Fascinerande vinnarbilder i 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition

“Feeling Exposed,” Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Jeff Milisen
“Best of Show” och 1:a plats, makro: “I was on a blackwater dive with a member of the Roddenberry family (of Star Trek fame) watching a parade of underwater aliens drift past when this larval cusk eel swam by. The external stomach helps the developing fish grow as fast as possible by eeking every last bit of nutrition from its every meal. Out of the four divers underwater that day, we had over 1,000 blackwater dives under our belt and none of us had ever seen anything like it, whether on earth or boldly going elsewhere!” — Jeff Milisen

“Anemone Light,” The Oslo Fjord, Norway
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Lill Haugen
1:a plats, kallt vatten: “The ‘Deeplet sea anemone’/North sea anemone (Bolocera tuediae) can be found in the cold, green waters of the Oslo fjord in Norway, at depths from 25 meters and below — like an oasis in the mud. A certain species of red shrimps (Spirontocarus liljeborgi) can be found seeking shelter under this type of large cold water anemone. This anemone is backlit, by placing the strobe behind the anemone and using a remote slave sensor trigger to fire the strobe.” – Lill Haugen

“Egg Release,” Lake Worth Lagoon, Riviera Beach, Florida
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Steven Kovacs
1:a plats, marint livs beteende: “When a female Striated frogfish is ready to spawn she rises towards the surface closely followed by the male. As she releases her egg mass the male fertilizes them. Coming across this Striated Frogfish pair on a local dive, I realized that they were about to spawn so I got prepared to photograph this rarely observed behavior. Shortly afterwards I was very fortunate to press the shutter the exact moment that the female released her egg raft.” — Steven Kovacs

“Pilot Whales,” Nice, France
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Greg LeCoeur
1:a plats, porträtt: “During a sailing day off the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, I spotted a big pod of Pilot whales that accepted me in the blue water. They were turning around me in the crystal blue water. It was an amazing experience and a great opportunity to photograph them.” — Greg LeCoeur

“Skeleton Shrimp,” Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Ocean Art Competition 2015/So Yat Wai
1:a plats, supermakro: “Owing to the shallow depth of field of super macro photography, it is hard to get both claws, face and tentacles in focus. Therefore i had kept shooting when I feel all these target points nearly rest in same focal plane. I have took around 60 shoots in order to get the skeleton shrimp stay in the centre of the frame and all target points in sharp focus.” -So Yat Wai

“The Satellite,” Forte dei Marmi, Italy
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Francesco Visintin
1:a plats, vidvinkel: “In the last summer a conjunction of several factors: the sea temperature rise in conjunction with coelenterates reproduction period and the decrease of natural predators, dramatically boosted the population of Rhizostoma pulmo. Then Mistral wind and currents concentrated thousands of individuals of jellyfishes in the shallow water of Versilia coast. Calm sea and unusually good visibility motivated me to explore this fascinating subject from a photographic standpoint, exploiting the soft light of the early morning and sunset.” — Francesco Visintin

“Fast strike of a Tylosorus crocodilus on a juvenile kyphosus vaigiensis,” Ouemo Bay, Noumea, New Caledonia
Ocean Art Competition 2015/Jack Berthomier
1:a plats, kompakt marint livs beteende: “The picture has been taken in Ouemo’s Mangrove where I take 90% of my pictures and where I dive, always in free diving.This Tylosorus crocodulis was 20-25 centimeters long. The fish got used to me by swimming with him for multiple hours and days.” — Jack Berthomier