4th Place Wide Angle

Mehmet A. Gungen

"Spinner Dolphins in Sataya"

The Story:

Sataya Reef (also known as Dolphin Reef) is located in the Marsa Alam region of the Southern Red Sea, Egypt. The most distinctive feature of this location is the presence of permanently residing pods of spinner dolphins. I visited the area on a liveaboard tailored for underwater photographers. We spent around 1.5 hours snorkeling in the water with dolphins. During this time, snorkelers from a couple of day-trip boats were also in the water. Our group stopped the activity as soon as the dolphins began showing sleeping behavior, in contrast to the playful behavior we had witnessed earlier. I visualized the image I wanted to capture as one of the pod or individual dolphins swimming toward me, rather than chasing them for side or tail shots. This presented a challenge: I needed to align the early morning sun in the right direction, as I was shooting with natural light. Another important consideration was keeping other snorkelers out of the frame as much as possible. Given the amount of swimming required, I kept my camera rig as compact as possible and brought freediving fins specifically for the dolphin snorkeling, even though this was primarily a scuba diving trip. To minimize motion blur, I shot most images at 1/320s. As the available light increased with the rising sun, I gradually lowered my starting ISO from 800 to 400. One advantage of using my water-contact Nikonos RS 13mm lens was its ability to shoot at relatively wider apertures, in addition to its compact size. For post-processing, I used Adobe Lightroom Classic. Most adjustments were global, such as white balance, contrast, and exposure adjustments for shadows and highlights. I also used Lightroom's auto subject selection tool to enhance the contrast of the dolphins, helping them stand out more.

Location:

Sataya Reef(a.k.a. Dolphin Reef) is located in Marsa Alam region in Southern Red Sea, Egypt

Equipment Used:

• Nikon D850 camera in a Subal housing
• Nikonos RS 13mm lens

Camera Settings:

• ISO 500
• f/11
• 1/320s