Underwater Photography in Manado – more than just hype?
On the 11th of November 2013 I found myself at Heathrow airport with what felt like an extraordinary amount of baggage. I was off to photography mecca Manado, Indonesia. It promised to be a photography fest of all that was weird, wonderful and often strangely hairy. This was my first visit to what has earned itself the critter capital of Indonesia. It was fair to say, I had high expectations for the quality of the diving and photography…which always makes me slightly anxious! Would it live up to all the hype?
Manado has become incredibly popular with underwater photographers. Many an award-winning photo has been taken in Manado by some of underwater photography’s biggest names. And new species are still being discovered throughout this region. Bio diversity is a photographer’s friend (as well as exciting the diving in me) and no where has quite the same mix of miniscule marine life and unusual species as Manado… but is there anything new for a first time photographer to discover?
The challenge was set and my plan was simple. This was a 2 stop trip. The first 6 nights were spent at Tasik Ria dive resort, which gave me a chance to photograph the walls of Bunaken, and then onto KungKungan Beach Resort in Lembeh. I was going armed with as much underwater photography kit as my 30kgs allowance permitted. I have been shooting underwater since the days of Nikonos and film. In this digital age, my camera of the moment is the Olympus OMD-EM5. The image quality and lens choice rivals many entry-mid level SLR options. Put it in the beautifully engineered Nauticam housing and you have a powerful, yet small set up for travel. I took a 12-50mm kit lens, specifically for shooting on Bunaken. But it was the 60mm macro lens that saw the most action. Added to this was a SubSea +10 dioptre for super macro and 2 YS-01 strobes.
So what was the diving really like? In Bunaken, the hard corals here are healthy and there are more turtles than you can poke a stick at. But I was mainly impressed by the quality of the macro life and muck diving this side of Manado offered. Without a doubt, Lembeh to the east of Manado is the area that is most famed for muck diving. But in my opinion, if you skip the western side of the Manado peninsular, you will be missing out on some fantastic photo ops. The combination of walls, hard coral gardens and muck diving is highly productive for a photographer, and means you can work wide angle opportunities as well as macro and super macro.
It didn’t take long for the unique sightings to rack up, as well as the number of shots. It was at Critter Circus 2 (under 5 mins from Tasik Ria!) that I saw my first ever blue ringed octopus. There were ribbon eels and tiny painted frogfish. Yet more thrilling were the species I had not even considered! This was the first time I have seen skeleton shrimp. These delightfully ugly transparent shrimp appear to walk upright, like some sort of zombie army, and became an unexpected, fave subject.
By the time I reach KBR, the subjects seemed to be getting smaller. The dioptre had become my new best friend underwater! It was genuinely helpful photographing subjects that were under 1cm big! If you have not used one before, I would heartily recommend adding a dioptre into your kit bag. In a location such as Manado you will find yourself turning to it time and time again. The + rating of each lens refers to the lens’ magnification. This magnification reduces the focal distance of the lens, allowing you to get much, much closer to your subjects. Put simply, a dioptre allows you to fill the frame, and your image, with a small subject. Used correctly, a dioptre shot will produce lots of lovely bokeh, with a narrow depth of field and plenty of soft fuzzy background. It can be tricky to get the focus in the correct place so practice, practice, practice!
Perhaps one of the most photogenic subjects in Lembeh are the pygmy seahorses. There are several species of pygmy seahorse, including the oh so pretty bargibanti. However, they are not the easiest of beasts to photograph. In my experience, they seem to favour big sea fans, which by their very nature waft in the surge or current. Getting that killer shot at 28m as the seahorses gently swings back and forth is a photography work out! And as is so typical of Indonesia, there is not just this one type of pygmy sea horse to snap; there are Denise, Pontoh’s, Satomi… even Lembeh sea dragons.
The list goes on! Lembeh in particular is especially well known for its frogfish. These do seem to be everywhere. And what differences in size! The painted frogfish are tiny, whereas their giant relatives live up to their names. For me the singular highlight of the trip will always be the hairy frogfish. Why, oh why, oh why so hairy?
I was not fortunate enough to see a Rhinopia, perhaps the most elusive camouflage fish of its kind. But no photography destination should ever be that perfect. I am, after all, taking photos of wild animals. As photographers we are responsible for diving in a manner that respects the environment, and that includes the stuff living there! Sadly, I did see evidence of a distinctly “touchy feely” attitude toward the marine life. As a photographer, I want to see subjects in their natural environment, and not stressed by manhandling, poking or prodding. It takes discipline, but every photographer should say no to unnatural poses.
So in the end did I think that the underwater photography in Manado lived up to all that hype? You bet it did! I am still working my way through the 4000+ pics I took over 11 diving days and each time I open my computer, I get a tingle down my spine as I remember the diving in Lembeh and Bunaken. I have no doubt that for someone who has not dived there before, you will see species for the first time. And then the challenge for you as a photographer is to find a new way to shoot it.
Every photographer has their dream list of critters, those exotics beauties that get all the headlines. And yet there were many, many more somewhat “common” critters that made for outstanding photos…gobies whizzing up and down the whip corals or chomping on shrimp… crabs in every imaginable colour and camouflage… razor fish surging around mooring lines… striped catfish tumbling along the sand… mandarin fish dancing with their mates… these are just some examples of the marine life I found impossible to swim past time and time again.
It is simply a privilege to dive somewhere so remarkable. There is no question that this is a special environment, worth protecting. Conservation is a group effort. It will take everyone to ensure that Manado remains a location that goes beyond the hype. So beloved of so many divers, I hope Manado continues to yield outstanding photo opps time after time, year after year. I know I cannot wait to go back!
Article by Mario Vitalini
