Wetpixel/Alex Mustard Macro Workshop 2018.

Group 2, Day 1

Today was the first day of the second Wetpixel/Alex Mustard macro workshop for 2018. Held at the very wonderful Lembeh Resort, Indonesia and hosted by their excellent dive center, Critters@Lembeh, we will be running two back to back workshops over the next few weeks. We welcomed the second group to the resort on Monday and today has been the first day of the actual workshop, with presentations, image reviews and lots of in-water practise.

As per the previous workshop, early starts are in order, with breakfast at 6:45 and Alex starting his talk at 7:30. The theme of his talk today was a general primer on gear selection for the subject and sites here ay Lembeh, along with some basic ideas on how to keep it all functioning and how to chose subjects appropriate to lens and lighting combinations.

Alex always issue the “one strobe challenge” at the beginning of each of his macro workshops. Carrying a single strobe allows for precise control of where the light falls, and to utilise shadows to obscure otherwise unsightly backgrounds. We will see how many participants take him up on it…

Once Alex had finished, we got our gear together and headed out for 2 tank dives on the sites on the Lembeh Strait. For those not familiar, the area is a world famous muck diving site, largely over back sand and populated by large numbers of weird and amazing critters (and some more normal ones!)

Our group all had a guest:guide ratio of 2:1 and this meant that everyone had a plethora of subjects to practise their new techniques on. The guides are absolutely amazing at spotting incredibly well camouflaged or small creatures.

After 2 long dives, it was back to Lembeh Resort for some well earned lunch, and a brief chance to change camera configurations and download images off cards.

After lunch, We then set out for another dive!

Night dive in the Lembeh Strait are very productive photographically. Many of the critters that are very active in daytime tend to slow down and there is a whole night shift of different creatures that emerge. Hence, most of the Wetpixel group elected to go out and do a night dive at 6:00pm. Some folks elected to go out on a mandarin fish dive, trying to capture the peak of the actions as they mate at dusk.

Once back on shore, it was time for a quick shower and then an image review session with Alex providing feedback to images submitted by the participants.

This is such a valauble session, providing feedback on shooting techniques, composition, subject selection and editing

It is Jeff Fallon’s birthday, and the resort staff had baked him a cake!

Tomorrow will be another busy day!

1. Day 1.
2. Day 2.
3. Day 3.
4. Days 4, 5, 6.
5. Day 7.
6. Workshop 2-Day 1.
7. Workshop 2-Day 2.
8. Workshop 2-Day 3 and 4.