Lembeh Macro Critter Workshop August 2025

Lembeh Macro Critter Workshop August 2025

Join us at NAD Lembeh Resort for our annual underwater photo workshop in the muck dive capital of the world and the best place for underwater macro photography.

Why Join This Trip?

• A haven for macro photographers—Lembeh is, without doubt, the muck diving capital of the world
• Great resort (NAD Lembeh) with beachfront rooms, delicious food (all meals included), free public WiFi and a small pool
• Top dive operation in Lembeh with 2:1 divers to guide ratio
• FREE daily macro photography workshops
• Optional 3-night land extension available

Inclusions:

• 10 nights accommodation (with air conditioning) in a double occupancy room
• Full board meals in the resort
• Snacks, water, coffee, tea, chocolate drink, and espresso
• Free daily photo workshops and tutorials
• 4 boat dives/day (inc. night, dusk, or blackwater dive)
• 2 to 1 diver to guide ratio, tanks, and weights
• Round-trip airport transfers between 0730-1600
• Free WiFi

Exclusions:

• Transfers outside specified time frame
• Nitrox
• Crew gratuities

Additional Information About The Resort:

• The resort offers 2:1 guest to guide ratio as a standard. Its 15 dive guides are permanent employees with local Lembeh diving experience (totalling at least 100 years between them). They are all underwater photography trained and proficient UW photographers themselves.
• Please note that the resort does NOT allow for our guests to wear gloves!
• The resort has a fleet of 4 dive boats that are at least 13m long with 2 x four-stroke engines. There are onboard toilets, Medical oxygen, and a Basic First Aid kit.
• There are a maximum of 8 guests per dive boat.
• It's the only resort on Lembeh island with a floating dock. This allows for easy access to the boats and dignified boarding, as well as easy entry to the house reef.
• The resort is on ground level with minimal steps to the bungalows. Beachfront rooms, restaurants, bar and camera room are all on the ground floor. Older guests or those with disabilities and knee/back problems find it easy to navigate.
• It's situated in a private bay and surrounded by lush greenery. Far from villages, thus offering a quiet and tranquil environment for a relaxing vacation.
• The resort offers 24-hour electricity and WiFi.

Trip Type

This trip is a PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP. It will be led by one of our photo instructors and will include daily underwater photography tutorials, in-water photography support, and one-to-one advice and guidance as required.

What to expect from our Photo Workshops

• Daily photo workshops - Your photo instructor will schedule seminars each day on topics including, but not limited to, equipment type and selection, the concept of underwater photography, lighting and composition techniques, and post-processing. They will also include topics relevant to the location and your experience such as the use of snoots & diopters, single vs multi-point light sources, plus daily macro-specific assignments to practice your skills.
• In-water support - Where possible, each dive group will spend time underwater with the photo instructor, receiving in-water support and guidance on their shooting techniques.  Participants can also request in-water assistance during the workshop and the photo instructor will do his or her best to accommodate all requests. 
• Consecutive days of practice & review - Each day you will have the opportunity to practice the techniques and skills learned in the previous day’s tutorials. If you are new to underwater photography you will likely see a vast improvement in just a few days.
• Daily photo image reviews - You are strongly encouraged to bring your laptop, a thumb drive, edit your photos, and submit your shots for review from both the instructor and your peers. These are fun and interactive sessions encouraging you to improve throughout the trip.
• Quality time with fellow photographers - Both new and experienced photographers from past workshops have expressed the advantages of joining a trip with like-minded divers with a passion for underwater photography.
• Suitable for everyone - New and experienced photographers are welcome on all our trips. Gain the necessary skills to start shooting great photos, increase your confidence in finding the best underwater shots, or hone specific skills. We also encourage non-photographers to join, as many of them really enjoy the daily photo reviews, learning about underwater photography, and some have even returned to a photo workshop with an underwater camera setup!

Enjoy free, unlimited access to a wealth of knowledge and advice from your photo instructor.

Trip Syllabus

Be Your Own Spotter - Learn the simple techniques used to find your own subjects

If you have wondered how your guides seem to be able to easily locate small and well hidden subjects, we will discuss the tips and tricks you can use to become your own spotter. Understanding the habitats and food sources are just two methods you can use to locate and identify the amazing subjects of Indonesia. With a small amount of planning you can use this knowledge to help locate subjects anywhere you dive.

Workshop Overview | Underwater Photography Essentials

• Section One: Photographic Concepts - An introduction to the basic concepts of photography, the behavior of light, understanding and controlling exposure.
• Section Two: Equipment Selection - In this section, guests will gain an understanding of the gear and equipment used to create photos in the underwater environment.
• Section Three: Lighting - This section covers a wide range of topics that will help guests understand and control light in the underwater environment. Topics to be covered will include discussions on the tools used to create photography’s essential ingredient, light, and how to use lighting in various settings to achieve the objectives of both correct and creative exposures.
• Section Four: Composition - Guests will learn the ways photographers use composition to create stylized photographs. This will cover both macro and wide angle lighting techniques one may deploy in shooting different types of scenes or subjects.
• Section Five: Bring It All Together - Here we will use examples of images to help guests see how to bring various technical skills together to create images. These discussions will focus on the tools used, and the methods employed to create images in a variety of scenarios one is likely to encounter in the underwater environment. Whether shooting macro, wide angle, animal or human subjects, this section of the course will help guests understand how to bring everything together, before, during and after the dives.
• Section Six: Post Processing and Image Management - One or more sessions will be dedicated to working with your images after the exposure is made. Using Adobe Lightroom Classic, we will cover the process of image import, image management, and image editing to bring out the best in your photos. It is recommended that Workshop guests have a laptop which can run the Lightroom Classic application. Any other image editing applications are welcome, but guests should be competent on the use of those applications before attending the workshop.

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Diving In Lembeh Strait

Lembeh Strait is, without a doubt, the muck-diving capital of the world. Underwater photographers flock here from all over the world to see a myriad of critters, frogfish, pipefish, nudibranchs, sea horses, juvenile fish, and other exotic animals. Don't expect large reefscapes in Lembeh, but very scenic reefs live around nearby islands if you want to extend your trip to get in some reef diving, too.

Learn more about Lembeh Strait Diving

Schedule

Guests can arrive any time on August 25 and leave any time on September 4. Here's the typical daily schedule for this 7-night trip:

• 6.30 Breakfast
• 7.30 Departure for two morning dives (snacks/ drinks during the surface interval)
• 12.15 Lunch at the resort
• 14.00 Departure for one afternoon dive
• 16.00 Snacks
• 16.30 Mandarin Fish Dive (only on Saturdays, minimum 2 pax)
• 17.45 Night Dive (minimum 2 pax)
• 18.00 Black Water Night Dive (minimum 2 pax)
• 19.15 Dinner

To get a little insight as to what the workshop is like, read the report from our 2023 trip!

About NAD Lembeh

Situated on the well-loved Lembeh Strait, this muck diving paradise is alluring to divers worldwide. NAD Lembeh offers knowledgeable dive staff with trained eyes and passion for diving and little critters, comfortable rooms, and excellent photography amenities. NAD prides themselves for having the largest. and some would say the most experienced, dive team in Lembeh today.

NAD Lembeh Facilities

• Open-air restaurant
• Sunbeds
• Small pool
• Jacuzzi
• Big and spacious camera room
• Business center
• Free public WiFi
• Laundry services
• Return airport transfers
• Multilingual staff
• Non-smoking rooms
• Open air bar

Read the reviews of the NAD-Lembeh Resort here.

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About The Trip Leader

Erik Lukas is an active diver and photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. He is a volunteer scuba diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. You can expect to find Erik diving many of the amazing Pacific Ocean sites of Southern California, camera in hand, at any chance he can get.

See more of Erik’s photography at http://www.seeundersea.com or on Instagram @seeundersea. Email Erik at erik@bluewaterdivetravel.com.

"I am passionate about underwater photography in general and have a special love for macro subjects. For me the things that are hardest to spot hold the most interest. Documenting the commensal and symbiotic relationships is for me the most interesting…the smaller and more bizarre the better. I also have a passion for sharing my knowledge with others. My goal with all of my workshops is to ensure each guest leaves with a group of images that they are proud to share."

How To Get There

Guests should fly in and out of Manado Airport (MDC) which can be accessed via Singapore, Bali and Jakarta.

Visa on Arrival costs IDR 500,000 and needs to be paid for in cash. Immigration will accept the following currencies: IDR, USD, SGD, AUD and EURO (notes must be clean and not creased). There is also an ATM inside the airport terminal for cash IDR withdrawals.

Upon exiting the airport, our team will be ready to greet you and, with the new toll road open, the transfer to NAD Lembeh's private jetty is now only 60 minutes!

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Payment Schedule

Deposit: $800

Balance due: July 1, 2025

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Photo Gallery 

 

Photo credit: Tony Bensted (left), and Teresa Williams (right)

Photo credit: John Berschied Jr (left) and Susan Henry (right)

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