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Underwater Photography in Manado – more than just hype?

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On the 11th of November 2013 I found myself at Heathrow airport with what felt like an extraordinary amount of baggage.  I was off to photography mecca Manado, Indonesia.  It promised to be a photography fest of all that was weird, wonderful and often strangely hairy.  This was my first visit to what has earned itself the critter capital of Indonesia.  It was fair to say, I had high expectations for the quality of the diving and photography…which always makes me slightly anxious!  Would it live up to all the hype?

Manado has become incredibly popular with underwater photographers.  Many an award-winning photo has been taken in Manado by some of underwater photography’s biggest names.  And new species are still being discovered throughout this region.  Bio diversity is a photographer’s friend (as well as exciting the diving in me) and no where has quite the same mix of miniscule marine life and unusual species as Manado… but is there anything new for a first time photographer to discover?

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The challenge was set and my plan was simple.  This was a 2 stop trip.  The first 6 nights were spent at Tasik Ria dive resort, which gave me a chance to photograph the walls of Bunaken, and then onto KungKungan Beach Resort in Lembeh.  I was going armed with as much underwater photography kit as my 30kgs allowance permitted.   I have been shooting underwater since the days of Nikonos and film.  In this digital age, my camera of the moment is the Olympus OMD-EM5.  The image quality and lens choice rivals many entry-mid level SLR options.  Put it in the beautifully engineered Nauticam housing and you have a powerful, yet small set up for travel.  I took a 12-50mm kit lens, specifically for shooting on Bunaken.  But it was the 60mm macro lens that saw the most action.  Added to this was a SubSea +10 dioptre for super macro and 2 YS-01 strobes.

So what was the diving really like?  In Bunaken, the hard corals here are healthy and there are more turtles than you can poke a stick at.  But I was mainly impressed by the quality of the macro life and muck diving this side of Manado offered.   Without a doubt, Lembeh to the east of Manado is the area that is most famed for muck diving.  But in my opinion, if you skip the western side of the Manado peninsular, you will be missing out on some fantastic photo ops.   The combination of walls, hard coral gardens and muck diving is highly productive for a photographer, and means you can work wide angle opportunities as well as macro and super macro.

It didn’t take long for the unique sightings to rack up, as well as the number of shots. It was at Critter Circus 2 (under 5 mins from Tasik Ria!) that I saw my first ever blue ringed octopus.  There were ribbon eels and tiny painted frogfish.  Yet more thrilling were the species I had not even considered!  This was the first time I have seen skeleton shrimp.  These delightfully ugly transparent shrimp appear to walk upright, like some sort of zombie army, and became an unexpected, fave subject.

By the time I reach KBR, the subjects seemed to be getting smaller.  The dioptre had become my new best friend underwater!   It was genuinely helpful photographing subjects that were under 1cm big!  If you have not used one before, I would heartily recommend adding a dioptre into your kit bag.  In a location such as Manado you will find yourself turning to it time and time again.  The + rating of each lens refers to the lens’ magnification.  This magnification reduces the focal distance of the lens, allowing you to get much, much closer to your subjects.  Put simply, a dioptre allows you to fill the frame, and your image, with a small subject.  Used correctly, a dioptre shot will produce lots of lovely bokeh, with a narrow depth of field and plenty of soft fuzzy background.  It can be tricky to get the focus in the correct place so practice, practice, practice!

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Perhaps one of the most photogenic subjects in Lembeh are the pygmy seahorses.  There are several species of pygmy seahorse, including the oh so pretty bargibanti.  However, they are not the easiest of beasts to photograph.  In my experience, they seem to favour big sea fans, which by their very nature waft in the surge or current.  Getting that killer shot at 28m as the seahorses gently swings back and forth is a photography work out!  And as is so typical of Indonesia, there is not just this one type of pygmy sea horse to snap; there are Denise, Pontoh’s, Satomi… even Lembeh sea dragons.

The list goes on!  Lembeh in particular is especially well known for its frogfish. These do seem to be everywhere.  And what differences in size!  The painted frogfish are tiny, whereas their giant relatives live up to their names.  For me the singular highlight of the trip will always be the hairy frogfish.  Why, oh why, oh why so hairy?

I was not fortunate enough to see a Rhinopia, perhaps the most elusive camouflage fish of its kind. But no photography destination should ever be that perfect.  I am, after all, taking photos of wild animals.  As photographers we are responsible for diving in a manner that respects the environment, and that includes the stuff living there!  Sadly, I did see evidence of a distinctly “touchy feely” attitude toward the marine life.  As a photographer, I want to see subjects in their natural environment, and not stressed by manhandling, poking or prodding.  It takes discipline, but every photographer should say no to unnatural poses.

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So in the end did I think that the underwater photography in Manado lived up to all that hype?   You bet it did!   I am still working my way through the 4000+ pics I took over 11 diving days and each time I open my computer, I get a tingle down my spine as I remember the diving in Lembeh and Bunaken.   I have no doubt that for someone who has not dived there before, you will see species for the first time.  And then the challenge for you as a photographer is to find a new way to shoot it.

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Every photographer has their dream list of critters, those exotics beauties that get all the headlines.  And yet there were many, many more somewhat “common” critters that made for outstanding photos…gobies whizzing up and down the whip corals or chomping on shrimp… crabs in every imaginable colour and camouflage… razor fish surging around mooring lines… striped catfish tumbling along the sand… mandarin fish dancing with their mates… these are just some examples of the marine life I found impossible to swim past time and time again.

It is simply a privilege to dive somewhere so remarkable. There is no question that this is a special environment, worth protecting.  Conservation is a group effort.  It will take everyone to ensure that Manado remains a location that goes beyond the hype.  So beloved of so many divers, I hope Manado continues to yield outstanding photo opps time after time, year after year.   I know I cannot wait to go back!

 

Article by Mario Vitalini

www.fishinfocus.co.uk 

Mario Vitalini has been involved in photography from a young age (he started in front of the camera as a baby model, posing in Colombia’s first ever nappy print ad campaign). As soon as he started diving in 1989 he grabbed a Nikonos V and started taking photographs underwater, and hasn’t looked back. After working at Cameras Underwater and then Ocean Leisure Cameras, Mario is now the lead instructor for fishinfocus underwater photography, a company that offers a complete and flexible range of underwater photography courses for all levels and cameras. fishinfocus run regular one day underwater photography courses (including private courses) in Guildford, Surrey, UK, and in partnership with Oxygene Surrey (the dive centre where fishinfocus is based) stock a wide range of underwater photography equipment, including cameras, housings and accessories. For more information, visit www.fishinfocus.co.uk

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Diver Discovering Whale Skeletons Beneath Ice Judged World’s Best Underwater Photograph

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UPY

An emotive photograph showing a freediver examining the aftermath of whaling sees
Alex Dawson from Sweden named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024. Dawson’s
photograph ‘Whale Bones’ triumphed over 6500 underwater pictures entered by underwater
photographers from around the world.

“Whale Bones was photographed in the toughest conditions,” explains chair of judging
panel Alex Mustard, “as a breath-hold diver descends below the Greenland ice sheet to bear
witness to the carcasses. The composition invites us to consider our impact on the great
creatures of this planet. Since the rise of humans, wild animals have declined by 85%. Today,
just 4% of mammals are wildlife, the remaining 96% are humans and our livestock. Our way
needs to change to find a balance with nature.”

UPY

Photo: Rafael
Fernandez Caballero

Whales dominated the winning pictures this year with Spanish photographer Rafael
Fernandez Caballero winning two categories with his revealing photos of these ocean giants:
a close up of a grey whale’s eye and an action shot of a Bryde’s whale engulfing an entire bait
ball, both taken in Magdalena Bay, Baja California, Mexico. Fernandez Caballero took ‘Grey
Whale Connection’ while drifting in a small boat, holding his camera over the side in the water
to photograph the curious whale. ‘The End Of A Baitball’ required Fernandez Caballero to dive
down and be in exactly the right place at the moment the whale lunged. “The photo shows
the high speed attack,” he said, “with the whale engulfing hundreds of kilograms of sardines
in one bite — simply unforgettable to see predation on such a scale.”

UPY

Photo: Rafael
Fernandez Caballero

Lisa Stengel from the United States was named Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 for her image of a mahi-mahi catching a sardine, in Mexico. Stengel used both a very fast shutter speed and her hearing to catch the moment. “If you listen there’s an enormous amount of sound in the ocean,” she explained. “The action was too fast to see, so I honed in on the sound of the attacks with my camera to capture this special moment.”

“It is such an exciting time in underwater photography because photographers are capturing such amazing new images, by visiting new locations and using the latest cameras,”
commented judge Alex Mustard. “Until this year I’d hardly ever see a photo of a mahi mahi,
now Lisa has photographed one hunting, action that plays out in the blink of an eye.”
The Underwater Photographer of the Year contest is based in the UK, and Jenny Stock,
was named as British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 for her image “Star
Attraction”, which finds beauty in species of British wildlife that are often overlooked.
Exploring the west coast of Scotland, Stock explained “in the dark green depths my torch
picked out the vivid colours of a living carpet of thousands of brittle stars, each with a
different pattern. I was happily snapping away, when I spotted this purple sea urchin and I
got really excited.”

Photo: Jenny Stock

In the same contest, Portuguese photographer, Nuno Sá, was named ‘Save Our Seas
Foundation’ Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2024, with his photo ‘Saving
Goliath’, taken in Portugal. Sá’s photo shows beachgoers trying to save a stranded sperm
whale. The picture gives us hope that people do care and want to help the oceans, but also
warns us that bigger changes are needed. “The whale had been struck by a ship and its fate
was sealed,” explains Sá. “An estimated 20,000 whales are killed every year, and many more
injured, after being struck by ships-and few people even realise that it happens.”

UPY

Photo: Nuno Sá

More winning images can be found at www.underwaterphotographeroftheyear.com.

About Underwater Photographer of the Year

Underwater Photographer of the Year is an annual competition, based in the UK, that celebrates photography beneath the surface of the ocean, lakes, rivers and even swimming pools, and attracts entries from all around the world. The contest has 13 categories, testing photographers with themes such as Macro, Wide Angle, Behaviour and Wreck photography, as well as four categories for photos taken specifically in British waters. The winners were announced in an award ceremony in Mayfair, London, hosted by The Crown Estate. This year’s UPY judges were experienced underwater photographers Peter Rowlands, Tobias Friedrich and Dr Alexander Mustard MBE.

Header image: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 winner Alex Dawson

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World’s Best Underwater Photographers Unveil Breathtaking Images at World Shootout 2023

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The winners of the prestigious World Shootout 2023 underwater photography competition were announced at this year’s BOOT Show, captivating audiences at the world’s largest diving and water sports exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany. Hundreds of photographers from 54 countries competed across nine categories, pushing the boundaries of creativity and technical skill.

Grand Prize Winners

  • Picture of the Year: Spanish photographer Eduardo Acevedo “secured” the top Honor with the prestigious prize the “boot Dusseldorf Director’s Prize, earning an Andromeda statuette and a €2,000 cash prize.
  • Best 5 Images Portfolio: Luc Rooman from Belgium triumphed in this category, winning a dream 4-week diving trip for two to Papua New Guinea, valued at $18,900.
  • Amateur Photographer: Alexandra Ceurvorst from the USA impressed the judges with her talent, taking home the 1,000 cash prize award.

Celebrating Diversity and Innovation

This year’s competition saw 11,680 entries from 964 photographers, showcasing a remarkable spectrum of skills and perspectives. From the intricate wonders of Macro photography to the beauty of “Black Water”, the “Underwater Fashion” category added a touch of artistry and innovation, while the ever-important ” Environmental & Conservation” category served as a powerful reminder of the need to protect these fragile ecosystems.

Looking Ahead: AI and Ocean Conservation

World Shootout founder and producer David Pilosof unveiled an exciting addition for the 2024 competition: this year the Environmental category will be focusing on the impact of plastic on our oceans and future.

This category will embrace the potential of AI or other editing software as a tool to amplify the conservation message.

Entrants will submit campaigns of three original underwater photographs dealing with plastic pollution, along with their final AI assistance processing. This innovative approach encourages artistic expression while raising awareness about a critical environmental issue.

Explore the Stunning Collection

Discover the complete album of competition entries by clicking here.

For Low-resolution photos of finalist entries in eight categories, click here.

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