2nd Place Supermacro

Kelvin Tan H.Y

"The Leap"

Kelvin won a Hydra 2,000 lumens video light from Kraken Aquatics

The Story:  Ladybug amphipod is one of my favorite supermacro subject due to its size of estimated 5-10mm. I shot this at a depth of about 25metres with limited bottom time, i wanted the uncrop version of this small guy thus stacked diopters were used due to its size. This dive was pre-plan with my dive guide Wayan jhon, lots of questions was posed to my guide as to what to expect, how was the landscape under, etc. My buddy Iyad suleyman & me never knew what to expect as it was a new site for both of us. We have to hitch a local fisherman's boat to reach this site & the boat could not anchor where the dive site was. So we had a long swim to the ladybug's habitat, when we reached i found a few bugs on the coral running around. As i have limited time, thus i observed the running patterns & anticipate where it would likely appear. I pointed my camera to the exact spot & wait awhile for it to fall into position on the edge of the coral. This is definitely one of my favorite shots as the contrast of colours between the natural habitat, subject & background is match. 

Patience would be required for uw supermacro subjects, like the saying goes "they may be small, but they moves really fast". I knew then that even if i were to rush to take the shot, i would not have what i wanted. I would like to thank Gareth dixon & Ton tancharoen for introducing this dive site to me as i wanted a ladybug shot & Ken thongpila for his invitation to this special trip between friends.

Location:  Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia

Camera:  Canon 5D Mark III, Sea & Sea Housing, Canon 100mm Macro Lens (F19, 1/180, ISO 100) with Dual Sea & Sea YS-D2 Strobe, ATG 2300 Light and Stacked Aquako IV + Inon UCL

Back to Ocean Art Winners Page