WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS NICK & CAROLINE ROBERTSON-BROWN

WINNER: Little Octopus by Chun Zhou

PHOTOLINK: https://www.scubaverse.com/contestants/little-octopus-blackwater/

When judging any underwater photography competition, the first thing we do is ask of each image: Is it in focus? The main subject has to be pin sharp. Is it exposed correctly?

We then look at lighting (photography is all about light) and composition. Backscatter, hot spots of light, messy backgrounds all might see your image lose out.

Then there are other considerations that might get you knocked out of the first round: Was the image taken underwater? After all it is an underwater photography competition! Were any animals distressed or harassed to get the image? Was any environmental damage done to get the shot?

Once we have whittled out the images that do not pass these criteria, it is time to get down to picking a winner. A shot that makes us both go wow – I wish I had taken that!

September 2017

September saw competition entries increase again, and some amazing images entered too. There was also no let-up on the excellent quality of the photos you have sent in. Here are our thoughts on some of our favourites from September.

Our Favourites

Caroline

Eyes by Jonny Haugstad: Really lovely use of Bokeh on close up of a flounder.

Fishing by Jonny Haugstad: another lovely macro shot from Jonny. This time I like the delicate lighting.

Pink Squat Lobster by Alexis Logier: Lovely pin-sharp focus on the eyes of this amazing subject, really good detail.

Little Octopus in the blackwater by ChunZhou: Wonderful black water shot of a tiny octopus catching prey. Outstanding shot that even has some eye contact. This is a difficult shot to get and has been done superbly. Stunning shot!

White Teeth by Mark Chivers: Lovely head on shot of a great white shark. It really shows the bulk of these impressive sharks. Both eyes and all fins in shot, and a nice toothy grin – well done!

Scotland’s Finest by Chris Knight: Great Basking Shark shot. I really like the angle the shark is moving across the frame and that the whole shark is in shot – which is not easy with these creatures which are often shot in poor vis.

Great Hammer Shadow by Chris Knight: another great image by Chris, this time of a hammerhead shark. Chris has managed the bright light and reflective sand really well in the shot – another difficult one, well executed.

Blue Moon by Chris Knight: Wow – Chris has entered 3 fabulous images this month, but I think this might be my favourite. Whilst I would not usually recommend shooting a fish’s bum, sometimes it can work to great effect, and this shot shows that. Great light, wonderful atmosphere….just perfect!

Harlequin Shrimp by I Wayan Sunatra: With a compact camera, this is a lovely shot of a difficult subject in what looks like it’s natural habitat. Getting both to be head on the to the camera is great.

Bargibanti Pygmy Seahorse by I Wayan Sunatra: Another great macro shot using the Olympus TG4 basic underwater setup. Lovely focus and colours.

Let’s Dance by M. Guillerm: A simple but beautiful shot. Lovely depth of field and gentle lighting.

Big Gulp by Sean Steininger: I love the motion of the water being sucked into the Whaleshark’s mouth in this shot.

Nick

Eyes, by Jonny Haugstad, is an excellent example of how to isolate a part of a subject when it is camouflaged. The use of a really small dof really gives the eye prominence with everything else in bokeh.

Fishing, again by Jonny Haugstad, is a lovely clean capture of a porcelain crab with its filters wide open to try and catch food. Nice behaviour shot.

Hiding in the fan by Craig Simpson is a great use of contrasting colours and a co-ordinated background. Notoriously difficult to get close to, long nosed hawkfish can be gone just before you press the shutter.

Lovely lip by Chun Zhou is really nicely done. Every macro photographer that has dived this region will have a shot of one of these delicate, photophobic creatures, but this one is particularly good against a black background, popping it into prominence in the frame.

Little octopus in the blackwater, again by Chun Zhou, is just that, a blue octopus isolated against black. Personally, and it is all subjective, I would have liked a bigger dof so its prey was also in focus.

White teeth, by Mark Chivers, is a lovely take on head-on shark. It shows the shark’s behaviour with the pectorals in the down position, which usually means it is time to move away. Nice capture.

I really like the angle of this basking shark by Chris Knight called Scotland’s finest. Most baskers are shot head-on or from the side and this angle has lovely perspective.

The hammerhead in Bimini, again by Chris Knight, is a good example of a balanced light shot, using strobe for the subject and shooting into the sun.

Blue Moon by Chris Knight – what a beautiful shot. I always tell my students to avoid taking shots of the rear-ends of fish but sometimes it works, and wow this really does work!

A lovely play with monochrome and colour in the editing room, this shot called “underwater art” by Elmar Junger is really eye-catching and I love the way that the small dof has just left the colour as the centre of focus.

Harlequin Shrimp at Talumben, Bali by I Wayan Sunarta just shows what great quality you can get from a compact and internal flash. Well done.

Barbgibanti Pygmy Seahorse, also by I Wayan Sunarta, is another example of how to use bokeh and a black background to isolate the subject and really make it pop. Lovely shot.

I really love the lighting on this “Marbled Stingray” shot by Marc Eekhaut. It is another shot using a compact and again it shows just what can be achieved with one.

The “Soft Coral” shot by Hatem Sanyeldin is wonderful in its simplicity. A close-focus wide angle shot that has isolated the red coral, and got a super colour contrast with the blue background. Shame the diver’s legs aren’t positioned better.

I love this shot of a “Photobombing Angelfish” by Jeremy Smith. Intrigued to know what it was bombing but the bokeh in front of its face has isolated the subject nicely.

Walk Tall by Sean Steininger is a lovely shot of a coconut octopus that really captures its character. I am sure I have seen this before, but it still works.

Ear to Ear by Sean Steininger is a lovely capture of one of nature’s finest creatures. It has the “rule of thirds”, a diagonal and a curve- all components of good shot. It works.

After much deliberations between our two judges….

Once again, we were amazed by the diversity and quality of the images this month. In both macro and wide angle, taken with a range of cameras, there were fantastic shots. This was a really tough month to pick the winners and runners-up. First and second place really are outstanding and were very hard to separate. But after much deliberation, here they are:

Winner: Little Octopus in the clackwater by ChunZhou

Runner-Up: Blue Moon by Chris Knight

Third Place: Bargibanti Pygmy Seahorse by I Wayan Sunatra

Congratulations to the those that were placed – some truly amazing images here, and to all those that entered. Keep the images coming and we look forward to seeing more in October.

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Scubaverse.com’s October 2017 Underwater Photo Contest is now open! Enter as many as three of your underwater photos here.