Best Underwater Photos

world's best uerwater photographs

of 2010: Our World Underwater and

Deep Indonesia

'Underwater Sadness' by Ramon Dominguez - a sea turtle caught in a net in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico

This picture gallery showcases some of the year's best
underwater photography as chosen by the judges of two
major competitions - the Our World Under Water
competition and the fourth annualDeep Indonesia
International underwater photo competition. Prizes
for the events were worth over $120,000 (£74,000).
The two competitions attracted over 5,000 entries
and winners were picked from 20 countries across
the world.
"Underwater Sadness" by Ramon Dominguez -
a sea turtle caught in a net in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Magnus Lundgren's lonely diver traversing a cavernous underwater crack in Iceland scooped Best in Show in the 2010 Deep Indonesia competition

A lonely diver traversing a cavernous underwater crack
scooped the 2010 Deep Indonesia photography
competition. The picture was taken by 45-year-old
professional photographer Magnus Lundgren from
Sweden as he was guided though the fissure in
Thingvellir Lake, Iceland.

Brit John Hill took Silver in the compact cameras category for his action-packed image taken from the heart of a school of silver coated jackfish

Briton, John Hill, took the Silver award in the compact
cameras category for his action-packed image taken
from the heart of a school of silver coated jackfish.
An amateur underwater photographer, he was diving
off Sipadan Island in East Borneo, Malaysia during
September 2009 as part of a year he spent travelling
south-east Asia with his girlfriend, Jenny. Luckily for
John his prize was a week eco-diving in Monado,
Indonesia, so he will be heading back to south-east
Asia in May 2011.

'Hungry' by Bartosz Strozynski - a leopard seal in Antarctica

Other award winning pictures included a dramatic picture
of a leopard seal snapping its jaws directly at the lens of
Bartosz Strozynski, landing him the gold award for animal
behaviour. "I was playing with the seal," said 35 year-old
Bartosz from Poznan in Poland. "They are curious and
they do try to test you in the water. This one saw his
reflection in my lens and must have thought I was
another leopard seal. So she displayed her teeth as a warning."

David Barrio, 37, took the Best in Show prize in the Our World Under Water competition for this image of his girlfriend slowly rising through a cabin of a deep sea wreck off southern Gran Canaria

David Barrio, 37, from Spain won Best in Show in the
Our World Underwater competition for this haunting image
of his girlfriend slowly rising through a cabin of a deep sea
wreck off the coast of southern Gran Canaria.

'Froggy and Shrimpfish' by Luc Eeckhaut - a frogfish [bottom] and shrimpfish in Indonesia

Luc Eeckhaut of Belgium won Gold in the Macro Unrestricted
category for his image, "Froggy and Shrimpfish", showing a
frogfish and some shrimpfish in Indonesia

'The First Born - Seahorse Baby' by Lazaro Ruda - a seahorse in Singer Island, Florida

The competitions threw up other gems such as this picture by
Lazaro Ruda of the United States, showing a male sea horse
moments after he gave birth to his first born