GRAND PRIZE

Location Lake Grevelingen, Netherlands

Behind the Shot The photo of this lobster was taken at the 15th CMAS Underwater Photography World Championship in the Netherlands. I took the photo at Lake Grevelingen with a zoom radial filter. We had 90 minutes to capture our shots, and I surfaced just 10 seconds before time ran out — my coach almost had a heart attack. Later, when my buddy Flip and I saw the image on my computer, we had a good feeling, so we were disappointed that the jury didn’t keep my photo; it took all the macro pictures of the lobsters out of the selection because they weren’t portrayed in their natural environment.

Camera Gear Nikon D300S; 60mm macro lens with zoom radial filter; Hugyfot underwater housing; 2x Subtronic strobe

Settings f/16, 1/125 sec, ISO 100

Prize $1,000 cash and a trip to Pulau Weh, Indonesia, aboard Thailand Aggressor (aggressor.com)

Luc Roomin

FIRST PLACE — MACRO

Location Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu, India

Behind the Shot I was photographing seahorses for scientists working in Palk Bay, which is located between India and Sri Lanka. There are many species of jellyfish in those waters, and some of them are quite large. Because there are few coral or rock structures to provide shelter on the sand flats of Palk Bay, a lot of juvenile fish seek shelter around jellyfish, swimming close to the stinging animals to deter potential predators. I was using a macro lens and was forced to attempt a shot of this constantly moving subject with a close-up lens. These fish take a great risk in seeking protection around these large jellyfish. One wrong move could bring them into contact with dozens of stinging tentacles, turning these protectors into predators.

Camera Gear Nikon D300; Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 macro lens; Sea&Sea housing; two Sea&Sea strobes

Settings f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 320

Prize A liveaboard trip aboard Turks & Caicos Aggressor II (aggressor.com)

Umeed Mistry

SECOND PLACE — MACRO

Location Flinders Pier, Victoria, Australia

Behind the Shot This Verco’s nudibranch was shot under Flinders Pier in Victoria, Australia, hiding among a sea dragon colony. Although these nudibranchs aren’t uncommon around our shores, they are usually incredibly hard to compose in a photo because we have a lot of weeds and very bright soft corals to compete against. To help eliminate some of the clutter under the pier, I lit this guy using the Retra UWT light- shaping device — similar to a snoot — and framed him with an Olympus 60mm macro lens. Combined with the Olympus OM-D E-M1, this lens allows for a nice narrow field of view, with 1-to-1 magnification and incredible power to control micro focus points. The color, contrast and clarity in this image really jumped out; I’m thrilled to have it recognized in the competition.

Camera Gear Olympus OM-D E-M1; Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens; Olympus PT-EP11 and PPO-EP01 underwater housing and port; Sea&Sea YS-110a strobes; Retra 2ND UWT light-shaping device

Settings f/7.1, 1/320 sec, ISO 200

Prize Scubapro Chromis dive computer and a Scubapro travel bag (scubapro.com)

Matthew Krummins

THIRD PLACE — MACRO

Location De Mille, Turnhout, Belgium

Behind the Shot I was taking pictures of waterlilies when I saw the nymph, or aquatic larval stage, of this dragonfly on the stem of a waterlily. I had never seen something like this before. I got out of the water to get my macro lens; luckily, the dragonfly was still there when I returned!

Camera Gear Nikon D300S; 105mm macro lens; Hugyfot under- water housing; 2x Subtronic strobe

Settings f/22, 1/125 sec, ISO 100

Prize $250 gift certificate to Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo (backscatter.com)

Luc Roomin

FIRST PLACE — WIDE-ANGLE

Location Canary Islands

Behind the Shot It was one of those days that you hope will come around for a long time, but hardly ever does. On a dreary, cloudy and windy day (the trend of the previous few weeks), we were headed back from our dive when we saw an enormous collection of shearwaters and sea gulls gathered on the surface of the ocean — the mark of a great feast! We saw many spotted dolphins; yellowfin, albacore and round tuna; and the big guys — three Bryde’s whales preparing to attack a shoal of mackerel. Our aim was to photograph one of these giants attacking the shoal. The southernmost whale struck. I was between it and the mackerel, and immediately shot a burst of photos.

Camera Gear Canon EOS5D; 15mm lens

Settings f/8; 1/160 sec, ISO 400

Prize Liveaboard trip on Red Sea Aggressor (aggressor.com)

Francis Perez

SECOND PLACE — WIDE-ANGLE

Location Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea

Behind the Shot While on a liveaboard trip in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, we stopped at a pier for a day of diving. Under the pier were swirling glassfish near the surface and pylons coated in vibrant-orange cup corals. I shot up to catch the scene.

Camera Gear Nikon D300; Tokina 10-17mm lens

Settings f/10, 1/100 sec, ISO 200

Prize Scubapro MK25 EVO/G260 reg and Synergy 2 mask (scubapro.com)

Larissa Roorda

THIRD PLACE — WIDE-ANGLE

Location Cenote el Eden, Mexico

Behind the Shot The conditions at the dive site on that day were challenging. It was cloudy, and the light illuminated the cave’s entrance for a very short time. There was a strong halocline layer just a few meters below us that worsened our visibility quite quickly. I only managed to take around 10 shots before our light disappeared. This was the only shot where the diver was completely inside the light and the dive light was pointed in the right direction.

Camera Gear Canon 1DX; Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens; Subal underwater housing; 2x Ikelite DS-160 strobes

Settings f/2.8, 1/160 sec, ISO 3200

Prize $250 gift certificate to Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo (backscatter.com)

Petteri Viljakainen

FIRST PLACE — CONCEPTUAL

Location Anilao, Philippines

Behind the Shot I'm a photographer who likes to shoot bubbles, and the nudibranchs in Anilao were so enchanting that I wanted to capture them in these air bubbles to share their beauty. I tried again and again to perfect this image — it's one of hundreds — and luckily, I got it. To get the shot, I used a compact camera, hand torch and mirror.

Camera Gear Olympus TG-3; Olympus PT-056 underwater housing; Aqualite dive light

Settings f/6.3, 1/400 sec, ISO 160

Prize A liveaboard trip to the Bahamas on Carib Dancer (aggressor.com)

Kiyoung Jang

SECOND PLACE — CONCEPTUAL

Location Jellyfish Lake, Palau

Behind the Shot When I worked as a dive guide in Palau, I visited the famous Jellyfish Lake every trip, try- ing to shoot it a different way each time. It was not until my most recent trip that I captured my dream shot. I wanted to create a dramatic atmosphere in the picture, which required good planning. The key to success in conceptual shooting is that your model envisions the same image as you. After some sketching, visualization and four hours in Jellyfish Lake (with the dedication of my lovely model), I was able to capture my last moment in Palau and leave full of good memories.

Camera Gear Canon 7D; Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens; Nauticam underwater housing

Settings f/8, 1/200 sec, ISO 160

Prize Mares Instinct 12 regulator, an X-vu LiquidSkin mask and an Ergo dry snorkel (mares.com)

Parnupong Norasethkamol

THIRD PLACE — CONCEPTUAL

Location Kona, Hawaii

Behind the Shot This zebra moray and its background were both shot in Kona, Hawaii. This image is playing off the animal's name and its pattern. Zebras on land use their stripes in the grasslands of Africa, which is a quality I wished to recreate for this moray. This was one of the most difficult images I’ve created — compositing the animal into the grass was no small task! One of my first underwater animal encounters was with a free-swimming zebra moray. That memory has always stayed with me, so when I returned to Hawaii I was fortunate to find one of these amazing animals for the first time since my youth.

Camera Gear Nikon D800E; Nikkor 60mm macro for the moray; Nikkor 16-35mm for the grass; Ikelite underwater housing; 2x Ikelite DS160 strobes

Prize $250 gift certificate to Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo (backscatter.com)

Conor Culver

FIRST PLACE — COMPACT CAMERA

Location Crash Boat, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

Behind the Shot Back on the shore after I finished my dive in Puerto Rico, I found this curious and friendly blenny swimming at the entrance of a hole in a wooden trunk in the ruins of an old pier. Once I adjusted my photo equipment, I stacked two lenses to compensate for the limitations of my camera. This allowed me to highlight its expressive face and obtain better definition of its features.

Camera Gear Sony DSC-RX100; Inon UCL-100M67 and Inon UCL-165M67 lens accessories; Nauticam underwater housing; 2x Inon Z-240 strobes

Settings f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 100

Prize SeaLife Micro HD+ camera (sealife-cameras.com)

Abimael Marquez

SECOND PLACE — COMPACT CAMERA

Location Teluk Waitii, Indonesia

Behind the Shot During my last day of an incredible trip to Wakatobi Dive Resort, I encountered this friendly pygmy seahorse near the stunning underwater seamount of Teluk Waitii. I have used an underwater compact camera for years, but this was my first dive trip using a strobe; I struggled with overexposure all week. The other divers in our group were not interested in macro photography, so I had plenty of time to wait for the pygmy seahorse to rotate away from the plane of the gorgonian coral and emerge as the focal point against the contrasting black background. Once the pygmy was in position, it only took one adjustment of my exposure to capture this shot.

Camera Gear Olympus TG-3; Olympus PT-056 underwater housing; 1x Sea&Sea YS-D1 strobe

Settings f/14, 1/100 sec, ISO 100

Prize SeaLife Sea Dragon 1200 dive light (sealife-cameras.com)

Elizabeth Mcannich

THIRD PLACE — COMPACT CAMERA

Location Anilao, Philippines

Behind the Shot I captured this photo during a night dive in Anilao, which is well-known as a macro photographer's paradise. My dive buddy and I were engrossed in photograph- ing small organisms when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my buddy beckon me with lights. It was then that I saw a blue-spotted ray swim toward me. At this point I knew there wasn’t much time for me to think and prepare, so I adjusted my camera settings and the angle of my underwater strobes as quickly as I could, and then I muffled my action until I was stationary. I pressed the shutter of this single picture when the ray was close to me.

Camera Gear Fujifilm FinePix F600EXR; Fujifilm WP-FXF500 underwater housing; 1x Inon Z-240 strobe

Settings f/7.1, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

Prize SeaLife AquaPod Mini and Sea Dragon Mini 600 lumen light (sealife-cameras.com)

Lynn Wu

HONORABLE MENTION — AMERICAN CROCODILE

Location Gardens of the Queen, Cuba

Mathieu Foulquie

HONORABLE MENTION — CONCHFISH

Location Palm Beach, Florida

Wayne MacWilliams

HONORABLE MENTION — JUVENILE BATFISH

Location Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Bruno Van Saen

HONORABLE MENTION — TIGER SHARK

Location Grand Bahama, Bahamas

Jason Sintek

HONORABLE MENTION — SOCKEYE SALMON

Location Adams River, British Columbia

Eiko Jones

HONORABLE MENTION — MANTA RAY

Location Maldives

Raffaele Livornese

HONORABLE MENTION — SEAHORSE

Location Puerto Galera, Philippines

Beth Watson