This week, we dropped a new ‘Ask a Pro Photographer‘ article at Scuba Diving Magazine. This one looks at some of my favorite tips for capturing awesome photos of those beautiful winged giants – manta rays! This one covers a bunch of my best tips to help you get even better shots, including a look at manta behavior and how we can utilize it to capture beautiful photos.  So go check it out and let me know what you think!

You can read the article for free on the Scuba Diving Magazine website here.

Get ready! This past week, I finished up my first article for Outside Magazine. The article is aimed at helping you get started with taking photos of the Milky Way and the night sky. I cover everything from gear to finding the right spots, picking the perfect nights, and even an intro to camera settings. It’s basically a mini crash for nightscape photography, so you can get out there and start chasing stars right away.

I’m super stoked to be working with Outside! We have a few more articles in the works that will be coming out over the next few months, too. So keep an eye out for them here and in my Instagram stories

You can check out the article on the Outside Magazine website here. Give it a read and let me know what you think!

The NPF rule provides a quick method for determining the maximum shutter speed that can be used in your shot without causing star trails when shooting astrophotography and nightscape photography. If you’re familiar with the 500 rule (or 600, or 400 rule), it’s kind of similar but provides more accurate results, especially with today’s higher megapixel cameras. If you’re not familiar with the 500 rule, then don’t worry! We’re going to cover that too.

A key challenge in night sky photography is achieving correct exposure in conditions with little to no light. The exposure triangle—shutter speed, aperture, and ISO—becomes a delicate balancing act when shooting at night. We can increase the ISO, which can help, but it also introduces more noise the higher we go. The apertures of our lens are limited in how wide they can open. But shooting them wide open also increases coma and can distort the stars. This leaves us with shutter speed. Our first instinct might be to go with the slowest possible shutter to allow the most light to reach the sensor. But since this beautiful rock that we call Earth is flying through space and rotating, if we use a shutter speed that’s too slow, we’ll start to notice motion blur in the stars, or as we in the biz call it, star trails.  Star trails are great if that’s what you’re going for. But if you’re looking for a nice, pretty shot of a sky full of stars, using a shutter speed that’s too slow will turn those beautiful points of light into streaks or ovals instead of sharp dots. But don’t worry, there’s an easy way to figure this out! In this week’s quick tip, we’re going to look at how to calculate your maximum shutter speed for nightscape photography and how the NPF Rule helps you capture sharp, pinpoint stars. 

The NPF Rule

Now, before we dive into the NPF Rule, let me preface it by saying this might sound a bit complicated at first. But stick with me to the end because I have a very simple way to handle it. A few years ago, French photographer and amateur astronomer Frédéric Michaud sought a better solution that worked with the vast array of modern cameras and sensors available today. After lots of hard work, he developed what is now known as the NPF rule. The three letters in its name are actually the variables in his equation instead of an abbreviation. They stand for:

N = Aperture (the letter N is used to represent aperture in the optics world)

P = Pixel pitch (essentially the density of pixels on the sensor)

F = Focal length (from the lens you are using)

Frédéric’s formula considers much more than the old 500 rule, including the camera’s sensor size, the lens aperture, and how densely the pixels are packed on your sensor. However, it is more complex and not something you’d want to be scribbling out by hand in the dark like a mad scientist in the night. Luckily, apps like PhotoPills provide quick calculators where you just select your camera, focal length, and aperture, then the app does the rest. In PhotoPills, you can find it inside the Spot Stars pill. As a bonus, PhotoPills can also account for star declination. More on this in a future article, but it essentially indicates how far north or south a star is from the celestial equator, helping us estimate how fast it seems to move through the sky and form trails.

NowwNow, depending on what your output is going to be for that shot (social media post, digital, small prints, large print, etc), you may want to bend the rules a little bit. For example, if I know the shot is only going to be used for digital outputs like a post on instagram or a timelapse, then I might increase my shutter from 11 seconds up to 12 or 13. If I think I might print the photo in the future, I’ll stay as close as possible to the NPR Rule’s shutter speed. You’ll want to experiment a bit to see how much you can bend the rule and still achieve results youare okay with. And again, doing math while out on a beautiful night under the stars is probably not something you want to deal with while setting up your shot, so I’d highly recommend downloading PhotoPills. The NPF rule calculator is just one of the many reasons I love that app so much. It’s my go-to for planning shots, scouting locations, and a wide range of other tasks. 

Interested in capturing stunning nightscapes and night sky photos? Join my one-on-one online classes, personalized tutoring sessions, or immersive in-person photography workshops, and let me help you unlock your full potential. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to elevate your skills to new heights, I can guide you to create breathtaking images. Check out this link for more info! 

This week on Instagram, I’m launching a new series of quick photography tips covering underwater, night sky, adventure travel, and brand photography. Every Tuesday, I’ll answer one of your questions with a new tip on my Instagram and Facebook stories, along with a detailed article right here on my website to help you master each tip. To start the series, we are going to jump into a common question I get asked a lot about my underwater photography. 

Q: How can I create those dreamy reflections when photographing close to the surface? 

This technique is more straightforward than many believe. It requires some practice to master, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to recreate it consistently. Start with the camera positioned just below the subject’s eye level. You have some flexibility here depending on your preferred shot style. Most of the time, I like to shoot slightly below eye level, as it softens the angle and appears more subtle. To capture the reflection, tilt your wrists slightly to point the camera toward the surface—only a few degrees—to avoid the impression of shooting from below. Remember, we’re not aiming for perfect mirror-like reflections. Instead, we want to capture the color variation across the water’s surface, for reasons I’ll explain shortly. I suggest trying different angles to discover the one that gives you the effect and style you’re looking for. 

After a year of dedicated work to develop the new collection and online store, it is finally live! I’m thrilled to share it with everyone. The debut collection features 10 limited-edition prints spanning a variety of my favorite photography styles, including stunning underwater images, captivating nightscapes, impressive aerial shots, and engaging wildlife photos.

Hurry—these exclusive prints will be available in very limited editions of only 10 prints per image. Once sold out, they are gone forever. But best of all, the prints are created using a completely end-to-end carbon-neutral process by one of the world’s top fine art printing labs. To learn more about the new limited edition photo print store, please click here to read the full press release. Then visit the store now and grab your favorite print today!

I am beyond stoked to announce a project that has been in the works for over a year! Get ready for July 7, 2025, because that’s when I’ll officially launch my new online store, where you can snag limited-edition fine art prints of my photography directly from my website! And let me tell you, these aren’t your typical photo prints! We’re talking about museum-quality archival prints crafted by one of the world’s top fine art photography printing labs. 

The inaugural collection will showcase 10 limited-edition prints, featuring a mix of my favorite photography styles, including breathtaking underwater shots, mesmerizing nightscapes, stunning aerial views, and captivating wildlife images. But act fast—these exclusive prints will be produced in very limited quantities. Once they’re sold out, they are gone forever. Read on for more details and make sure you check out the end of the article to see how you can win a print valued at $2500.

To kick off the new Quick Tips series, we will look at why shooting RAW instead of JPEG is best for underwater photography or any photography. But before we begin, I want to tell you a little bit about the new series. Quick Tips is a collection of short articles that are straight to the point and give you my best advice on questions we often see in the industry. The idea is to build out a resource over time of all these common questions in photography & cinematography that you can easily reference. So check back soon for more, and follow me on Instagram or Facebook to get the latest updates! Now, let’s jump into this month’s quick tip. 

Should I shoot RAW or JPEG for Underwater Photography? 

For those looking for the quickest answer, you should always choose to shoot in RAW. But let’s explore both formats and understand why utilizing camera RAW is the better option for photography. To start, RAW and JPEG are file formats in which your camera can capture photos. You’re probably familiar with JPEGs since they are prevalent in the digital age. We use them to post to Facebook or Instagram or send a quick screenshot via email, and so on. One of the reasons they are so popular is that they are compressed files, so they tend to be relatively small in file size. However, this compression is not ideal for photography, especially when editing the images. JPEGs essentially bake in the camera settings, white balance, sharpness, and color profiles. They also tend to mess with the dynamic range of an image due to the compression process. This causes us to lose some of the different tones and the gradation of highlights and shadows. On the plus side, though, photos shot in JPEG are ready to share straight from the camera. But with that being said, most photographers would prefer to tweak their images anyway in post-processing software such as Adobe Lightroom, Luminar, or even Apple Photos.

RAW files also offer a wider dynamic range. This means you have a better chance of recovering the highlights and shadows of an image that is underexposed or overexposed compared to JPEG. Camera RAW images commonly utilize uncompressed or lossless compression, meaning they will not suffer from the messy compression artifacts you might see in JPEGs. They also offer finer adjustment potential when editing the images since none of the settings are baked into the file. If you want to change the white balance (a massive advantage in underwater photography), the color space, or pretty much any other factor of the photo, you can do it with ease. Lastly, one of the lesser-spoken-about advantages of shooting RAW is that you can bake copyright info into the file. So, suppose you have an issue with someone using an image without permission. In that case, it’s easy to prove you are the creator since you hold not only the original RAW file with the copyright owner baked into the file from when the photo was captured. 

So, to wrap it up, when it comes to underwater photography or any type of photography,  it’s better to choose RAW as it gives us a wealth of benefits that allow us to expand our creativity, improve our edits, and protect the ownership of our images. While JPEGs might be great for some other things and will probably play a role in our daily lives for the foreseeable future, RAW is still the best option for photography. Drop me a comment on Instagram or Facebook to let me know what topics I should cover in the next Quick Tips! Make sure to check out our “Ask a Pro Photographer” sessions during the last week of every month on Scuba Diving Magazine to submit your questions. 

This week, I kicked off the new ‘Ask a Pro Photographer‘ column series at Scuba Diving Magazine. We’ve been building this project for a few months now, so I am super excited to be able to talk about it finally! If you haven’t seen the launch video yet, check it out on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram. Every month, we’ll be holding a session on Scuba Diving Magazine’s social media to answer your questions about photography, storytelling, and cinematography. If you want composition tips, to learn about camera gear, or even if you just want to finally put to rest if pineapple belongs on pizza – just send in your questions by commenting on the posts or visiting this link. Each month, we will pick our favorite question to answer properly in a full-length article on ScubaDiving.com

For the first article, I answered a question from Kristin, Scuba Diving Magazine’s master content ninja, on one of my all-time favorite tips for getting the best shots underwater. You can check out the full article right here on their website, free of charge. We’ve already seen a bunch of great questions coming in and have been answering them on Instagram and Facebook stories. I can’t wait to see what other questions you ninjas come up with!

Back in March, I flew over to Marsa Alam, Egypt as the lead photographer on a special PADI brand shoot. It was a really amazing week with some awesome humans. The ocean blessed us with dugongs, tons of turtles, beautiful coral reefs, and so much more. Plus, the topside was just as beautiful with great weather, stunning sunrises (check out my shot below that was used for the Eco Center launch), and even getting a behind-the-scenes look at an incredibly sustainable dive resort. Our project had essentially two primary goals: capture the incredible beauty of diving in Egypt for the PADI brand’s marketing and shoot some awesome conservation-focused content for the launch of the new PADI Eco Center rating. And we totally rocked it! I often get asked what it’s like working on commercial shoots or what gear I bring with me, so I thought it would be a great idea to do quick recap articles of some of the projects I’m involved in to give a glimpse into what it’s like working as a commercial photographer. Sound good? Let’s rock!

What Gear Did I Use?

Since this shoot was a mix of underwater and land, as well as both photo and video, coupled with not wanting to travel with an entire cargo container of gear, it took a bit of planning. For camera bodies, I decided on my go-to camera, the Sony Alpha 1, as well as the Sony Alpha A7S III. Lens wise, I brought the Sony 24-70mm f2.8 G Master II and Sony 100-400mm GM for topside as well as the Sony 16-35mm f2.8 GM for both topside and underwater. With those 3 lenses, I can basically cover almost every potential focal length needed for a shoot like this. By only packing 3, it makes my job easier because I won’t need to spend time trying to decide which lens I need for which shot and so on. For underwater, I brought my Nauticam housing and Nauticam’s Wide Angle Conversion Port, aka the WACP-1 , which uses a Sony FE 28-60mm F4 lens. This thing is a beast for wide angle and lets you zoom from almost fisheye into a nice rectilinear crop. It’s kind of like having 2 lenses in one. I also packed my Sony 90mm Macro f2.8 G lens to catch some of the small critters around the area.

Then grabbed my Slik Carbon Fiber Pro CF 834 tripod, a DJI Ronin RS 3  gimble, 2x Sea & Sea YS-D3 Lightning Strobes, 2x Keldan 8XR 20k Lumens video lights and all the other fun hardware and gear that goes with me on shoots. Now to get it all there, I carried on my cameras and lenses in my Atlas Packs Adventure backpack, and all the rest was checked in Think Tank roller bags, so it would arrive nice and safe. If you’d like to learn more about the gear I shoot with click here!

Note: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post might contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. I would never recommend a product I have not personally tested and loved. 

What is the best camera for someone just starting out with underwater photography? This is a question I have been asked more times than I could count. We see it on Facebook groups, message boards, and Instagram almost daily. Every time I do an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session, it’s almost guaranteed it will be asked multiple times. But I understand why. There are so many options and differing viewpoints online, making it quite difficult for new photographers to know what to spend their hard-earned money on. So to help make things easier, I’m going to outline my top picks for the best underwater camera for beginners, as well as the reasons why I recommend them. I’ll also link to where you can purchase them so you can make sure you are getting exactly what you need.

Before we get started, I want to mention that I am writing this article for people who are actually looking to learn photography and get awesome shots. Not for those who just want to put the camera in ‘auto’ mode and push buttons, hoping for the best. And – spoiler alert – the Olympus TG-6 is not on the list! But I will explain why at the end of this article too. This way you can decide what works best for you. Ready to rock? Let’s jump in!

My Top Pick For Beginners & Those Wanting a Small Rig: 
Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV with Octo Housing: $1498 USD

Finding a solid balance between price and quality is probably the hardest entry point for new underwater photographers. No one wants to throw down $10,000 on a massive full-frame rig to find out they don’t really enjoy underwater photography. The Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV strikes this balance almost perfectly, especially when paired with Backscatter’s Octo Housing – and does it for under $1500. That alone is an amazing feat in my opinion, but let’s look at why it’s a great starter camera that you can grow with.

Similar to the Olympus E-PL10 – my previous top pick for beginners, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV packs a ton of great features in a very small package. First off, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV has a 20.3 megapixel Micro 4/3 Live MOS sensor giving you an extra 4 megapixels over the E-PL10 as well as a better sensor. It boasts an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera body that is only slightly larger than most high-end compact cameras and a wealth of features that can adapt to you as you grow as a photographer. The OM-D E-M10 IV can shoot full manual mode, meaning you will have full control over your images & exposure — something its little brother, the TG-6 lacks. It shoots in RAW for photography which translates to meaning you can properly edit your photos in post-processing software like Adobe Lightroom. It also shoots 4k 30fps for those interested in video and has a solid custom white balance system. For those interested in macro, astro or nightscape photography, you will love its manual focus magnification and focus peaking to help you get those beautiful pin-sharp shots. Plus, the built-in interval timer means no need to buy and carry an external intervalometer for stacking night sky images.

The Olympus E-PL10 used to be my go-to recommendation for those just starting out until the Olympus OM-D E-M 10 IV with the Backscatter Octo Housing was released. For those looking for a small rig at a great price point, you really can’t beat it. I’ve had a lot of time to play with both cameras showing my photo workshop students how to use them for everything from underwater photography to landscape, astrophotography, underwater modeling and much more. The camera gives great image detail and sharp resolution without blowing out highlights or making the shadows noisy. It also produces nice vibrant colors. Plus, the lens and optics options are unreal for a camera in its class. You have lenses and ports for fisheye (including the Lumix 8mm that I won my first-ever photo award with!), wide-angle zoom, macro, telephoto zoom, and the list just goes on. The Micro 4/3 mount covers a ton of Olympus and Panasonic lenses, so there are a lot of great options. And all of this in a camera only slightly larger than a TG-6? Maybe now, you are starting to see why it’s my recommendation for the best beginner underwater camera.

But let’s look at the housing now. Backscatter pulled out all the stops when creating the Octo Housing for the OM-D E-M10 IV. If you’re not familiar with them, Backscatter is hands down the best underwater camera shop on our planet. Their team tailored the Octo Housing features to get you the best bang for your hard-earned cash. The housing comes stock with a vacuum lock system as well as a strobe trigger for those looking to add lights. To put that into perspective, normally, strobe triggers can run about $300 USD, and vacuum systems can set you back another $300 on top of that.  Plus, it comes with everything you need, as well as a bunch of extra accessories, so you are ready to rock! Check out the photo – that’s everything that comes just with the stock housing. You definitely aren’t going to get that from another housing brand. Lastly, it just looks awesome with the black tentacles and white base.

Who’s this Camera For?

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV and Backscatter Octo housing is perfect for those just starting out that want a camera they can grow with and get great shots out of. Its size also makes it a perfect camera rig for travel or for those photographers looking for a small, lightweight system. And at less than $1,500 USD it also leaves you a bit of budget to purchase a strobe or video lights to take your shots to the next level.

Key Features At A Glance

• Compact Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens camera body
• 3-inch touchscreen with 180-degree flip-down design
• 20.3 megapixel Live MOS Four Thirds sensor
• TruePic VIII Image Processor
• 5-axis Sensor shift image stabilization (rated up to 4.5 stops)
• 121-area FAST autofocus system (contrast-detect AF)
• 4K UHD video at up to 30p
• 8.7fps fast continuous shooting rate
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

My top recommendation for those with a little more budget:
Sony a6700 Camera with 16-50 PZ Lens: $1498 + housing  

The new Sony a6700 is an incredible crop sensor mirrorless camera with a wealth of features –including all of the similar features found on the Olympus OMD EM10 IV — but with even better specs! It utilizes a 26-megapixel APS-C Exmor R CMOS sensor, and shoots RAW, as well as 4k 120fps video. The a6700 uses Sony’s E mount, which means you have a jaw-dropping array of available lenses to choose from. Additionally, it boasts a 759-point autofocus system that features Sony’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) system, which can recognize and focus an expanded array of subjects from trains, insects, cars, and airplanes. The E-M10 IV utilizes only contrast detection with 121 focus points for comparison.  But all of this comes at a higher price tag, with the camera and 16-50mm PZ kit lens retailing for $1498 USD. From there, you will need to add on your lens and an underwater housing which can easily bring your budget upwards of $3000 or more, depending on which housing you choose. But if you have the budget for it, the Sony a6700 is a great camera all around and is considered one of the best crop sensor cameras on the market.

The a6700 was just released in late July 2023, so it’s going to be a few weeks before underwater housings and port charts become available. We can pretty much expect that Nauticam will be announcing a housing for it in the near future as well as other brands.  Backscatter has already begun taking preorders for the Sony a6700 Nauticam housing, which you can grab here. Just let them know Jay Clue sent you. Once everything is released, I’ll be posting a dedicated article just for the a6700 with lens options, ports, and everything else you might want to know! In the meantime, if you’re interested in setting up a rig for it, give me a shout and I can tell you which lenses and ports I’d recommend!

• Sony’s new flagship APS-C E-mount mirrorless camera
• 26-megapixel Exmor R CMOS image sensor
• Weather-resistant body
• Tilting 3″ touchscreen
• XGA OLED electronic viewfinder
• Shoots at up to 11 frames per second
• AI autofocus system with 759 autofocus points
• Real-time eye-AF and real-time AF tracking
• 5-axis in-body image stabilization
• 4K/120p video recording
• Built-in microphone and headphone jacks