manta_ray1_maldives_mar_06.jpg
This image of a large Manta Ray next to my wife Eve and Saeed (Dive Centre Manager of MV Atoll Explorer, Maldives) won third place in the PADI Digital Underwater Photography category at the British Underwater Image Festival 2007, was featured in Regaldives June 2008 e-newsletter and in 2009 was used by Regaldive for the launch of a new website and in 2012 was published by PADI's Project Aware on their website.

It was taken on Manta Reef (Madivaru) in South Ari Atoll, Maldives on 10th March 2006 at a depth of about 10 metres while I was on a MV Atoll Explorer liveaboard trip.

I used my Olympus C5060 compact camera at a focal length of 7mm with an Inon (wet) UWL-100 Dome Lens Unit on Shutter Priority. I did not use strobes but set the white balance manually on my Olympus C5060 and relied upon natural light. ISO 100, Aperture F3.2 and Shutter Speed 1/125th.