2019 CONTEST SUBJECTS

GROUP SHOTS – ANY LENS – Schools, bait balls, aggregations, small or large groups. Shot must be of a group of 4 or more individuals of the same species.

FRONT PORTRAITS – ANY LENS – Must be symmetrical evenly-lit critter or fish faces, snoots welcome, concentrating on good eye contact. Both eyes must be in the frame and should be looking at the camera.

BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUNDS BY NATURE – ANY LENS – Isolate a subject against a beautiful natural background (sponge or soft coral for example). Background to be natural and not colored by a slate or other artificial lights. No open water blue or black backgrounds.
Submission Deadline: February 2nd

UGLY BUT BEAUTIFUL – ANY LENS – Dedicated to those animals with an ugly face but beautiful as subjects. Composition is key.
Submission Deadline: February 2nd

PIPEFISH & PIPEHORSES – ANY LENS – A uniquely difficult animal to get a good shot of. NO seahorses. NO sea dragons from Australia.
Submission Deadline: March 2nd

HELLO/GOODBYE – ANY LENS – Any marine creature appearing to be waving hello or good-bye.
Submission Deadline: March 2nd

FACING AWAY – ANY LENS – Show us your best butt shot, but make it a good one where the creature is looking on to something – making the most of a butt shot – non human of course – contemplative.
Submission Deadline: March 30th

DIAGONAL COMPOSITION – ANY LENS – Wide angle or macro composition showing use of diagonal lines to draw your eye through the image.
Submission Deadline: March 30th

SNOOT-OLOGY – ANY LENS – Snooted image. Open to any subject. Must be as shot in camera, not produced in post processing.
Submission Deadline: May 4th

NATURAL LIGHTING – ANY LENS – Ambient light, no strobes.
Submission Deadline: May 4th

A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW– ANY LENS – Capturing a shot of a common subject but in a more interesting perspective or creative point of view, but not using software to embellish. Looking for images compositionally interesting – not snooted or manipulated.
Submission Deadline: June 1st

MINIMAL – ANY LENS – Less is more; focus is on non-busy backgrounds, isolated subjects that are exceptional and beautiful.
Submission Deadline: June 1st

GUARDIANS AT THE GATE – ANY LENS – Any image that conveys a sense of protective behavior. Doesn’t have to be just eggs. Anything from a goby guarding the eggs to dolphins guarding a baby, a fin over another, etc.  
Submission Deadline: June 29th

SEAHORSE BEAUTY – ANY LENS – Finding the beauty is one thing, capturing a great shot of one of these animals is difficult because of their shyness and rotating eyes. Your job should you accept this challenge is to show us a beautifully-captured rendition.
Submission Deadline: June 29th

WILD MOVEMENT – ANY LENS – Any photo that makes you think of a storm, wind or strong currents, its violent and unpredictable movement. The key is that there must be an indication of movement. Over/Unders welcome but not necessary -image tells a story of the trials of living underwater in current.
Submission Deadline: August 3rd

POLKA DOT FISH – ANY LENS – Must be fish that have noticeable round or roundish spots of a different color than the background skin color. Ex: Stargazers, trunkfish, pajama cardinalfish, juvenile barramundi, etc.
Submission Deadline: August 3rd

OUR AMAZING PLANET – ANY LENS – Share your most amazing or favorite underwater creature taken this year (2019).
Submission Deadline: August 31st

MACRO ABSTRACTIONS – MACRO – Abstract textures that capture color and forms of beauty that are not usually perceived with the naked eye.
Submission Deadline: August 31st

MANTIS ‘TUDE – ANY LENS – Mantis shrimps have the ability to be a scary creature, but also quite inquisitive. Capture the attitude of the mantis shrimp.
Submission Deadline: September 28th

HORRORVILLE – ANY LENS – Show us your scary, looking for menacing shots … what is Halloween underwater to you? (No mantis shrimp).
Submission Deadline: September 28th

BEST COVER SHOT – ANY LENS – Select your best …must be a vertical with sufficient negative space for copy. Cropped images OK.
Submission Deadline: November 2nd

GOLIATH GROUPER – ANY LENS – Your best Goliath Grouper shot.
Submission Deadline: November 2nd