Images from Bali

I have just returned from a 2 weeks holiday in Bali where I managed a weeks diving at Tulamben and a couple of days on Lembongan Island searching for Mola mola. Diving at Tulamben was sensational, reminded me a lot of Lembeh except that there was massive wreck to explore in the US Liberty. The Liberty is an outstanding dive site however if I can offer anya dvice it's to dive first thing in the morning or around 4 in the afternoon otherwise you will see about a million day trippers from Kuta diving the wreck. Great macro and critter diving in the Tulamben region whilst the wreck provided some good wide angle opportunities.

Diving at Lembongan was much different, crazy insane currents and more dive boats on 1 site (Crystal Bay) than I have seen anywhere else in the world! Managed to see some Mola’s however had to say photography was challenging in a raging current or when there were 15 divers around a single Mola.

If anyone is interested in the adventures of Scuba Snoopy, he wrote an article on his Mola mola experience here:

http://www.daveharasti.com/Bali/Snoopy/index.html

All images were taken with a D300 in an Ikelite housing using DS125 strobes. Lens used were Nikon 105mm and 60mm, Tokina 10-17mm and Sigma 17-70mm. Some of my favourites include:

Barra with Diver

Harlequin Shrimp (Ever since I first saw this critter I've always wanted a shot with a black background and finally had them in the right spot at Seraya)

Tomato cod at cleaning station

Coral cod on Liberty wreck

Pygmy Seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti)

Mola mola at Blue Corner (very difiicult to photograph when you're flying past in a current!)

Giant Anglerfish on Lembongan Island

More images can be seen here:

http://www.daveharasti.com/Bali/index.html

cheers,

Dave

Wooooow!!!! Dave, excellent image! Congrats to get stunning photo of mola mola.

It's lovely to see Snoopy again.

i will go to dive with mola mola next week. thank you for sharing the great image/article!

cheers,

Wonderful images! I'll be diving there in a little over a week. With luck, I'll capture some images like yours.

Did you use the 105 lens to shoot the Pygmy Seahorse? Did you use any diopters or teleconverters?

You did a great job on the Pygmy image!

Thanks for posting.

Ellen

Hi Dave,

I've been wondering where you've been, coz I haven't seen any postings for a while?

Now, I can honestly say that I have seen a good/great pic of a Harlequin Shrimp. . . .

When photogs fail to separate their subjects from the background the image just looks like and old game of 'blue-dot twister'. . . .

Looks like you had the right approach on the 'pigmy' also; a wonderful 'subject' shot of a very shy little animal. . . . woohoo.

I am flicking through your New Guinea book for the third time. I've been studying the pics for subject lighting and compositional tips.

BTW, a great gift if anyone is heading to this part of the world. Contact Dave and get a signed copy. . . .

Bruce...

Great shots! The harlequin does look good against that background. I really like the tomato cod too. Thanks for sharing.

all very great shots!

the sunball with the grouper came out really nice! but i think my favourite is the grouper with the cleaner shrimp. very nice composition and DOF here!

serge

Nice!

great shots!

Wow, Just lovely.... love the pygmy, shrimp, cleaning station, mola's, just all of them . Thanks

Wonderful photos and great dive site advice too.

Did you use the 105 lens to shoot the Pygmy Seahorse? Did you use any diopters or teleconverters?

The pygmy in the image above was shot with the 60mm with a +2 filter. Generally I shoot pygmies with the 105mm and possible a +1 or +2 however the 60mm was what I happened to have on that dive! And the pymy above was amonster, one of the biggest I've seen. Actually, come to think of it, all the pygmies in Bali (Denise and Barginabti) were generally bigger than one's I'd seen in PNG, Sulawesi or the Solomon's. Must be the local food!

Thanks for the feedback on the sots, I have to say Bali is one of the nicest places I have been for an all round holiday and I highly recommend it as a destination for couples as there is much more to do than just diving, which is a change for me!

Great shot of the Harliquin shrimp. Very cool.

Rand

Impressive!

Full portfolio from there

Wow, really great set of images

Excellent shots Dave. I like the coral cod the best.

Cheers

Steve

Fantastic Pictures