This photo by photographer Greg Lecoeur shows seagulls diving into water to catch autumn fish off the Isle of Noss in Shetland, Scotland. This photo won a $1,000 prize and a Liveaboard trip to Cambodia.
Photographer Kevin Richter said he found an extremely special coconut octopus sitting on black sand at the bottom of the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. It was right next to his boat at a depth of just under 4 meters. He said that although it looked like night, the photo was taken on a sunny afternoon, because the octopus did not last long, so he had to act quickly. This photo won first prize in the compact camera category.
The whale tail photo by photographer Rodney Bursiel won first prize in the wide-angle photo category. This black and white photo was taken while Bursiel was traveling in Tonga. Bursiel said he was focusing on his mother whale when the baby whale approached from behind and swam next to him.
The photo of these sea lions took 3rd place in the wide-angle category. Every winter, Jens Troeger often goes to Hornby Island in British Columbia ( Canada) to diving with the Steller sea lion. The sea lions are always excited to see him swimming with them.
An ice-finished elephant in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, was photographed by Eduardo Acevedo. This species often hides in small holes or caves and often has two color combinations: blue and yellow or black and yellow. This photo took second place in the macro photo category.
The photo of the wonderful underwater landscape when waves create storm-like effects took second place in the wide-angle photo category. Photographer Marc Henauer took this photo in the waters off the Bahamas.
The third place in the macro category went to Gabriel Barathieu's one-tinged photo. This photo was taken while swimming in a lagoon on Mayotte Island, a small French island near Madagascar.
Enrico Somogyi took a photo of a jellyfish with the sunlight behind it while diving at Torrent de Pareis beach in Mallorca, Spain. Somogyi had to take 40 photos to get a perfect photo, and it took second place in the compact camera category.
Francesco Pacienza found a small crab in a river near his home in Altomonte, Italy. The photo was ranked 3rd in the compact camera category.
Raoul Caprez caught a small fish swimming near the eyes of a giant blue sea turtle in the offshore waters of Ecuador. This photo won first prize in the macro category.
