An Underwater Photographer's Guide to Southeast Asia
Author: Matt J. Weiss / August 10, 2008 12:00AM MDT
Category: Photo

After 3 months in the field, and a brief stint manning the DivePhotoGuide booth at the Malaysian Dive Expo (MIDE) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I am finally home and in the process of preparing a series of articles about South East Asia, sometimes referred to as the coral triangle and the most bio-diverse marine ecosystems in the world. Therefore, this is also one of the most productive regions for underwater photographer and video. Of course in no way is this nearly a complete guide to Southeast Asia (that would take years!), but rather some recommended destinations to dive and shoot.
I will be providing comprehensive trip reports on the diving and photo opportunities in each location. I was fortunate enough to stay at some of the top resorts in each destination, and the articles will include some information on the resorts and their facilities. We intend for these articles to be fairly different from other trip reports. I plan to concentrate on all aspects of my trip, including some that are often overlooked, solely from an underwater photographer’s point of view – How was the camera room set up? How large were the rinse buckets on the boat? etc. This vital information is often ignored by non photographers, so I hope to cover all the idiosyncratic requirements that are very important for underwater photographers and videographers to keep top of mind while traveling..

You will see that a lot of my images are macro shots, with little coral around them. The reason for this is simple - I am very interested in the seemingly barren benthic environments that nurture a surprising amount of life. It is here that I found the smaller, interesting and charismatic critters that make you scratch your head and ask - “why?” It is my intention for each article to be informative by answering not only what and who, but also the how and why of the marine biology behind these environments.
Underwater photography stargazer Lembeh Strait
Did you know that stargazers (family Uranoscopidae) are represented by 50 species in 8 genre? This amazing animal was one of two species I found while searching the benthic environments of the Coral Triangle.
I will be covering the following destinations in the upcoming weeks. Each article will have a link back to this main page, where you can access each article as it goes live online.

Bali, Indonesia with AquaMarine Diving-Bali
Puerto Galera, Philippines with El Galleon Resort/Asia Diver
Palawan, Philippines with Club Paradise/Dugong Dive Center
Lembeh Straits, Indonesia with Lembeh Resort
Manado, Indonesia with Minahasa Lagoon Resort
Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai, Malaysia with Borneo Divers

For any readers who are looking for ideas for your next dive trip, South East Asia is full of them, feel free to bookmark this page, and within the upcoming weeks, you'll find links to each of the destinations I've visited with a complete report on each. I certainly hope to bump into many of you as I return to these destinations in the future.
Happy Diving & more from Matt Weiss @
http://www.divephotoguide.com/articles/an_underwater_

Tags: Matt Weiss, Indonesia, Philppines, Puerto Galera, Palawan, Asia Divers, AquaMarine Diving-Bali, Bali, Assignment, Southeast Asia, El Galeon, Dugong Dive Center, Cluba Paradise, Coral Triangle

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© Gunther Deichmann - Nudibranch, Nembrotha kubaryana
from Puerto Galera Philippines diving with Asia Divers

How did he achieve this? That is a very good question…you might say Photoshop…but I have heard another story…moving a complete studio underwater, tons of equipment and of course a dozen or so assistants. Wow what a budget given to him by National Geographic, however there is no way that this could have been executed without moving the Nudibranchs from their original location…
As mention in my previous blog I have seen David’s other images and one can only admire him, absolutely fantastic there is no question about it…

…read the feedback from Marilyn an employee of the National Geographic Magazine who has shed some light on the subject… certainly an interesting topic, worth while talking about it... how far we can or cant go in today’s Photography. Now it is up to you and form your own opinion after you have viewed the mention Video or checked out the other supported link How did he do it? Find out @
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/blog.html
GD

Great shots with such a small Camera, this gets to show you again what can be done with limited equipment, I guess in Underwater Photography you have to be a good Diver first, and Omar has that mastered for sure.
Hey, lets not underestimate these Dive Guides with perfect diving skills they can show even the most experience Photographer a trick or two…in particular in finding you this elusive critters, remember they dive these places all the time, so next time you at Dugong Dive Center have a chat with Omar or even better have a dive with him.
A big thanks to Omar for sharing his images with us, he has a lot more cool shots, these are only few of them.
GD

Tags: Gunther Deichmann, Aperture 2, Digital Cameras, Dive Master, Underwater Housing