LEMBEH, INDONESIA
ITINERARY
Want to advance your photography skills, learn how to shoot black backgrounds, how to work full manual, snoot, or backlighting. Or are you completely new to photography? This workshop suits all levels. We will also do Lightroom and Photoshop, introductions, basics as well as advanced training sessions. Learn from award-winning photographers Tobias Friedrich and Simon Lorenz everything you need to get better at your photography.
DATES
12/7/ to 19/7/25
THE WORKSHOP
What place is better for photography training than Lembeh? Home to the rarest critters of the underwater world, you can lie comfortably in the sand while shooting Mimic Octopus, Wanderpus, Hairy Frogfish or Rhinopias, just to name a few.
Your Photo Coaches Tobias Friedrich and Simon Lorenz are professional underwater photographers and experienced photo coaches. They will aim to advance each photographers level of photography from where they are at the given moment.
Check out some of Simon's Lembeh photos here and here.
What will we learn
Every day we will cover different topics for advanced and beginner photographers. The groups will be split according to interest and experience. In detail we will cover
- Basics: Framing, manual mode, lighting, strobe positioning,
- Digital: Lightroom and Photoshop, beginner and advanced
- Lighting: Advanced lighting techniques, snoot and background lighting
- Macro and Super-Macro
- Close Focus Wide Angle
- Artificial backgrounds ("disco bokeh") and other creative techniques
If conditions allow we will also offer wide angle on the outside of Lembeh Island as well as Black Water Diving.
YOUR PHOTO COACHES
TOBIAS FRIEDRICH
This workshop is co-hosted by world famous photographer Tobias Friedrich. He has brought home almost every award there is in the underwater space and was even being named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018 - the most prestigious aquatic award. As highest possible achievement he was recently called to be on the judge panel of the UPY award as youngest ever panel member.
Tobias is also an author of various books and regularly hosts workshops on underwater photography. Tobias will teach various topics and share insights on his approach to underwater photography. He will also talk about the path and strategy on how to win photo awards.
Simon Lorenz
Simon is an underwater photographer and journalist whose images have appeared in articles and competitions worldwide. He has been photo coaching for many years on numerous workshops, 1-to-1 coaching and on his Youtube channel. He has spoken at many dive events on photography topics and is widely considered a patient and thorough coach.
Simon is the founder of Insider Divers and has been running workshops since 2015. If you have any questions on this workshop he will be more than happy to help in a personal phone call.
THE RESORT
Solitude Lembeh meets our expectation to a dive resort perfectly. Focus is set firmly on dive photography, with optimized boats, camera rooms and an unbeatable 2-to-1 dive guide ratio!!! These guides will carry your kit and find the best critters for you. You want Harlequin shrimp or Hairy Octopus? Just ask, they will find.
Our RESORT
SOLITUDE lembeh
- Full Board - different cuisines, Indonesian, International
- Has its own private bay and house reef
- Fantastic boat and giant camera rooms
- 1 to 2 supreme dive master ratio
- Free wifi
- Aircon, private bathroom, terrace on every room
MATTHIAS
Just recently I have visited the capital of critters, Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi. The trip was organized by Insider Divers. Usually I am to lazy to write review, but this trip is worth to share my experience. The trip was accompanied by two world class and award winning photographs, Simon Lorenz and Tobias Friedrich. I am basically an newby in uw photography and I was a bit unsure to join this „club“. But what should I say, Simon and Tobias mad it a great experience for everybody. For them your current skills doesn’t matter, they pick you up where you are. It’s a perfect mix between learning and review session, close practice under water and of course diving and lots of fun. Last not least the Resort (NAD Lembeh) with their perfect guides rounded everything up. Thx for this great experience, I can’t wait to join Insider Divers the next time. Trip for the big guys in 25 already booked
MEL
I recently took an Underwater Photography workshop to the Lembeh with Insider Divers. I am still learning underwater photography, and I was apprehensive about joining the workshop given that I'm a novice photographer but I am so glad I did!
The workshop was led by Simon Lorenz and Tobias Friedrich, two award-winning underwater photographers. They were both incredibly knowledgeable and patient, and they made sure that everyone in the group, regardless of their experience level, got the most out of the workshop. The group was small and friendly and this made it easy to get individual attention from the instructors, and it was also a lot of fun to get to know the other photographers in the group. Each day, we had two sessions on different aspects of underwater photography. We covered everything from the basics of composition and exposure to more advanced techniques like snoot lighting and artificial backgrounds. We also had time to practice our skills on the 3/4 daily dives. The Lembeh Islands are home to some of the most amazing critters in the world, and we saw all sorts of amazing creatures, including pygmy frogfish, a whole variety of octopus and my fav 'Shawn the Sheep' Nudi !!!
At the end of each day, we had a photo review session. This was my favorite part of the workshop! Simon and Tobias would go through everyone's photos and give us feedback on what we were doing well and what we could improve on. This was incredibly helpful in learning how to improve my own photography.The overall planning of the trip and the care taken by Simon and the team at NAD Lembeh was fantastic. I felt like I was in good hands at all times.
This was my first trip with Insider Divers, but it certainly won't be my last. I am already booked for another trip in 2025!
GEORGE
The significant difference between the workshop Simon and Tobias organize and the others I have attended, is unlike the others that treat it as a “Holiday” for the participants and the staff, Simon’s workshop is focused on participants learning and improving their skill sets. This is done by daily workshops and multiple daily dives. In addition to the presentations, photo critiques, both instructors seek you out during the dives to review your photos, camera settings, etc and offer suggestions for improvement. The bottom line is the workshop is organized and taught by 2 World Class Professional Photographer and is geared towards the serious photography student. This workshop was held at NAD Lembeh Resort, an idyllic location with excellent accommodations and staff. The 1:2 ratio for dive masters to divers was outstanding and allowed all divers to capture numerous photos.