Aidan's arrival.

Hi Aidan, welcome welcome!  Both your mom & myself will try our best to show you the world in a meaningful way.  Bear with us, it's our first time.  I guess options of PC gaming, badminton and scuba diving is available. hahaha. MPH book store had just been renamed to toys shop by Mom.

Good luck and we wish you a very healthy and fun life ahead.
Aidan! Don't worry about me spending less time on diving, cos it is still a weekly affair for me!
haha, thanks to your mom (HY). She had approved a long term visa for me to Pulau Hantu.

Picture of Aidan:
Camera - iPhone 5s
mode - Auto









Here are some pictures taken in dec 2014 trips.

(Kuro Sap Sucking Slug, Costasiella Kuroshimae)

This sea slug aka "shaun the sheep" was one of the attractions at Pulau Hantu. Due to the size of 2-3mm,  taking this picture needs time, patient and steady hands.  Without the perfect condition, it is close to impossible to take this picture cause the area of focus is only about 1mm or less.
Camera - Olympus OMD EM5 with 60mm macro lens
1/200 F8 ISO 100
Inon S2000 x 2
Wet diopters +10 stack +5



Hey guys, the grass is greener over there!!

 

Help! Someone hanged a creepy voodoo doll here*







 Skeleton Shrimps found!! I've seen many pictures of SS in dive book, FB, and websites but nothing came close to finding a odd looking one yourself.  Its about 8mm in length, found on hydroids.  There are at least 8 to 10 of them on a single branch.

New Technique using a white writing slate as a background. Looks weird, but I got the most "likes" of all the posts I posted on Underwater Macro Photographers FB page.

Flabellina on hydroid.
(Cuthona sibogae)

Olympus OMD EM5
60mm macro lens
1/125  F16
inon S2000 x 2

Another shot without the writing slate

 

Flabellina on hydroid.
(Cuthona sibogae)



It is always fun to experiment new things and create new shooting methods.  It keeps myself looking forward to every diving trip.

New Life New Plans

....months had passed since open water days and scuba diving seems to be part of me now. Great things are happening all at once.  We will be expect a new member (Aidan) to our family near end November 2014. Although I'll be grounded in Singapore for at least 3 years before my next overseas dive trip with my lifetime buddy HY, I found a secret diving haven in Southern island of Singapore. Our own backyard!! do you know what this means?? This means cheap diving and just 20mins drive to RSYC at west coast road where the dive operator 'GS diving' takes off for day trips every weekend.  Moving forward, I've also decided to further my diving qualification to dive master and if possible, a dive instructor. Hmm, why not? I won't let my disability affect my passion, Yeah!! for those who do not know me, my left arm is totally immobilised after a serious traffic accident.

Now, back to my underwater photography. I had been busy with new add-on system and going deep into the capabilities of both my first love Canon S95(compact) and Olympus OMD EM5 (mirrorless).

Canon S95
Range from +5 to +20 magnification
Inon S2000 x 2
or
Inon S2000 x 1 with:
New independent 2 legged DIY snoot (inon S2000 installed)
- attached dive torch

This baby performed beyond my expectation. It helps to reduce hell lot of back scatter and made snooting easier on static objects. It can be positioned bottom up to make a nudi glow. See below.

Picture taken at Pulau Hantu with S95. Visibility range from 1-8meters. 
Name of Nudibranch:
Hypselodoris Bullockii

                           

 Flabellina on hydroid.
(Cuthona sibogae)
Picture taken with OMD

This cute little Slug is only half a rice size 4-5mm. (Kuro Sap Sucking Slug, Costasiella Kuroshimae)
Picture take with OMD EM5 +15 magnification. With some professional guidance from Singapore marine biologist "Chay Hoon" I found these babies on a kind of seaweed. (Solitary Fan green seaweed call: Avrainvillea erecta) I spend my whole dive on one single seaweed, thanks to my patient buddy photographer Charlene foong and she also helped me to improve my skills by giving me tons of feedbacks and techniques advise. Thank you sardine!!!

This nudibranch above aka (Chromodoris fidelis) was taken with the flash place infront of the nudi, giving the picture a street lamp feel.

So much fun with snoot. Thank you, will post more pictures soon.

Diving manado 2014

Great start for 2014 to dive at cocotinos dive resort.  This time, I diy a snoot.  It is commonly used in both land & underwater photography. Snooting create a spotlight effect, reduce back scatter and give pictures a dark back ground.
I made it out of some pvc material, velcros, a beer stubby. It fit well on my inon S2000 strobe.
Finally!!! Some decent pictures I can boast about to my friends. Check it out.

You can make the snoot even smaller, but the smaller the snoot, the harder to get the light onto your subject. It was super frustrating in the beginning and many times I was forced to remove the snoot during my dive. I persevered and finally, my determination paid off.

I also managed to take some nice pictures without the snoot but I spend more time removing the back scatter.

All about diving May 2013

I'm always excited when someone mention about diving...arghhh!! I can't get enough of it.
I packed my gears and fly straight to manado cocotinus resort this may. Hy convinced her fren jamie to come along. She had a bad start on her open water course at tioman and hopefully with the professional dm, she will gain back her confidences.

Cameras up!!! Shoot shoot shoot!!!

1/125 , f8, iso 200, 60mm macro

Comparing the details, I got ten times more than what I expect. I can even see the shrimps eyes in the eggs. Awesome!!

1/200, f6, iso200, 60mm macro
I was about 50cm from seahorse and yet the picture turn out ok. Pardon the back scatter. Heehee.
I'm still amateur at this.

I took many shots on this fish and really couldn't focus on its eyes. Sad, but overall nice picture.

1/200, f6, iso200, 60mm macro

1/160, iso200, f9, 60mm macro

I caught this cute little cleaner fish on the puffer. Lucky shot!

Sorry to flood macro shots. I suck at wide angle, partly you need duo strobe to do good wide angle.

Guess what, she is pregnant!

! I heard from follow divers that mandarin fish are very shy and was instructed not to shine the torch or flash at the mandarin fish. Not true!
Off we went to the mandarin point, we waited patiently for the sun to set and boom! Saw my very first MF, one, two then four!!! I couldn't take any pictures without a focus light. I can't take it anymore, I on my torch and started taking pictures. Surprisingly, they are not shy at all, they even mated in front of my lighted torch. I guess they are pretty horny! Hahaa. I must say that our first dusk dive is magical and romantic.

Crabs...

Leaf scorpion fish. Beautiful!!

Olympus OMD EM5

Hi guys, I'm kelvin. I'm an addict. I will go around talking to the divers that I don't know and check out their dive pictures. So far, I have always been successful.
I stumbled upon canon G12 and sony nex 7, both have better macro shots than my S95, but nex 7 is a class above.
I was so impressed that I'm motivated to get it or something close to that kind of picture quality. A picture of Sony nex 7.

Back in Singapore changi airport, I wasted no time and got into dfs shop and started asking questions about nex 7. Unfortunately, the sales staff didn't have must product knowledge, so I continue my research online.
It was amazing how detailed the discussion was on the various dive forum.
Brands like Nauticam and recsea were among the reputable ones for UW housing.

Knowing that I need to spend close to 5k sgd on a nex 7 setup, I move my attention to the new canon G15. Read many praises about this baby and I'm quite certain I'm going for G15 with recsea setup at about $2800 with strobe arm and floats. I went to one of the shops at simlim square, I took out my S95 and start shooting on my 10 dollar bill to compare the macro quality between S95 and G15. I wasn't impressed and acknowledge that a person who wish to upgrade from a S95 will not go for a G15. The quality improvement was very little and is not worth spending the $$$$. Disappointed and lost, I decide to read up more about other cameras. ATTENTION!!! do not consult the sales person with very little product knowledge especially when most of them don't have underwater photography experiences.

Let introduce you to my new friend, the new olympus EPL5. I spent many nights reading about its capabilities. Most attractive part was the UW housing Pt Ep10, it's affordable and light. I just need to spend $2500 for camera, housing and 60mm macro lens. I couldn't wait for the IT show in the coming weekend so I went down to Cathay photo at peninsular plaza. First touch feel goooood....looks good, quality is awesome, flip panel was awesome but after using the functions, I realize there a not enough dials for right hand use on the EPL5. Duncan, the smart sale person doubtful expression and quickly took out the higher end olympus OMD. Wow!!!! Impressive. Check it out.

2 dials on the right hand and 2 customized function button. there is a quick record button too.
Yes!! Picture was taken in my house! I bought it!! Until now, I have no regrets. Check out my setup.
- Olympus OMD
- Olympus Pt Ep08 with front port.
- Inon S2000 strobe
- Inon mega float arm
- light weight metal tray
- OEM SP look alike torch.

Very excited about the pictures it can produce underwater. I'm going back to manado in may. Till then. Feel free to left a comment.

Omg!!! While I'm playing with my omd last night. The dial fall out!!!! I want to faint already. Brought back to the shop and they promise to help....fingers crossed....

I went to look for a torch holder over the weekend. Went to 5 hardware shops and find nothing.
Knowing my late father like to keep parts of anything, I found useful aluminum plates for the holder in his stash. I even dig out some stainless steel nuts and bolts. Amazing!!! I check out the final look of it with inon shoe base.

A good look after I installed it on my housing. Sweet!!!