From documentary maker to documentary subject, Mike deGruy’s wife and filmmaking partner continues her husband’s legacy with her new film Dive Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy Words By Mimi deGruy Anyone who’s ever tried to make a film about the ocean knows it can be hard, …

Words by Jill Heinerth We’ve all seen an underwater video with a distracting blue cast. Our eyes long for the warm tones of orange and red that we saw on the rope sponges during our dive. What happened? Can we recover what we remembered from the hazy blue footage? …

NOTE: This article was written at the height of the global lockdown – but still includes some great advice for videographers. By Jill Heinerth Our world is a far different place from just a few months ago. The global pandemic has changed life for most of us. Some divers …

By Michel Gilbert & Danielle Alary Light is the foundation of any image and artificial lighting is ubiquitous in underwater photography. When using twin strobes, you can go beyond the standard strobe head placement. As we’ve said many times in this column, adding a second strobe is probably the …

Sometimes the most incredible marine life encoutners aren’t in the ocean, they’re hiding under lily pads in remote Canadian lakes Words by Russell Clark / Photography by Maxwel Hohn   You may well remember seeing a couple of images we’ve previously published of tadpoles. They are always crowd pleasers, …

By Jill Heinerth Like many of you, I am focused on capturing the most beautiful underwater images and videos possible. While swimming through a rowdy pack of sea lions, or gliding through a virgin cave, I am mesmerized by the visual grandeur of our submerged world. As an underwater …

Being in the midst of circling basking sharks is a rare occurrence, so did this underwater filmmaker witness a unique courtship event? Words by Ken O’Sullivan What an odd thing it is to want to swim with a shark in the sea. We humans, we’re usually close to the …

By Jill Heinerth If I had one wish, it would be for more time underwater. When Mobula rays surround me, or sea lions swarm, I don’t want to surface. I wish I could expand time into an endless and exciting underwater journey. Sometimes the moments you catch on video …

SeaLife is introducing a new compact and lightweight underwater housing for Apple’s iPhone.  The new SeaLife SportDiver housing will allow divers to take photos and video with their iPhone down to 130 feet (40 meters).  The SportDiver can encase iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, X, Xr, Xs, …

Inside the current issue of DIVER (Fall 2020) you’ll see a lovely four page feature by our regular columnist Maxwel Hohn, all about the incredible journey of the western toad tadpole. Maxwel has been capturing footage of the tadpoles for four years, accumulating in this mini nature documentary, noq …

By Jill Heinerth Buying a camera for shooting underwater video can be daunting. If you are looking for anything beyond an action-cam or GoPro, there are a lot of pieces and parts that make up a complete system. Navigating product websites can be difficult and coming up with an …

The first person to film polar bears from the water—meet the fish man who lives under the ice, and stores his beer there too… Words by Jill Heinerth Mario Cyr’s name should be known to all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast. However, our French speaking citizens do …

Coming June 1st! Getting started with underwater photography and video is easy with the new Micro 3.0 from SeaLife.   Even the first time underwater photographer will find breathtaking images.   It’s easy with SeaLife’s intuitive underwater scene modes – simply enter the conditions you’re diving in or if …

By Jill Heinerth Camera tables and rinse tanks are busy places on dive boats. Today, it seems that everyone owns a camera and is determined to get footage for their YouTube Channel or social media account. As a Monday morning quarterback who is interested in analyzing incidents, I’m noting …

Anglerfish Creative Lighting: AFCL-HD57 HDMI Monitor Underwater videographers and photographers rejoice! A quality underwater monitor can be the icing on the cake for our beloved sub aquatic imaging equipment. The newest addition to Anglerfish Creative Lighting line of products is an ultra compact 4K HDMI monitor exclusively designed for …

DIVER Photographer Maxwel Hohn gives us three great tips to improve your underwater photography: Shoot with what you got! Many divers are under the assumption that they need the fanciest camera equipment to capture good photos. This is incredibly false. Use what you have and be creative. Some of my …

By Jill Heinerth The crackling sound in an underwater bone conduction earpiece might sound like this: “Uncover One. Uncover Two. Cover One. Uncover Three. Cover Two. Uncover Four. All Fade Out.” These are lighting cues barked into a full face mask (FFM) by an underwater camera operator filming a …

By Jill Heinerth If you are over forty years of age, you are probably getting to the point where it is tough to read your computer display or SPG. For many people approaching this age, the lenses of your eyes start to lose elasticity and flexibility. With less elasticity, …

  Slow motion video is all the rage these days. It’s no longer good enough to see a manta ray gliding over a wreck; people want to see it at half speed. However, before you slow down your media on the timeline, there are a few things you should …

Text by Russell Clark Panasonic and Aquatica bring professional underwater video tools to the masses with the GH5, GH5S and AGH5 housing. Get ready to be more creative!   Every few years a camera comes along that helps to evolve photography and video. The GoPro, the Sony RX100, the …

By Jill Heinerth Gliding along with the precise synchronicity of a flight demonstration team, scuba divers piloting radical-looking scooters maneuver into the frame. As viewers we are transformed, drawn into the dimly lit cave of indescribable beauty. If the Director of Photography has done his job, we are engrossed …

California based Light & Motion has been at the forefront of underwater imaging for several years and their Kickstarter announcement has captured the attention of a lot of underwater photographers and videographers! The Sidekick Kickstarter campaign aims to raise $50,000 so Light & Motion can begin full production of their excellent new GoPro light called Sidekick. …

Preparing to shoot your best video in cold water By Jill Heinerth You’ve dedicated years of training and invested plenty of money on equipment to be ready to visit the wreck of the Forest City in Tobermory or the Rosecastle at Bell Island, Newfoundland. You are sweating profusely on the dock …

By Jill Heinerth These days, it seems that most divers own a GoPro or similar small sport camera. These little devices are awesome for traveling light and capturing great underwater moments. Yet, sometimes unavoidable small and large disasters get in the way of bringing home the best possible footage. …

By Jill Heinerth We’ve all seen them: over-under split images that show a dive boat on the surface and a happy diver or colourful marine creature below the surface. These all-in-one images often grace the front covers of dive magazines and featured resort ads. They are compelling shots that …

By Jill Heinerth In my last column I provided tips to assist in comparing the quality and brightness of underwater video lights. Most underwater videographers buy a couple of lights and mount them to their camera on arms, illuminating the environment, or a dive buddy at close range. Camera-mounted …

By Jill Heinerth I have a confession: I have a bit of a light fetish. I can’t seem to stop buying new lights. Headlamps, solar rechargeable, hand-cranked lanterns, cinema lighting, LED key fobs and endless cave diving and video lights. I have them all.  And this doesn’t include the …

Today came the sad news that Swiss surrealist artist HR Giger passed away at the age of 74.  Best known for his work designing the movie Alien, his images and artwork portrayed a nightmarish vision that forever changed the way Hollywood movies were designed. So what does this have …

Nauticam USA have announced their new FIX Neo line of underwater photo and video lights. Neo combines an ultra-modern LCD status display, removable battery, 100 degree beam angle, interchangeable light heads, optional remote controller, and sealed recharging. Whatever a shooter’s ambition, wide-angle, macro, focus light, video or photography, Neo …

Backscatter have announced a new macro lens for their GoPro Flip system. Priced at a thoroughly reasonable $89 the lens can achieve some stunning results, as you see by watching the above video. Why do you need a macro lens? Without corrective optics, GoPro 3+ and 3 cameras can …

Caution: objects in the dome are closer than they appear! By Jill Heinerth In your first SCUBA course, you worked tirelessly on general skills such as good buoyancy, but you also learned foundational skills about the physics of light and colour in the water column. Little did you know …

By Jill Heinerth Maintenance mitigates daily wear and tear; insurance covers the unexpected   When you pursue the art of underwater image making you will eventually experience a loss from flooding. After crying over my first flooded camera, I bathed the afflicted gear in rubbing alcohol and sent it …

By Jill Heinerth   You’ve carefully selected the destination and spent your hard earned savings to book the dive trip of a lifetime. Painstakingly, you’ve prepared your underwater video system to capture that elusive manta or majestic whale shark you know is out there waiting for your arrival. So, …

By Jill Heinerth First Published in DIVER Volume 37 Issue 2 Deep within a Central Florida storm sewer network, I slogged through the greasy runoff of busy highways and overcrowded parking lots.  Even for a seasoned expedition diver like me, this was a unique assignment – scouting the dark …

By Jill Heinerth When I was a young diver I recall being invited over to my neighbor Danny’s house to watch his first underwater vacation video. It was shot on a nifty High-8 camera in an oversized Ikelite housing. To this day, I have no idea how he got …

DIVER’s Editor, Russell Clark, loves movies. So he’s compiled what we believe to be a pretty definitive list of non-documentary scuba diving movies. Whether the plot revolves around diving, or there’s just a memorable diving scene, here’s our list (in no particular order) of the best diving movies ever …