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.