Ocean Art Underwater Photo Comp - Winning Photos Announced

[2ndjetty]

Hi all,

The winners of the 2013 Ocean Art underwater photo competition were announced by the Underwater Photography Guide. There are $80,000 in prizes, 84 winners and some INCREDIBLE photos - well worth a look!

2013 Ocean Art Winners


I'm inspired to get in the water and shoot. How about you?

 

[KevWind]

Wow very very impressive. No question the photos are outstanding Obviously there has been a fair amount of digital processing but very very impressive. I wonder if anyone here would happen to know about the very black black background in many of these photos, it actually looks like the same process in many photos. Is it a photoshop process?

 

[Gdog]

Fantastic shots!

 

[2ndjetty]

Hi Kev,

The black background is simply a shooting technique that requires no post processing when done right.... you can shoot a fish or nudibranchs with a black background in the middle of the day. If you're interested, PM me and I can send you some links to technique articles on the Underwater Photography Guide.

- Brent

 

[bvanant]

Brent is right that you CAN shoot that way, but to me at least many of the images look post processed a bit too much. It is too bad that so many judges of UW photos look for black backgrounds on all the macro shots.
Bill

 

[smellzlikefish]

Brent is 100% right that some in-camera settings will turn any shot (day or night) into a clean black background. I also happen to know that at least one of the black-background macro shots was taken on a night dive.

 

[Larry C]

Amazing pictures. Congrats to all.

 

[James R]

The attached is nothing special, but illustrates how easy it is to get a black background. I took this photo in the middle of the day down in Bonaire. I positioned the strobes out to the side of my housing and aimed them back toward the port. Fast shutter speed and small aperture. Check this link for some strobe positioning ideas:
Underwater Strobe Positions|Underwater Photography Guide

Sony RX100, 1/600, F11, ISO125, manual, RAW & using two Inon Z-240 strobes.