Everyone loves a good animal photo. But what’s a photographer to do when some of the world’s most photogenic fauna live under the sea?
You don a wetsuit and grab a waterproof camera, of course. This week, the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year competition announced winners across all its categories.
They’re all absolutely stunning, but this close-up shot of a octopus that earned Gabriel Barathieu “photographer of the year” honors would make even Tracy Morgan jealous.
Check out more winners and some of our favorite finalists below.
Ron Watkins took home the prize for the wide angle category with his shot of this Lion’s Mane jellyfish.
And one of the runner up spots went to Yannick Gouguenheim.
So Yat Wai won the macro category with this shot of a tinymantis shrimp looking enormous next to its prey.
All the photos from the wrecks category are phenomenal, but Csaba Tökölyi’s shot of the Louilla wreck off the coast of the Sinai penninsula took top honors.
A very different type of wreck shot by Marcus Blatchford was a runner up.
Damien Mauric’s picture of a sea iguana (one of the internet’s favorite animals) by came in as a runner up in the portraits category.
But the best category might be the behavior category, where photos depict different kinds of marine life just doing their thing. Qing Lin took home the prize in that category with this shot that looks like it’s straight out of “Finding Nemo.”
Greg Lecoeur snagged a runner-up spot for this photo.
As did this unbelievable action shot by Simone Caprodossi.
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