Maldives Underwater 2015

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casts_by_fly

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Rick
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Hi Guys,

I thought I'd share some underwater nature photos from my last dive trip. We don't have enough underwater presence here, so here's my attempt to change that.

All were with an Olympus EPL-1 in the associated Olympus OEM housing, Zen WA-100 dome, and a UFL-1 strobe in RC TTL mode. Some were the 9-18 and some were the 14-42 kit lens. I shot manual the whole trip, usually 1/160 (fastest flash sync speed possible) and about 3 stops underexposed via the aperture to capture a nice deep blue background (typically F8-F10). The couple that are lighter were because of either depth (shallow) or shooting into the sun/shallows.

C&C always welcome.

thanks,
rick

Bannerfish:

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Lionfish:
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Nudibranch (don't ask me the species)

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Frogfish:

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Fish:

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Green Moray and diver:

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White tip reef shark:

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Very nice! I've been diving before so this brings back a few memories from many years ago. Love the lionfish and the bannerfish. Fantastic. Arent the lionfish extremely dangerous if memory serves correct?
 
Lionfish fins are toxic and sharp so dangerous if you hit one, but they aren't aggressive.
 
Excellent set there,i miss not diving anymore.:):clap:
 
Hi bardo,

The 'her' is my wife and it was the end of the dive. They were already ascending/waiting on me before ascending towards the safety stop. I have a few more of said manta without them in the background.

Thanks,
Rick
 
A wonderful, colourful selection.
Envious of the hobby.
No1 would make a fabulous screensaver for the computer.
 
Thanks guys for the comments.

Paul,

Yes, it makes a great ipad background too. ;)

thanks
rick
 
Wow Wow Wow!
I'm a very infrequent diver and have never been to a location like this before having only dived as open water in the Atlantic and the Med. I am now insanely jealous!
 
Lovely...I especially like this fish (4) although the rays are seriously impressive. Somehow the photos don't give just how impressive they are
 
Lovely set. I never saw a manta in my diving life. Hopefully one day i'll get back to it.
 
You're right we don't see enough of these kind of shots, i can't wait to see more, seriously stunning stuff you have here..:love::love:
 
Always wanted to dive - however considering i can't even swim, i don't see it happening!

That Lionfish shot is outstanding! Amazing set Rick.
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments. Very timely that this just popped back up. I just got home on Sunday from Diving in Cozumel. I will be putting a new thread up in a couple days with some more pictures.

thanks,
rick
 
casts_by_fly said:
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments. Very timely that this just popped back up. I just got home on Sunday from Diving in Cozumel. I will be putting a new thread up in a couple days with some more pictures.

thanks,
rick
Click to expand...

Rick, maybe a general underwater thread should be started :)
 
All so impressive and it's great to see some underwater shots - something I've only tried with a little lumix inside a watertight bag! I absolutely love the first shot - it's so unusual and there's something quite mesmerising about it.
 
Spot on are those, very nice. Not something I've really seen before. Be good to see some more in the future.
 
I absolutely *love* this shot btw! Great work - that's got commercial potential written all over it! :)

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I dived the Maldives myself back in 2000 and the reefs were really suffering after the El Nino bleached all the coral and left much of it dead. We saw very little life back then so it's wonderful to see it recovering so well! I think I may have to revisit the Maldives on day...
 
Hi Jason,

Thanks for the kind words. I love shots like this where you are immersed in the fish. The one below was from 2014 and is my original inspiration. We were sitting on the reef waiting for mantas and this school (different to the 2015 school above) just kept floating by. We had been so still for so long that they just formed around me so I snapped a picture. It isn't as good as the one above (the blue isn't dark enough, the colors are washed a bit, and the timing could have been better) but I loved the feeling of the fish's eye view.
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The Maldives are pretty awesome. We've been 3 times in 3 years (2012/14/15) and might go back again next year. There are some reefs where the coral isn't quite what it should be. Typically the afternoon 'easy' dives would be on shallower reefs (20 m dives) and more local to the resorts (the 2014 and 2015 resorts were close together and dove a lot of the same sites). On those dives it seemed like the top of the reef would be in good shape, but the 15-25m depth would be a little more sparse. However, there are also a ton of sites with awesome coral growth, both hard and soft. The below was the resort house reef at Moofushi. Arthuruga was similar, but with staghorn/elkhorn coral instead of these big table corals. The maldives isn't known as a coral heaven like SE asia is, but it is there to see. What I also loved about the maldives was just the amount of life on the reefs. Fish everywhere. Anemones filled with clownfish/anemonefish everywhere. Big things in the deep, little things in the rocks. Invertebrates. Where we were, there are a few sites where the topography is the draw, but generally it is the life.

thanks,
rick


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thanks,
rick
 
Great shots - brings back memories of diving in the red sea many years ago.
 
Some awesome photos there. Make sure you keep them safe, I lost every dive photo I had :(
 
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