March 2015 Photo Contest Winner and Review
Winner Chosen And Review By Scubaverse.com’s Underwater Photography Editor Stuart Philpott
Winner: ‘Looking Up’ by William B. Tomanek
Photolink: http://www.scubaverse.com/?contestants=looking
A big thank you to all of the underwater photographers who have entered Scubaverse’s very first monthly photo contest. I’ve looked through the submitted images, briefly at first and then studied each one more carefully. Can I ask that any future entrants add a few more details – camera type and if possible camera settings (aperture, shutter speed, ASA rating etc) and a brief description of how and where the picture was taken (some entrants have done this already). This will give me and anyone else viewing the images a better understanding of how/why you’ve taken the shot.
I guess the winning image is down to my own personal taste. But I will look at every image critically for composition, lighting, artistic flair etc, so hopefully you’ll agree with my choice. No hate mail please!
I’m really am impressed with the entries. There is a good range of macro and wide angle shots, some using flash and some using natural light. There’s even a ‘green’ water shot. Where is Rapid Bay? I did a quick ‘google’ and came up with South Australia but looking at the picture I’m not sure if this is Australia? I’m hoping to see a few more UK entries in the future, especially now that summer is coming on and ambient light/underwater visibility is improving.
Having recently taken my first pygmy seahorse shots on a trip to Papua New Guinea I know how difficult it is to get an ‘in focus’ image, let alone think about the composition, so I loved the ‘pink beauty’ seahorse taken in Bali. I also liked the black and white bow shot of the Imperial Eagle in Malta. Wrecks can look so atmospheric in black and white. I’m not sure if the ‘in the spotlight’ shot should be portrait rather than landscape view? Is this sunlight filtering through or a torch beam? Either way I like the effect but I think it needs a focal point; something highlighted in the light beam would work, like a diver or a fish or an anemone. The ‘love is in the anemone’ is another great composition, the 2 crabs on a colourful anemone backdrop stand out well and I nearly chose this as the best of the month – nice one Jelana!
So finally this month’s winner is ‘Looking Up’ taken at the Blue Grotto fresh water spring in Florida. The slight rippling on the surface has given the image a kind of oil painting effect, very abstract and arty. There are one or two concentric circles formed by water droplets or exhaled bubbles on the surface which gives it more authenticity. If the sun had been shining through the trees I think this would have probably enhanced the effect, but all in all this image would look great framed and hanging on my lounge wall.
Thanks again for submitting your images. Please don’t be put off from entering again if you didn’t win. It would be nice to see some more of your compositions. There must be thousands of underwater photographers out there with at least one or two favourites, so get sifting through your hard drives and put something up for next month’s contest.
