A Patch of Black Sand at Tulamben, Bali

We dived close to 50 dives each on the same house reef in front of Mimpi Resort, Tulamben, Bali.

What we found there was amazing...........2 and 3 dives a day on the same patch of black sand.

Enjoy.............

This is just a sample of what we found.............i have several thousand images, not all as good as these, but certainly hundreds of nice shots...... i hope you enjoy these.

Those are stupendous. I'll be in Bali in Sept. I forget where we're staying. Ornate Wrasse probably remembers. I have CRS. I hope we see some cool stuff like that too. I know my photos will be no where near your quality. How do you set up your shots? I'm not sure how you get the background in black. Is that something you do in PS or is that the actual background? I'm thinking of the last two nudi shots, and also how you faded out the background on the pipefish. Beautiful!!

Those are stupendous. I'll be in Bali in Sept. I forget where we're staying. Ornate Wrasse probably remembers. I have CRS. I hope we see some cool stuff like that too. I know my photos will be no where near your quality. How do you set up your shots? I'm not sure how you get the background in black. Is that something you do in PS or is that the actual background? I'm thinking of the last two nudi shots, and also how you faded out the background on the pipefish. Beautiful!!

We spent 3 weeks at the Mimpi Resort in Tulamben, the resort is in the same bay as the Liberty wreck.

The accomodation is excellent, the food is great, you can also eat out at night and the cost is minimal, example 3 course meal for three of us with water and beer.......less than a £ tenner inc the tip............

The water temp in Jan / Feb was 29c.............hope you have great time............are you all booked up ? do you need advice on Airlines, hotels , stopovers...... where to buy camera gear on the way ?

What is "CRS" ?

How do i set up my shots........... well mostly it comes without thinking about it, natural kinda.

This is i guess what determines someones "Style"............

How to get the background black.............. well, its a lot to do with how you use your strobes, how you position them and what strength you have them set on.............its not something that i do in PS.

The pipe fish.................. thats how it was, i have cropped a little, and cleaned it but thats all.

My wife thought that we would have seen more if we had have gone deeper, we did not go deeper than 35m, she thinks we will see different species at 40m or 50m.

So we are going back shortly for another 3 weeks...................

Those are stupendous. I'll be in Bali in Sept. I forget where we're staying. Ornate Wrasse probably remembers. I have CRS. I hope we see some cool stuff like that too. I know my photos will be no where near your quality. How do you set up your shots? I'm not sure how you get the background in black. Is that something you do in PS or is that the actual background? I'm thinking of the last two nudi shots, and also how you faded out the background on the pipefish. Beautiful!!

OK, I'll be the Answer Woman today. We're staying at Scuba Seraya right after we arrive in Bali. To be truthful, if I didn't have it written down in a file in Text Edit on my MacBook Pro, I wouldn't know

I'll attempt to answer your other photo-related questions, even though I was not the photographer. Usually, the way the background looks has to do with shutter speed. If using a higher shutter speed, the background will be darker or even black. If using a slower shutter speed, the background will be closer to blue.

I'm guessing that the reason why the background was blurry on the pipefish shot is that the image was shot using a macro lens (probably a 105 or similar lens) with a very wide open aperture (e.g. 2.8) which resulted in a very shallow depth of field. Most likely only a inch or two (or less) in front and in back of the eye was in focus. He has, IMHO, effectively made certain the eye of the pipefish was in focus. He probably knew that the rest of it would not be in focus. If you look at the image, you will see that the portions of the pipefish that aren't close to the eye are not in focus.

I agree, his images are nothing less than spectacular.

Fantastic finds and captures! I especially love the Chromodoris sp.

I'll be diving in Tulemben in September as well and now I'm more excited than ever!

Thanks for sharing these amazing pictures. Robyn

OK, I'll be the Answer Woman today. We're staying at Scuba Seraya right after we arrive in Bali. To be truthful, if I didn't have it written down in a file in Text Edit on my MacBook Pro, I wouldn't know

 

I'll attempt to answer your other photo-related questions, even though I was not the photographer. Usually, the way the background looks has to do with shutter speed. If using a higher shutter speed, the background will be darker or even black. If using a slower shutter speed, the background will be closer to blue.

 

I'm guessing that the reason why the background was blurry on the pipefish shot is that the image was shot using a macro lens (probably a 105 or similar lens) with a very wide open aperture (e.g. 2.8) which resulted in a very shallow depth of field. Most likely only a inch or two (or less) in front and in back of the eye was in focus. He has, IMHO, effectively made certain the eye of the pipefish was in focus. He probably knew that the rest of it would not be in focus. If you look at the image, you will see that the portions of the pipefish that aren't close to the eye are not in focus.

 

I agree, his images are nothing less than spectacular.

ISO 200

Aperture F16

Speed 125

Seraya is 2 minutes by car from Tulamben Bay, in fact its the other side of the Drop Off from Tulamben Bay, not sure where Scuba Seraya is though, there is nothing in Seraya.........

Tulamban and Seraya is a long way from the airport, its a good 2.5 to 3 hour by car from the airport, its not the distance so much as the road conditions and speed of travel.

If you have not been to Indonesia before, when you get to the airport (In Bali) you have to pay $25usd for your "Visa on Arrival", you do that before you get to passport control...........be warned that not every port of entry into Indonesia has a "Visa on Arrival" policy...........Tarakan certainly does not, we got off a very small plane at this very small airport to find that out..........we were immediatly arrested, carted off to the local nick, grilled for an hour then taken to a hotel (which we had to pay for) and put under house arrest........the following morning a car arrived for us, it took us to the local docks, where we were put on a boat heading back to Malaysia (yes we had to pay for the boat)..........on arrival back in Tawau in Sabah, Northern Borneo we had to face the Malaysian customs who wanted to know where we had come from, the Indonesian authorities did not allow us into Indonesia so therefore did not stamp our passports...... which was confusing the Malaysian customs no end............ but thats another story, so if you are going to Indonesia check that you are entering at a location that accepts "Visa on Arrival"..........

So, your now in the airport, you will find that there are no trolly's anywhere...... the local porters have the half dozen that exist......... and they want you to pay them to carry your bags outside to your waiting agent, and its only 20 yards.........so drag them if you have to as they will try and bleed you dry...........

Anyway, i'm rambling now..............

This Harlequine Ghost Pipefish was shot while diving Seraya............ all diving around Tulamben and Seraya is "shore Diving".

Fantastic pics! I aspire to photos like these - thanks for the settings info. 105 mm lens?

Dave, you're joking aren't you? You were arrested and shipped out???? OMG, Robyn!! We'd better call Ken and make sure everything is OK.

Anyway, CRS is a crippling disease that starts right about the time you start having kids. It stands for Can't Remember Sh&t.

Love the squat lobster! Some very fine shots!

Great shots!

Sorry to hijack.... but if you live in/near a city with an Indonesian embassy/consulate, you can get your visa before you arrive in Bali. We got our visas at the consulate in Houston when I was still living stateside. If you get your visa early, you can skip that line at the airport in Bali and head directly through customs/immigration.

I spent a week at Scuba Seraya back in July of 2006 as the diving portion of my honeymoon , and I'm going back in mid-May. You'll love the resort, as its small and quiet. You'll probably go into Tulamben to sample some of the other dive sites in the area, but you really can't go wrong with any of them.

Cheers,

Ken

P.S. Those are some really nice shots. Its got me all excited about going back to Bali!

Dave, you're joking aren't you? You were arrested and shipped out???? OMG, Robyn!! We'd better call Ken and make sure everything is OK.

 

Anyway, CRS is a crippling disease that starts right about the time you start having kids. It stands for Can't Remember Sh&t.

Nope not joking................. and i could write a book about how we actually got of the boat once it arrived in Tawau harbour..........it was parked along side another boat, that was parked along side another boat that was parked along side another boat that was parked along side another boat............are you beggining to see the scene.......and on the dock it slef there is one little cubicle and inside sits an immigration official who has to check the papers of everyone on the dock who wants to enter "Malaysia"....... the crowd on that dock is of "Biblical" proportions........... i can see this from the boat we are trying to escape from.........so, with two large dive bags, two carry on bags, a pelicase that weighs a ton and a laptop bag we start to extricate ourselves from the boat and up a regular plank of wood onto the next boat alongside ours.............

I will finish the story shortly...............but now i need to go and get in the bath my wife has run for me..................

Hey i got the same disease.................my wife thinks i'm a retard anyway..............

Dave.

Love the squat lobster! Some very fine shots!

Hiya Nikki......................

You enjoyed your camping trip to Ras Mo......................

After looking at your Red Sea shots.............i now realise just how much life there is there..........

Excellent

Dave.

Freakin' beautiful images SEATREKER!

I'll be in Bali for a couple of days in June on my way to Wakatobi...

3 days in Ubud, 5 days in Toraja-land Sulewesi, and then off to Wakatobi for NON-pelagic diving

Freakin' beautiful images SEATREKER!

 

I'll be in Bali for a couple of days in June on my way to Wakatobi...

3 days in Ubud, 5 days in Toraja-land Sulewesi, and then off to Wakatobi for NON-pelagic diving

We'll be there in May and June......................

This was taken at Seraya................

And just to add some perspective to the shots.....................

And my first shot with W/A and a dome port...............

What a cute little baby frog fish!!!

Hi Alex, I love the pictures that you have here