Sipadan / Mabul / Kapalai

Some wide angle from Sipadan:

Craig - I spoke with Jim Watt yesterday, and he says that you took best of show in the competition? Congratulations!

I'm trying to get the results from him so I can post 'em here.

No surprise there. I'm envious

Holy Camoli!!!

Craig, that second shot with the sunflare and turtle is just awesome.

15mm Nikon lense? Any filters used?

Craig, beautiful exposures........I really like the turtle.........

I've noticed from your website that you used a couple of different filters for most all your shots from the Sipadan trip........in conjunction with strobes?

What conditions and/or lens choice dictate which filters you use? Are you using filters 100% of the time?

Karl

Congrats Craig. Beautiful shots.

All three were Sigma 15mm fisheye with CC30M gel and CC30G green filters on the strobes. The first image was best in show.

Some macro, too:

And more macro:

And more:

Great shots Craig! Did you let anybody else win anything?

Wow Craig, those are some awesome pictures. Im heading to Sipadan in a month. What lenses did you use on the macro? It seems to be both 60 and 105?

What strobes do you use with your Nexus?

Cor

He is going to tell you 70-180 is my bet.

Craig they are all awesome shots. I am partial to pygmies but, that last shot is supurb!!

Well done and bravo.

You might as well just give him the rest of the weekly contests now.

Outstanding work Craig, you've raised the bar again. I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite, but if I had to, I'd say the last, and the shot of the turtle. Looks like you've got a few more shots to support the argument for using filters!

Tom

Thanks, everyone. I'm in KK now and have broadband in my room.

I shot all my wide angle with the Nexus special Sigma 15mm and fisheye dome (only 3 dives). I used a technique some call "color back" where you use complementary color filters on the strobes and lens. The result is really nice water color with good foreground color balance and good sun rays. With the D100 I still had trouble with overexposure.

For macro I used the 70-180 with a +1.5 diopter and optional wet diopter. The pygmy shot used a 105mm with a 1.4x teleconverter.

My strobes were Inon Z220's. I carried a 3rd, "drop strobe" later in the week that I used for backlighting.

Of course, there were frogfish, too. Some were shot with the 24-85G.

The first image was best in show.

Does anybody know, what kind of show there was in Sipadan?

And was Jim Watt a juror or competing in a contests?

It was a photo contest sponsored by Sipadan Water Village. There were 12 guests with several choosing not to enter. Only one film shooter so the contest was converted to digital only. Jim Watt, David Fleetham and Joe Wysocki were the judges. Dave was also my model. Always good to include a judge in your contest entries.

The plan is for it to be an annual event. This year there was low turnout due to lack of advertising but they hope to build it up in the future. February is not the best month either. All my film-shooting friends decided to go digital on this trip so I was quite busy with loaner cameras and photoshop help.

Good thing your friend installed a wireless connection for you! you posted some great shots!!!!!

Hi Craig, I havent really played around yet with filters. Which filters do you use on your lenses and which on your strobes?

Cor