Welcome to Issue #62 of Inside Scuba

Welcome to Issue #62 of Inside Scuba. As you read this, we are somewhere in the Red Sea, hopefully surrounded by clouds of orange Anthias and schooling batfish, and probably thinking about little else. It's a good reminder of why we do all of this.

Guest author Ciara Michaud returns for the conclusion of her two-part series on Lembeh. In Part 1, Ciara tackled gear fear and discovered that great underwater images don't require the most expensive setup — just patience and the right mindset. In Part 2, she takes us into the muck itself, where the tiniest critters deliver the biggest rewards. If you've ever felt like you were missing something on a dive, her story might change the way you look at the seafloor.

We also have a deep dive into camera rig buoyancy, something most of us overlook until it starts affecting our diving, along with a technique masterclass on off-camera strobes and backlighting from Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan. And as always, we've rounded up the latest news from the dive world.

If you enjoy this edition, please consider sharing it with your dive buddies and friends who might love it too.

What’s happening in this edition?

• Learning to Slow Down in Lembeh
• Dive News
• Why Your Camera Rig's Buoyancy Matters More Than You Think
• Master the Light: A Guide to Off-Camera Strobes and Backlighting
• Video Highlight
• Summary

Learning to Slow Down in Lembeh

Part 2: The Magic of the Muck
By Ciara Michaud

Recap: In Part 1, I explored how I overcame "gear fear" and the intimidation of underwater photography, discovering that a compact TG-6 setup—and a supportive community—was all that was needed to start creating intentional images. In part 2, we dive into the critters and the lessons learned in the muck.

Tiny Critters Completely Changed the Way I Dive

Lembeh completely changed how much I appreciate underwater photography. What initially looks like a fairly barren sandy dive site quickly turns into an overwhelming experience in the best possible way. Every few feet seemed to reveal another possible photography subject: Frogfish tucked into coral, tiny shrimp hidden within crinoids, octopus peeking out beneath rocks, and nudibranchs crawling across rubble no bigger than a grain of rice.

I have always considered myself pretty good at spotting marine life underwater, but the guides at Dive Into Lembeh honestly operate on another level entirely. Tiny Shawn the Sheep sea slugs smaller than the tip of my pinky nail somehow appeared in places I absolutely would have missed. Our group was very divided on whether they should be called ‘Shaun’ or ‘Shawn’ the Sheep, but I am firmly Team Shawn.

The diversity of marine life throughout the trip honestly felt unreal at times. Nudi Falls quickly became one of my favorite dive sites because of the incredible nudibranch diversity and pygmy seahorses hidden amongst the sea fans. Aer Prang 2 delivered the weedy rhinopias that honestly felt surreal to finally see in person. We also encountered several blue ringed octopus, wunderpus, and butterfly nudibranchs. Every dive felt like a slow treasure hunt where patience mattered far more than speed.

Why the Workshop Worked So Well

The educational side of the workshop extended far beyond simply taking photos underwater. Every evening included fantastic lectures and photo reviews where we discussed editing, composition, lighting, storytelling, and techniques from the dives that day. Those sessions slowly helped photography feel far more approachable and intentional. Watching everyone’s images improve throughout the week was really motivating. Seeing how small adjustments in composition or lighting could completely transform an image made photography feel much more manageable and purposeful.

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.

Why Your Camera Rig's Buoyancy Matters More Than You Think

If you have been shooting underwater for any length of time, you know that the best images come when things feel effortless. Many of the greatest underwater shooters make it look easy; their buoyancy seems completely natural. The last thing they are thinking about is knocking into coral or disturbing the sand—it is second nature to them. People talk about their own buoyancy all the time and how they are working to improve it to help with their photography.

What surprises me is how little that conversation extends to our camera rigs. We spend thousands on housings, ports, and strobes, then wonder why our diving feels harder than it used to. The answer, in most cases, is sitting right there in our hands. No matter what lens configuration or lighting system I am using, I can let go of my camera in the water column and it will pretty much sit there all on its own. This alone makes my photography so much easier.

How Camera Rigs Have Changed

The mirrorless revolution has been genuinely transformative for underwater photographers. Compact, travel-friendly bodies from Sony and Olympus have made it easier than ever to pack a serious imaging system into a bag and get on a plane. Furthermore, the housings for these smaller mirrorless cameras are sleeker and more ergonomic than anything we had in the DSLR era.

But there is a trade-off that rarely gets discussed: those smaller, more streamlined systems displace significantly less water than the big, chunky DSLR housings of a decade ago. Less displacement means less inherent buoyancy; the housing is no longer doing the heavy lifting for you.

At the same time, our optics have gotten heavier. Significantly heavier.

Read more…

Master the Light: A Guide to Off-Camera Strobes and Backlighting

By Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan

In this article adapted from The Underwater Photography Show, we cover the fascinating and highly rewarding technique of backlighting and using an off-camera strobe. While it is a challenging technique that takes your underwater photography to the next level. And backlighting is definitely a technique that has not been tried on many subjects, so there is much potential to create memorable images. Mastering this skill allows you to produce striking images that immediately stand out, signaling to your audience that you have gone beyond simply recording what you saw. Below, we break down the exact gear setup and shooting approaches needed for both wide-angle and macro imagery.

Wide-Angle Backlighting: Gear and Setup

The biggest misconception about off-camera strobe work is that it is a good way to repurpose an old, retired strobe. This is a mistake. Your off-camera strobe acts as the main light source for the shot, meaning it needs to be your most powerful and widest-angle light. You should actually sacrifice one of your primary on-camera strobes to use as your off-camera strobe. Powerful lithium-ion strobes—such as the Backscatter HF-1 or the Retra Maxi—are perfect for this because they allow you to blast away on high power with fast recycle times.

To successfully deploy a wide-angle remote strobe setup, you need the right framework to position, secure, and trigger the light:

• Weighting: If your strobe is inherently buoyant or light in the water (like the Retra Maxi), you will need to add a small amount of weight to keep it stable. You don't need a heavy weight belt; the smallest diving weight clipped to a cable-tie loop on the strobe works perfectly. More negative strobes like the HF-1, won’t require extra weight.

• The Gorillapod Mount: A plastic Gorillapod is ideal because it is lightweight and highly adjustable. Add a standard underwater strobe-ball mount to the tripod mount on the Gorillapod (which come with a standard quarter-inch thread). Secure the strobe to the ball mount using a standard strobe clamp.

• Transportation: To safely carry the setup during your descent, attach a loop of bungee cord and a standard dive clip to the Gorillapod so you can secure it to your BCD instead of letting it dangle.

• The Triggering System: For the best results, the off-camera strobe itself must be completely hidden from the camera's perspective so that the viewer only sees the light it produces. Because it is hidden, it will be hard to trigger. So you need a sensor and cable. You will need a straight fiber-optic cable (ideally 1 to 2 meters long) plugged into the remote strobe at one end, and a dedicated strobe trigger sensor (such as the Anglerfish) at the other end. I also attach a loop on bungee to the Anglerfish so I can carry it separately and don’t lose it.

• Sensor Positioning: Place the small sensor in a subtle spot on the seabed where it has a clear line of sight to your camera. When you fire your camera's strobes on low power, the sensor detects the flash, fires an internal LED, and sends the signal down the straight cable to fire the remote strobe (hidden from the camera) on high power. Test everything is working pre-dive, as it is very annoying to have a problem when you’ve gone to the effort of setting it all up underwater.

Read more…

The Ocean Floor Holds a Whale Graveyard — And It's Been There for 5 Million Years

Deep beneath the southeastern Indian Ocean, scientists have made one of the most extraordinary deep-sea discoveries in recent memory: a vast "whale necropolis" stretching roughly 1,200 kilometers along the seafloor, between 4,600 and 7,000 meters down.

Researchers exploring the Diamantina Zone found not just five active whale-fall communities — the rich ecosystems that bloom around a whale carcass after it sinks — but 476 fossilized cetaceans, some dating back at least 5.3 million years. These ancient whale falls have preserved both living and extinct species of deep-diving beaked whales, turning the seafloor into a geological time capsule for cetacean evolution.

The communities thriving around these carcasses are remarkable in their own right: brittle stars, bone-boring worms, and chemosynthesis-based bivalves — creatures that derive energy not from sunlight, but from the chemical breakdown of whale bone itself.

This week's video brings that discovery to life. It's a stunning reminder of how little we know about the deep ocean, and how much life depends on death in the most unexpected places.

Want to dive deeper? Read the full paper published in Nature: The Diamantina Whale Necropolis

Summary

That's a wrap on Issue #62! From the muck of Lembeh to the deep-sea monitoring systems we can't afford to lose, this issue is a reminder of why we dive — and why the ocean is worth fighting for. Whether you're inspired to slow down on your next dive, experiment with a remote strobe, or simply pay closer attention to what your camera rig is doing in the water column, we hope you found something useful here.

As always, we'd love to hear what you think. Hit reply and let us know what resonated, what you'd like to see more of, and where your next dive is taking you.

Until next time — stay safe, dive slow, and keep exploring.

Andy & Byron