Puerto Galera pictures

[David A]

Hi all,

I just got back last week from the Philippines, where I got to try my 5050 for the first time. Here are the pics.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v53/DavidDA/Puerto Galera 2005/


I'm happy with most of them as a first time effort, but I must admit that I struggled a bit with all this macro stuff. Please excuse the fingers manhandling a fan coral behind the pygmy seahorse. This wasn't something I asked the guide to do, and I don't condone it. (It's not even a very good picture, but it's the only one I have of a pygmy, and didn't want to get rid of it). Let me know what you think. Any advice for the future gladly welcomed.

David

 

[Jetwrench]

I'm no expert by any means, but I love em. Some really interesting creatures there that I've never seen. I'd say very nice job especially for your first time.

Jet

 

[Wolverine]

Outstanding for a first time out! I will be there in 2 weeks and hopefully will see some of the stuff in your pics

 

[f3nikon]

Hi all,

I just got back last week from the Philippines, where I got to try my 5050 for the first time. Here are the pics.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v53/DavidDA/Puerto Galera 2005/


I'm happy with most of them as a first time effort, but I must admit that I struggled a bit with all this macro stuff. Please excuse the fingers manhandling a fan coral behind the pygmy seahorse. This wasn't something I asked the guide to do, and I don't condone it. (It's not even a very good picture, but it's the only one I have of a pygmy, and didn't want to get rid of it). Let me know what you think. Any advice for the future gladly welcomed.

David

Incredible! Like I said before, its not the camera thats taking the picture its the photographer... And you sure can make that 5050 SING! Which resort did you say on PG?

 

[KidK9]

Holy crap those are awesome pics! Even for a seasoned photographer. What settings did you use for the Macros? Did you use a strobe? Which one? More infor please!

 

[midwestdvr]

First timer? These are very good pics. I hope I can be this good on my next dive. Hope to be in PG sometime this fall.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Really, first time with a camera, or first time with this camera. They look really good to me, wow. Never seen those Nudi's.

 

[David A]

Thank you everyone. To answer a few of the questions, I was staying at the Garden of Eden resort, and diving with Cocktail divers. An ideal situation right in the centre of the bay, and the diving set-up was excellent. Every evening 3 blackboards went up with the destinations for the next day. Five different dive sites for the morning, five for lunchtime, and five more for the afternoon. You just put your name down for as many, or as few as you liked. In addition, the cost included unlimited day diving on the house reef. You just grab a tank and go.

It was my first time with this camera , but I have used a Canon A75 a couple of times before. This was a big step up, and a big learning curve. I was using an Ikelite housing, an Ikelite DS125 strobe with TTL synch, and an Epoque macro lens.

Settings were,

Manual mode
AF macro
f8
1/100 shutter speed (this needs playing with next time)
ISO 64
exposure compensation 0

I left the camera on these settings, and just played with the zoom. Some pics are with the additional macro, some without. I found that if I tried to alter too many settings underwater, I just ended up making a mess of it.

The final important addition was a damn good guide. These critters are tiny. That yellow clown anglerfish was no longer than the first joint of my finger, and for the first 3 days I barely saw anything without a guide pointing it out.

One of the guides took me and my buddy out on a private dive (at no extra cost), and we spent the afternoon on the grasslands of the house reef, getting some of the best pics.

David

 

[KidK9]

Thanks for the update. Simply amazing shots. Those would be blown up and all over my apartment.

 

[SeaYoda]

Very enjoyable pics, thanks for sharing them.