Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia's most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it's just a quick car ride to the harbor followed by another quick and comfortable boat ride to one of Bunaken National Park's resorts. There are many great resorts in the Bunaken area, but our go-to resort for our snorkeling safaris is Siladen Resort & Spa, which is located on Siladen Island—the smallest of the islands in Bunaken. The Bunaken area is comprised of five tropical islands, one of which is a stunning dormant volcano called Manadotua. The islands are all quite close together making travel times between the different island's snorkeling sites quick and easy. Lembeh is a beautiful island just off the northeastern tip of Sulawesi. It is easily accessed by boat from Bunaken with good weather, or by car should the sea conditions not be ideal for a boat transfer. This area is quite volcanic with several semi-dormant volcanoes clearly visible on the horizon. Every now and then, if you are lucky, you may see one of them give a little smokey 'burp'. Like Bunaken, there are a number of fantastic resort options, but our go-to resort is Lembeh Resort as they are not only one of the oldest and most reputable resorts in the area, but also very well set up to accommodate snorkelers. Gangga Island is a small tropical island fringed by white a white sand beach and sits just off the northern tip of Sulawesi. Gangga Island does have a very beautiful boutique resort that is well equipped for snorkelers, however, for the snorkeling safaris we typically
Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia’s most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it’s just a quick car ride to the
Though we have several snorkeling photography workshops in several different destinations which include Belize, North Sulawesi, and the Cayman Islands, all will focus (pun intended) on a very similar set of underwater photography principles and techniques, regardless of the destination or who your photo pro is. Here's a quick breakdown of what you can expect from one of our photography workshops. Focus of the Workshops Understanding your Camera Every camera is a little different, and understanding the nuances of your camera can be one of the biggest things to improving the quality of your images, particularly where colors are concerned. Composition A lot of time will be spent throughout the trip discussing the importance of composition. Choosing what to include in a single image is really one of the most important fundamentals of photography. Light Much like composition, we will also spend a great deal of time discussing light and how it changes underwater and the different ways in which we, as photographers, can react to it with your cameras, either by using the natural light or by using an artificial light source such as a flash or a photo/video light. Marine Life Behavior & Subject Selection Understanding how marine life is going to behave around snorkelers will not only help you get the photo you want, but also play a big role in what subjects you select. Some species of fish for example, just don't make great subjects, even though they be the most beautiful fish you've ever seen, simply because they either dart straight into the reef at the first hint of a human. Wide Angle & Macro Though we will of course cover both wide-angle and macro shooting styles in theory and during our snorkeling sessions, the bulk of the time will be spent covering the principles
Though we have several snorkeling photography workshops in several different destinations which include Belize, North Sulawesi, and the Cayman Islands, all will focus (pun intended) on a very similar set of underwater photography principles and techniques, regardless of the destination or who your photo pro is. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you can expect
During the first week of May 2021 we were finally able to run the very first snorkel safari since the pandemic shut down the world. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to finally be able to fun a tour. Not only did we have some amazing underwater surprises like eagle rays and hunting octopus, but we also had a very cool surprise for all the guests which came in the form of SeaLife underwater cameras. Our guide and video/photo pro, Alex, is also a field editor for Dive Photo Guide, and through that relationship we were able to arrange for several different newly released models of SeaLife underwater cameras to be brought onboard for all the guests to use as they please. This was such a nice surprise for everyone, as it not only allowed those who have never used a camera underwater to get a feel for underwater shooting, but it also allowed those who already have a camera to try out a different brand— with two different models to choose from. The two models of SeaLife camera we were given were the SeaLife Micro 3.0, which is more along the lines of a traditional compact camera—only it's completely sealed so no need to worry about messing around with o-rings and camera housings. The other camera was the SeaLife Reefmaster RM-4K, which is basically SeaLife's version of a GoPro. Both cameras shoot both video and photo, with the ability to capture images in RAW format as well as 4K video. They are designed to be as simple as possible and have some pretty cool, easy-to-use settings, that allowed guests to capture images with amazing natural colors. If you would like any help choosing your next cameras, or are curious about a camera you may already have and want to
During the first week of May 2021 we were finally able to run the very first snorkel safari since the pandemic shut down the world. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to finally be able to fun a tour. Not only did we have some amazing underwater surprises like eagle rays and hunting octopus, but
White balance is one of the principal camera settings or functions we need to understand in order to bring out the natural colors of the reef and our fishy friends. What is the white balance you ask? Well, in the most simple terms, white balance is a setting included on all digital cameras, usually indicated with a “WB”, which changes the overall color of the picture to accommodate different lighting environments. For example, a land photographer would change the white balance settings when they move from shooting in a sunny outdoor environment to an indoor environment lit entirely with fluorescent light. For us underwater shooters, we adjust the white balance to account for a loss in the red wavelength as we go deeper underwater. If you do not adjust your white balance your images will come back in shades of blue and green when they should be coming back with a full spectrum of colors. How do we correctly set our white balance? Let me explain. Underwater Auto Shooting Modes As I said, as we dive deeper underwater we start to lose certain colors, most importantly red. With this in mind, we need to try to account for this loss of red by utilizing our camera's built-in digital red filter, which is controlled through the white balance function. Many cameras like newer models of GoPro or the Olympus TG series—some of the most user-friendly cameras for snorkelers and divers—will have pretty fantastic auto-white balance settings for underwater shooters. For GoPro users, you'll just need to switch the white balance setting into Auto and just let the camera do its thing. In my experience, and from what I've seen from our guests using GoPros, the colors come back very accurate. For the Olympus TG folks, simply turn the little dial on
White balance is one of the principal camera settings or functions we need to understand in order to bring out the natural colors of the reef and our fishy friends. What is the white balance you ask? Well, in the most simple terms, white balance is a setting included on all digital cameras, usually indicated
Just about every camera nowadays has both a video and photo function, which provides us with a ton of opportunities for creatively capturing the underwater world. With so many options though, it can be a bit overwhelming when a unique underwater moment presents itself to you completely out of the blue. What do I do!? Should I film it or photograph it? As someone who spends a lot of time switching between video and photo, I'd like to share a few quick tips that have helped me decide whether I'm going to capture the moment with the camera's video mode or the photo mode. 1. What is your ultimate goal? If you know how to use editing software and plan to make a little highlight reel from your snorkeling adventure, then filming would be the way forward. Similarly, if your intent is to have a collection of photos to share with friends or to hang on your wall, you'd want to stick with the photo mode. This is a really important thing to think about as I know a lot of people who just film everything they see because in a lot of ways filming is easier and can be more gratifying at the moment, but then they find they don't know how to edit videos or just don't have the time to and then they end up with hours of footage just sitting on their hard drive. 2. A bit of Both A lot of the underwater encounters we have can last for a while, which means you can do a bit of filming as well as photography. Remember to prioritize which of the two mediums is more important to you at the end of the day and start with that one. 3. Video for fleeting moments I always
Just about every camera nowadays has both a video and photo function, which provides us with a ton of opportunities for creatively capturing the underwater world. With so many options though, it can be a bit overwhelming when a unique underwater moment presents itself to you completely out of the blue. What do I do!?
