Howard Schatz (born 1940) is an American ophthalmologist and photographer. After an academic career as a retina specialist, primarily in the San Francisco area, he turned his photography hobby into a successful second career. The photographs of Howard Schatz are exhibited in museums and photography galleries internationally and are included in innumerable private collections. He has received international acclaim for his work.

Schatz completed his medical degree at The University of Illinois College of Medicine, followed by an internship at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, ophthalmology residency at The University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, and fellowship in vitreoretinal diseases at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr Schatz was also a specialist in Medical Retina based in San Francisco, California.

Schatz has had seventeen monographs published of his photographs. H2O, Schatz's most recent book, published in 2007, is the third in his series of explorations of imagery made on, over and underwater. Schatz first established a following for this uniquely expressionistic underwater imagery in the 1990s with two collections of underwater photography, Water Dance and Pool Light.

In Character: Actors Acting Schatz's sixteenth book of photographs, was published in April 2006 by Bulfinch Press. Schatz photographed 100 actors of stage, screen and television, directing them in one-on-one improvisation. Botanica (Bulfinch 2005) and Athlete (HarperCollins, 2002) were Schatz's two other most recently published books of photographs. Schatz's books are known worldwide; other titles include: Nude Body Nude, Body Knots, Passion & Line, and Pool Light.

Schatz's editorial work has been published in magazines around the world, including Time, Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Vogue Italia, GQ Italia, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Stern, Life, Black/White, American Photo, Photo France, and Photo Italia. His work has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, NPR, Fox Sports Network, the Discovery Channel and widely in Europe.

He has made underwater images for such advertising clients as Brizo (a Delta Faucet Company brand), Sensei, Coca-Cola/Sprite, Ralph Lauren RLX, Escada, Sergio Tacchini, Nike, Reebok, Wolford, Etienne Aigner, Sony, Adidas, Finlandia Vodka, MGM Grand Hotel, Virgin Records, and Mercedes-Benz.

Howard Schatz's fine art work is represented in New York by the Staley Wise Gallery, in Denver, by Gallery M, and in Los Angeles by the David Gallery.