by Kat Ramage | May 28, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Mucky Pirates Bay
The photo wench takes her new camera for her first shore dive at Mucky Pirates Bay
After being sick for most of May, I was excited to take my new camera for my first dive to Mucky Pirates Bay with Abdul from Sea Rovers. We enjoyed a very leisurely 120 minute dive checking out the residents below the pier and out to the moorings. Here is some of what we saw.
Friendly pipefish
You don’t always get to see under the skirt of a nudibranch
This lionfish was too big for my lens, so I got a closeup of his face
I thought Abdul pointed me to a clump of sand until I looked at it with the 10x diopter–a TINY scorpionfish
Who doesn’t love Nemo? There’s a nice anemone with false clownfish at 6-7 meters so it’s a great place for your safety stop
by Kat Ramage | May 10, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Menjangan Island
3-D Nudibranch face
Menjangan Island isn’t just about dramatic walls–there are lots of other small critters to see there if you look (or stay close to the observant dive guides). All of these photos were shot on the same day. The Sea Rovers crew along with guide Edy took us to Eel Garden first, followed by Dreamland. Long dives (60+ minutes) at both sites offered many photographic subjects–here are some of the best shots.
A trio of Nemo’s
Is that a baby bump on this pygmy?
Giant frogfish waits patiently for dinner to swim by
A striped triple-fin gobie perched on an orange sponge
A pair of pink anemonefish above their purple-tipped anemone
by Kat Ramage | May 9, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Pemuteran Diving
Here are some shots taken during the first week in April while diving in Pemuteran Bay with the pirates at Sea Rovers
This cuttlefish at Temple Garden was quite a poser
Love these little gobies
Crocodilefish Chillin at Close Encounters
Close encounter with this moray eel at Close Encounters
Another cute gobie at Close Encounters
by Kat Ramage | May 7, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Pemuteran Diving
Here’s a small bubble coral with a cleaner shrimp
Same shrimp with 10x adapter
On that first macro dive the other day, I also hoped to find a few subjects that would allow me to get close enough to use the Subsea 10x adapter. This shrimp and a couple of nudibranchs were cooperative as I tried to figure out just how close I needed to get to focus the lens (note–REAL close). I used this big lens on my previous camera system, but it was really awkward and inconvenient. I had to take it out of my wetsuit pocket, screw it onto the port, shoot (assuming the subject was still there), and then stow it away again in my pocket when I was finished. My new system has the Nauticam flip adapter so I can just swing it into place when I want to use it–MUCH easier! I will definitely be using it a lot more in the future. Here are a few more comparisons:
Phylidiella nudibranch and tunicates
Same nudibranch with 10x adapter
White-margined nudibranch crawling in the sand
Same guy with 10X subsea adapter
I’ve been land-locked for the past few days with an annoyingly ill-timed head cold–Arrrrggggg!!! Hopefully I’ll be back in the water soon capturing memories of Sea Rovers Pirates and visiting Brethren enjoying their dives, as well as shooting images of the amazing undersea life from Menjangan and Pemuteran Bay. Stay tuned…
by Kat Ramage | May 6, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Pemuteran Diving
Hairy squat lobster–love the purple polka-dots
For my second day with the new camera, I switched to the 60mm macro lens and went with expert-critter-finder Wayan to the local reefs here in Pemuteran Bay. We dove at Napoleon Reef and Close Encounters, and I couldn’t stop smiling as the 180 degree viewfinder attachment let me finally see those tiny things the divemasters are always pointing at. The new camera focuses so much faster than my old one–I was truly in awe with every shot. I can’t wait to get back into the water and play some more–especially with the Subsea +10 adapter that I can easily flip into place when a subject will let me get close enough. I’ll show you the difference with and without this magnification adapter next time.
This shrimp was posing so nicely on the anemone tips
The eyes of the mantis shrimp are some of the most complex in the animal kingdom
This lizardfish let me get quite close
Never saw this before the 180 degree viewfinder
by Kat Ramage | May 5, 2017 | Kat Ramage Photos, Menjangan Island
It’s better than Christmas and my birthday put together
With my new Olympus OM-D E5 Mark II system assembled, the first objective was to try some wide angle shots. The dramatic walls of Menjangan (sites Dreamland and Pos II Belok Kiri) would be the camera’s baptism, and the trusty pirate crew at Sea Rovers eyed this new camera with much skepticism–not sure they had seen a system this large (and heavy) in awhile. But as always, they smiled and provided their trademark great service as they carried the massive load onto the boat.
Shooting wide angle is really challenging for me. My previous system didn’t have a true wide angle lens and therefore didn’t take great scenic shots. Now I had to dig into the recesses of my memory to remember wide angle basics–find a specific subject within the lushness of the reef, balance the strobe light with the sunlight, and shoot upward. Can’t say I did a great job, but I can no longer blame the camera for any less-than-stellar results.
In the next post, I’ll share the first macro and supermacro images taken with the new camera.
This was the first subject I tried to shoot.
Red whip coral always makes a stunning subject.
There were orange sponges everywhere on Pos II Belok Kiri
I loved the beautiful red underside of this anemone and the clouds overhead
