Welcome to Issue #46 of Inside Scuba

Welcome to Issue #46 of Inside Scuba, your bi-weekly deep dive into the underwater world. This week, we bring you an issue focused on control—control over safety, control over your camera, and control over your choices as a global diver. We feature an exclusive interview with industry leader Dan Orr on his time at Diver Alert Network and his insights into the future of diving safety. For photographers, we present two crucial articles: one exploring the revolutionary rise of underwater phone photography and another detailing the seven technical factors you must master to achieve tack-sharp images. Finally, our video highlight addresses a difficult ethical issue: the impact of provisioning on the whale sharks of Oslob, Philippines, forcing us all to confront the moral weight of our dive tourism decisions.

If you like these newsletters, please consider sharing them with friends who might also enjoy them.

What’s happening in this edition?

• Dan Orr on Safety, Leadership, and the Future of the Diving Industry
• Dive News
• Phones Underwater: The New Frontier in Underwater Photography
• The Sharp Shooter: Mastering the 7 Factors of Underwater Image Sharpness
• Video Highlight
• Summary

Dan Orr on Safety, Leadership, and the Future of the Diving Industry

Inside Scuba (IS) recently had the privilege of sitting down with diving safety advocate and industry leader Dan Orr (DO). From his early experiences breathing underwater to his roles as President of DAN and Chairman of DEMA, Orr offers insights on what hooked him on the sport, how his military service shaped his perspective, and the critical challenges facing the recreational diving community today.

Early Diving Experiences

IS: You were hooked on diving after your first try in Biscayne Bay as an adolescent. Can you describe that first experience and what exactly hooked you?

DO: The first experience, I wouldn’t really call it a scuba dive. A friend and I found his brother's equipment, dragged the tank on our bicycles, and went down to a breakwater on Biscayne Bay. We were climbing down, taking turns using the equipment, looking around, and trying to figure out what was going on down there. I'm not really sure if I'd call that a scuba diving experience, but it was the first time I actually breathed underwater.

What really excited me before that was visiting my grandparents in Plantation Key. A friend of my grandfather's was Art McKee, the first treasure hunter in the Florida Keys. Art would attend parties and tell stories about the Spanish galleons he was finding, and he always had treasure with him, like a necklace with a piece of eight. I was visualizing what it must have looked like down there, and that really excited me.

Then, around 1954 or 1955, my parents took me to see the movie Underwater!. About 75% to 80% of the film was underwater. In the movie, they found a virtually intact Spanish galleon with a Golden Madonna and Child statue, pieces of eight, and gold. I was just enthralled, and that's what really turned me on to the sport.

Read more…

In each issue of our newsletter, we will curate some top dive news from around the world. Links to each of the original articles are available.

Phones Underwater: The New Frontier in Underwater Photography

By Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan

In this article from The Underwater Photography Show, Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan will be diving into the exciting rise of underwater phone photography, and they want to share why they think it's becoming so popular and what you should look for in a phone housing.

Why We're Talking About Phones

This whole discussion was sparked because Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) is adding a new category next year for phones. We're using the UPY's huge platform to promote this because the winning pictures get massive mainstream press attraction. We hope that by showing the amazing pictures taken with phones, we can encourage more people to try underwater photography.

If you wind the clock back 15 years, it was easy to get into underwater photography. There were cheap housings and simple, relatively affordable compact cameras. That gateway's been lost a little because compact cameras have been killed by the phone that fits in our pocket. Now, in the last year or so, we've seen a massive proliferation in underwater phone housings. We really feel this is going to become one of the main gateways into underwater photography [1:10].

Read more…

The Sharp Shooter: Mastering the 7 Factors of Underwater Image Sharpness

When I first started out in underwater photography, I used to look at other people's images online and I couldn't understand how they were so sharp compared to mine. I had a great camera, but why couldn't I get images that looked as crisp and polished as those professional shots I looked at? It turns out that to get sharp images, there is a whole bunch of factors that you need to take care of individually to reap the combined benefit.

Sharpness is one of the defining qualities of a strong underwater image. It's what separates a snapshot from a professional photograph. You can have perfect light, color, and composition, but if the subject isn't sharp, the image rarely works. Underwater, achieving crisp detail is far more complicated than it is on land. We're dealing with water, a dense medium that scatters light, magnifies movement, and reduces contrast. Add in currents, particulate matter, limited visibility, and our own movement, and it soon all stacks up against you.

As someone who has spent years shooting in environments ranging from clear tropical reefs to dark glacial meltwater, I can say that sharpness is never an accident. It's the result of control over your body, your equipment, and your understanding of how water interacts with light. In this article, I'll break down the key factors that influence image sharpness underwater and share practical techniques for improving it.

Getting Close to Your Subject

Before even thinking about settings or gear, the most important principle for sharpness underwater is subject proximity. The closer you are to your subject, the sharper and clearer the image will appear. Water is not air; it absorbs light, reduces contrast, and diffuses fine detail. Every extra inch between your lens and the subject is another layer of softening.

Read more…

This week, we dive into a highly controversial topic: the provisioned whale shark encounters at Oslob, Cebu, in the Philippines. For years, Oslob has been a popular tourist destination, offering a near 100% guarantee of swimming with whale sharks. However, this is achieved by This video features an account from Kristian Parton, a former on-site researcher who spent months collecting data on the operation. While the tourism has profoundly benefited the poverty-stricken local community, the research clearly shows negative impacts, including changed natural behaviors, boat scarring on the sharks , and severe damage to the local coral reef system. The video explores this difficult moral dilemma—weighing the economic welfare of the local town against the detrimental effects on an endangered species—and ultimately explains why you should likely choose to avoid visiting the site.

Summary

As we wrap up Issue #46, the common thread running through this newsletter is the profound responsibility we carry as members of the global dive community. Whether it's advocating for industry safety alongside figures like Dan Orr, ensuring we are not contributing to the negative ecological impacts of provisioning sites like Oslob, or simply mastering the technique needed to capture the underwater world clearly, every action counts. We hope the insights on image sharpness, new camera tech, and the critical dive news empower you to approach your next dive with greater knowledge, skill, and ethical awareness. Until next time, stay safe, and dive thoughtfully.

Andy & Byron