Rizal Christian: Buleleng Bali Dive Festival 2015... my moment of truth :D.

Its has been quite sometime...since my last post...
and Its BBDF (Buleleng Bali Dive Festival)... thats made my month for gaining 1st place at Underwater photo competition... :D.

Dari release resmi penyelenggara, festival ini ditujukan untuk memajukan pariwisata khususnya di kabupaten Buleleng.
Inti festival ada 2, yakni pada kegiatan Diving / underwater dan pertunjukan budaya Bali / Buleleng.

FB resmi : Facebook BBDF (Buleleng Bali Dive Festival).
Website resmi : www.pemuteranbayfest.com ternyata sudah tidak aktif lagi

Event festival nya sendiri diadakan tgl 23-26 Oct 2015, namun perlombaan foto dimulai sejak 20 September.

Berikut saya copas kan peraturan resmi lomba foto bawah air nya :

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GENERAL RULES AND REGULATION UNDERWATER
PHOTOGRAPHY BULELENG BALI DIVE FESTIVAL
(BBDF) 2015
A. General Rules and Regulations
1. BBDF is open to entrants of all skill levels; however staff and family members of the judges and
photo contest committee members are not allowed to enter the contest.
2. Submission to BBDF is free of charge.
3. All images submitted must be the work of the photographer named on the registration folder.
4. All images submitted must be taken between September 20th 2015 to October 24th 2015.
5. All images submitted must be taken in Buleleng Area and submitted through the Participating Dive Operator (PDO). Entries sent directly to the BBDF Committee without PDO Verification will
not be considered. Note: PDO registration start from today until October 20th 2015 by the committee. List of PDO will be updated weekly in our website.
6. Submitted images must have been taken whilst Entrants dived with the Participating Dive Operator and be accompanied by the local Dive Leader provided by PDO. Note: All dive leader must be certified as rescue diver and equivalent or higher.
7. All Images must be taken in a natural water environment such as ocean (not a pool, aquarium, or any kind of controlled environment).
8. All subjects must be alive and in their natural environment. No captive animals will be considered
and no entrapment of any kind is permissible.
9. Each individual can win one prize only. Any entrant with multiple winning entries will be awarded the prize of the highest value .
10. All judges’decision are final and not open for debate.
11. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded by the October 25th 2015. Note : Attended by the PDO representative.
B. Conservation Rules and Regulations
BBDF is adopting the EPIC (Environmental Protection Through Incentives and Commerce) conservation rules established by the Center for Environment, Economy and Society at Columbia
University. Marine life should never be stressed or endangered for the sake a photograph.
Conservation rules will apply to all entrants as well as the dive leader supervising the dives during the event and decisions will be final. Any entrant and/or Dive Leader suspected of exhibiting the
following behavior will be disqualified.;
a. Diver(s) visibly damaging the environment (eg: dangling or dragging or dragging gear, kicking up sand);
b. Animals with sign of stress (eg: puffed puffers, inking octopus);
c. Animals moved to unnatural environment or risky location;
d. Animals being fed;
e. Marine life being touched (eg: coral polyps, handling sea snakes);
f. Diver(s) exhibiting poor buoyancy control.
C. Images and Submission Regulations:
1. Photo
1. Scanned slides are not allowed
2. Images captured from video are not allowed
3. Photoshop (or similar imaging software) can only be used as follows:
a) Allowed
a. Basic adjustment: colour temperature, brightness, contrast, minimal dodge & burn, sharpening, saturation changes, tonal adjustment, colour balance and changes that can be made using Camera RAW converter;
b. Rotation;
c. Limited removal of backscatter and lens flare. Removing anything other than backscatter is not allowed;
d. Cropping not more than 10% from the original image size (will be proved by comparison with the
original images);
e. Black and white Images.
b) Not Allowed
a. Adding any other images and/or effect, glow to simulate flash light, diver, animal, etc;
b. Blurring
c. Double exposure
d. Masking
e. Stitching
f. Frame or borders around the image; and
g. Watermark.
2. Photo Submission
1. Images submitted must be in JPEG format (no RAW or TFIF), with a minimum image size of
one (1) MB and also submit the original copy (any format).
2. Each entrant is allowed to submit up to five (5) images per PDO.
3. All images submitted must include the EXIF data (including date and time capture, exposure,
copyright info, camera model, etc) in each individual image.
4. All images must be stored in one folder with the following name format: Entrant’s name-ID
Number-PDO (eg: johndoe-3178xxxx-Arrows), each photo file should have the following
format : Entrants name-dive leader name (johndoe-komang).
5. All images must be received by the committee at 18.00 on October 24th 2015.
6. All images must be received by the committee at the Biorock Center near Segara Temple,Pemuteran Village.
7. Only images submitted through the PDO will be considered for the judging.
D. Winning Category and Prize (Note)
For Entrants
- 1st Winner : Trophy + Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 10.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)
- 2nd Winner : Trophy + Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 8.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)
- 3rd Winner : Trophy + Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 6.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)
ForDive Leader
- 1st Winner : Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 3.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)
- 2nd Winner : Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 2.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)
- 3rd Winner : Certificate + Cash Prize Rp. 1.000.000,00 (Excluding Tax 10%)

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Kalau dibaca dari peraturannya, foto yang boleh diikutsertakan adalah foto-foto yang diambil di wilayah kabupaten Buleleng, jadi artinya, diambil di dive site seputaran pulau Menjangan, teluk Pemuteran, Puri Jati, Lovina, dan paling timur di kecamatan Tejakula.

Let me give you the story from my perspective, dari seorang peserta lomba :D.
Info lomba ini sudah saya terima sejak bulan Juli akhir, kala itu peraturan, panitia dan PDO (Participating Dive Operator) nya masih belum ditentukan :D.

Sekitar pertengahan September, salah satu PDO mengontak saya via FB, mengingatkan bahwa BBDF sudah resmi dibuka, dan hadiah buat pemenang pertama adalah 10juta :D.
Ketika saya tahu bahwa perlombaan ini tidak ada kategorinya, alias open for all camera categories, saya sudah langsung pesimis hehehe... saya tahu kalau G12 or G16 yang saya biasa gunakan tidak akan mampu menandingi kualitas foto dari DSLR atau CCS (Compact Camera System) yang dimiliki Olympus, Sony, Fuji dll.

Tambahan lagi, sejak akhir Juli, ketika diving di Secret Bay, kamera Canon G12 saya memutuskan untuk mandi air laut tanpa casingnya... jadilah dia tewas menyedihkan dengan sukses..:(.
Jadi selama bulan Sept-Oct, kalau ingin memfoto UW saya harus pinjam kamera dari teman... :p.

Tgl 25-27 Sept saya ditemanin Albert Tandiono dan Anne K Adijuwono ketemu di Les dan diving bareng... saat itu memang kita sempat ngobrol2 untuk mengambil foto buat diikutin lomba BBDF,,,
Tapi misi lainnya adalah membuat foto Anne di Pentagon desa Les.

Sedikit tentang Les, bisa dibaca di tulisan saya tentang Les di blog ini juga.
dive site paling timur dari kabupaten Buleleng...
sebenarnya dive site di Les Village ini dapat dikatakan tidak terlalu dikenal di kalangan diver.
Yang lebih ditonjolkan disini adalah eco wisata (air terjun, salt farming, etc), dan bukan untuk diving apalagi untuk memfoto macro...

Hasil foto dari Pentagon Les, featured Anne K Adijuwono :

Dan sempat datang lagi ke Les di tgl 14-17 Oct, namun gak dapat banyak foto yang bisa saya ikutkan lomba...
Ada satu foto yang saya suka, skeleton shrimp dan anak anaknya... namun sayang focusnya agak kurang dan saya harus crop 40% an, ini tentu melanggar aturan lomba yang mensyaratkan maksimal 10% crop.

So sebenarnya udah lemes n pesimis gak punya foto yang bisa di ikut sertakan lomba...
Sekitar tanggal 22 Oct, Anne yang saat itu sedang ada di Pemuteran buat liat festival kontak saya lewat FB, ngingetin apakah saya udah submit foto...
Saya bilang belum, and diingetin lagi kalau deadline kirim fotonya adalah tanggal 24, sekaligus kasih tau saya kalau Garri (Edgar, manager Sea Communities, PDO di Les Village) akan berangkat ke Pemuteran tgl 24 siang.

Well, tgl 23 malam saya buka buka lagi file hasil jepretan di Les...
Sempat menggerutu, karena ada foto yang seharusnya bisa diikutin ke lomba tapi ketinggalan di memory card teman yang lain. So, gak bisa di submit deh...
Akhirnya setelah ublek2 file, ketemu satu foto ubur ubur yang setelah ditouching sedikit kelihatan nya bakal punya kesempatan di lomba... hehehe..
Jadilah saya submit 1 foto dan hanya itu saja satu satunya yang saya submit.

Yang unik adalah, foto ubur2 ini saya dapatkan di dive pertama hari pertama di trip tgl 25 Sept, dive kedua di hari yang sama, kita udah tidak ketemu ubur2 lagi dan konsen memfoto Anne di Pentagon.
So... betul2 rare moment...

Original file, no editing, just resizing

Submitted foto, after rotating and editing...

Sesungguhnya juga saya lebih pesimis lagi karena foto Ubur ubur (Jelly fish) sebenarnya buruk untuk image pariwisata... sama seperti foto Hiu, COT (Crown of Torn, anchaster) juga tidak sebaik foto Nudibranch, Manta ray dll.

Ubur2 yang difoto ini besar bulatannya hanya selebar 2 jari jempol, seingat saya, saya tetap harus pakai wetlens, lensa pembesaran di G16 pinjaman untuk bisa mendapatkan foto sebesar ini.
Ubur ini juga aslinya sedang berenang ke samping, itu yang membuat foto diatas bagian kiri bawahnya sedikit terang, itu adalah karena sinar matahari :D. well, bikin jadi misterius kali ya, sinar dari kiri bawah bukan dari atas hehehe...

Dan memang sedang beruntung.... ternyata foto ubur2 itu berhasil menarik perhatian juri dan dapat nomor 1 di BBDF :D.
At least sekarang saya tahu bahwa selain peralatan, teknik foto, dive guide, faktor luck juga sangat berperan dalam lomba foto :D.

Berita tentang lomba Foto bawah air di BBDF :
http://www.dewatanews.com/2015/10/bupati-agus-resmi-tutup-buleleng-bali.html

Berikut adalah foto 7 finalis lainnya :