Photographing Menjangan Island, Bali
May 25
Menjangan Island is one of the lesser-known dive spots in Bali and it also happens to be my favorite. Located in West Bali National Park, the island is protected and uninhabited aside from the park rangers onsite to keep local fishermen at bay. Menjangan means “deer” in Bahasa Indonesia, and the island is named for the resident deer population that swim back and forth from the mainland, which...
Diving with Sharks on Aliwal Shoal
May 05
If anyone has heard about Aliwal Shoal, it will shortly be followed by some comments about sharks. South Africa’s East Coast is well known for its shark populations, with Aliwal Shoal and Protea Banks being the most well-known and dived areas. When it comes to general diving, Aliwal Shoal is probably the most dived and offers the more accessible option, and with the better chance of seeing...
My favorite dive series – Hammerheads at Wolf Island, Galapagos
Apr 22
This article is the first of a series on “my favorite dives”. I’ve been lucky enough to dive at some of the best dive locations in the world, with some of the most fantastic aquatic animals. Picking just one is not possible – hence the need for a “my favorite dive” series. Flashback to Wolf Island, Galapagos. Wolf Island is one of, if not the best, places in...
Mid-range Mirrorless Roundup: Z50 vs EM5 III vs a6400 vs a6600
Nov 07
Although full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7R IV and the Nikon Z7 have been grabbing a lot of the 2019 headlines, a number of very exciting crop-sensor mid-range mirrorless cameras have also been released in 2019, many very recently. There are 4 that we have recently looked at for underwater photography over at the Underwater Photography Guide (click the links to see the initial...
Wet vs Dry Macro Lenses
Sep 18Macro photography, the documentation of little creatures via photographic medium, is one of the most popular realms of underwater photography. It tends to be a little more straight forward than wide angle photography, and yields more opportunity for creativity. As is the rule of thumb with photography – there is more than one way to achieve a macro photograph. Underwater, there are two...
Getting professional-quality video by using video lights with a GoPro
Aug 12It seems that everywhere you go diving these days, someone has a GoPro with them. And why not? They are very small, affordable, and easy to use. Because of this, there is a ton of underwater footage out there taken by GoPro. I am sure you have seen lots. Some of it is really nice, but along with that, there is also a lot of dull, blue, colorless, and frankly pretty boring stuff out there. While...
The Future of Underwater Photography
Aug 09
The future of photography is bleak… Just kidding! It’s actually looking pretty great. I’m not just saying that. 2018 and 2019 has seen innovation in photography at a rate faster than we have seen in the last decade. In a nutshell, the world has gone mirrorless. In fact, it’s pretty clear that full-frame mirrorless cameras are all that any camera manufacturer has been...
The Canon SL3: The Amazing Budget DSLR No One is Talking About
Aug 08
A few weeks ago, Ikelite sent me a Canon SL3 to try out. They were excited because the SL3 is the world’s smallest DSLR camera. Combined with the specially Ikelite housing, it becomes the world’s smallest underwater DSLR system. But John at Ikelite wasn’t just excited about the size of this camera. He told me I was going to be pleasantly surprised by just what this camera could...
Dome Ports: Acrylic vs Glass
Jun 17
Dome Port Basics As anyone who has used a dome port is probably aware, they are notoriously prone to scratching. So why even use one in the first place, when a flat port is much easier to care for? Optics, optics, optics. Flat ports magnify images underwater by about 30%, due to light refraction. This is why things look larger underwater than they really are – because scuba masks are...
Why You Should Use a Fisheye Lens for Wide Angle
Jun 03
I shoot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 in a Nauticam E-M1 Mark II housing, and whenever I am shooting wide angle I use the Olympus 8mm f/1.8 fisheye lens. I run into a lot of people who either don’t use a fisheye lens at all, or who think it is a specialty lens that you only use for big things like mantas, whale sharks or humpbacks. Yes, fisheye lenses are definitely the best for giant subjects...
Recent Comments