Wide-angle Underwater Photography in Dauin!

Dauin in the Philippines is famous for muck diving which normally requires macro lenses. There are a wide range of subjects for wide angle photography as well!

I use a Nikon D7200 with a Tokina 10-17mm lens for underwater wide-angle photography along with YS-D2 strobes. This gives me some advantages over point and shoot cameras such as the Olympus TG4 which i also use:

1. The Tokina lens can magically make a murky scene look clear and vibrant! A macro  lens by contrast shows every particle in the water!
2. The wide angle allows me to get quite close to subjects so I am not limited to reef scenes. This allows me to do Close Focus Wide Angle shots although my dome port doesn’t allow me to get close enough for small subjects.
3. I can vary the focal length of the lens underwater so I get more flexibility in framing shots.
4. Larger subjects present no problems as I can widen the lens to 10mm which is almost a fish eye view!
5. The S&S YS-D2 strobes whilst having a few problems with reliability, are very powerful which is important for getting colour into a foreground.

Here are some examples to show you what I mean!

The visibility was only 10m but looks good through the Tokina lens! Tyres are commonly used in Dauin to provide a place for critters to hide. The Cardinalfish are very colourful thanks to the YS-D2 strobes being at full power!

Tyres are quickly covered underwater and look like coral! The diver created the focal point in this picture!

Giant frogfish are much too big for my macro lens but perfect for my Tokina lens at 17mm. This one was hiding in a tyre!

This car was deliberately placed underwater in 2017. It was occupied by some small fish after a few days but the original colour was still visible thanks to the power of the strobes and the Tokina lens allowing me to get very close.

The inside of the car changed very quickly. After 6 months there was already a lot of coral and sponge growing which created a nice hone for a wide range of small fish as well food for Lionfish!

There are a few piers around and these make for beautiful vertical reefs where you can easily combine coral, divers and the sun! Its important to get close to the coral so the strobes can bring out the colour!

Ropes can also get covered in coral and provide a home for many critters including this yawning orange frogfish! Can you see it on the rope at the bottom of the picture? You can get creative with divers especially if they point a torch at the camera.

You can capture a giant stride entry from a boat from below! Here the diver has just entered the water!

Split shots are possible but you will need calm water. The coast in Dauin is sheltered from the wind from June to November so this should provide the best conditions! You will need to use a diver to create interest underwater as there normally isn’t much coral on muck diving sites!