time

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Bowmouth]

wow! these are precious shots :cool2: ! I dove Dauin for the first time two weeks back and made a serious, serious mistake of not bringing my cam down with me on the first dive! and there were tons of critters down at the 'car wreck'. Will surely plan a trip back. hope to see that cute hairy frogfish next time

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!
Yep, Dauin is really a great place to dive.
I can't wait to get back there and dive it again, and again and again....

 

[super7]

I'm really impressed with the cuttle fish and the goby.
IMO both are elusive, with patience being a major factor for successful filming.
Hope to see some photos from your next expedition too

Kaza