Check out the winning, highly commended and best of the other featured images from our Big Shot Cephalopods underwater photography competition!
Cephalopods are one of the most fascinating classes of marine animals, and the entries in this issue’s Big Shot competition surely did them justice. Colour-changing, shape-shifting, highly adaptable, intelligent and inquisitive – these strange creatures exemplify just how alien life can be under the waves.
They range from planktonic larvae resembling other-worldly spaceships, to bulky, giant cuttlefish cruising the shallows like battleships – and all make excellent photographic subjects.
It took plenty of time and patience for Catherine Holmes to land her winning shot of squid carefully positioned to great effect in front of a pier in Barbados. She wins a seven-night trip aboard the Red Sea Aggressor IV, worth US$2,699, courtesy of Aggressor Adventures.
Highly commended are JillAnne McCarty’s bottle-stopping octopus, Miguel Ramirez’s squid eye close-up, Luis Arpa Turibio’s paper nautilus, Wayne McWilliams’ brooding octopus and Rowan Dear’s smokescreened giant cuttlefish. All of these will receive a year’s print and digital subscription to DIVE, and the other entries published in DIVE win a year’s digital subscription – and many thanks to everyone who entered!
Our next Big Shot underwater photo competition is Caves, Caverns and Overhangs. Surprise us with stunningly lit cave shots, go close-in on the weird and wonderful critters lurking in a cavern, or capture that magical moment when an overhang frames the intricate beauty of a reef.
Stay tuned for entry details – subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss out…
WINNER – DIVE’s Big Shot Cephalopods
‘Squid Squad’, by Catherine Holmes
Catherine: I spent many days getting to know the school of squid in the warm shallow water around Cement Pier in Barbados.
Shot with: Nikon D500; Sigma 17-70 macro lens at 17mm; Nauticam housing; Retra Pro strobes; f13, 1/250, ISO 500
HIGHLY COMMENDED
‘Coming Out to Play’ – JillAnne McCarty
A coconut octopus plays with a scallop shell while tucked securely inside its beer bottle hideout on the sea floor in Anilao, Philippines.
Shot with: Nikon D850; Nikon 105mm lens; Nauticam housing; Retra strobe; f10, 1/60, ISO 200
HIGHLY COMMENDED
‘I See You’, by Miguel Ramirez
Miguel: A fearless reef squid allowed me to get close on a night dive at Réunion Island.
Shot with: Nikon D500; Nikon 85m lens; Hugyfot housing; 2x Inon Z-330 strobes; f16, 1/125, ISO 200
HIGHLY COMMENDED
‘Paper Nautilus’, by Luis Arpa Toribio
A female paper nautilus (Argonauta argo) drifting on a leaf, taken during a black-water dive at full moon in Anilao, Philippines.
Shot with: Nikon Z7; Nikkor 105mm; f/2.8 VR on a Nauticam flat port; 2x Scubalamp D-Pro strobes; 1x Scubalamp PV32T focus torch; f10, 1/200, ISO 200
HIGHLY COMMENDED
‘It Is Just the Beginning’, by Wayne McWilliams
Mother octopus protecting offspring. Blue Heron Bridge, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Shot with: Nikon D7200; Nikon 105mm macro lens; Retra strobes; Bigblue lights; Nauticam housing; f14, 1/320 sec, ISO 100
HIGHLY COMMENDED
‘Smokescreen’, by Rowan Dear
A male giant cuttlefish squirted ink to scare off a rival from a potential mate in Whyalla, South Australia.
Shot with: Sony A6400; Sony 16mm lens with fisheye converter; USM Nauticam housing; f9, 1/200, IS0 320
‘Sunlight Cuttlefish’, by Byron Conroy
A cuttlefish shot using the sun as a backlight in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
Shot with: Canon 5D Mark IV; Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens; 2x Retra Pro strobes, Nauticam housing; f14, 1/20, ISO 250
‘Midnight Snack’, by Dira Mutiara
A bigfin reef squid snacking on a gold-band fusilier during a night dive in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
Shot with: Olympus TG-5; Tokina 10-17mm; Nauticam housing; f13, 1/50, ISO 160
‘Sucking It Up’, by Jann Rosen-Queralt
A squid eats from coral in Laha, Ambon, Indonesia.
Shot with: Canon 600D; Canon 60mm lens; Nauticam housing; Inon Z-330 strobes; f14, 1/100, ISO 200
‘Football Octopus’, by Irene Middleton
A juvenile deep-sea football octopus takes up shelter in a salp off the coast of northeast New Zealand.
Shot with: Nikon D800; Nikon 60mm macro lens; Aquatica Housing; f25, 1/200, ISO 200
‘Coral Camouflage’, by JillAnne McCarty
Striking a commanding pose, this common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) hides in plain sight on the reef as it assumes colours and an intricate pattern identical to a nearby coral in the Maldives.
Shot with: Olympus OM-D E-M1; Lumix G fisheye 8mm lens; Olympus housing; Sea&Sea YS-D2 strobes; f10, 1/320, ISO 400
‘Blackwater Squid’, by Christian Horras
This one squid was very interested in the focus light, and changed colours constantly during the safety stop at the end of a blackwater dive in Anilao, Philippines.
Shot with: Nikon D810; Nikon 105mm macro lens; Isotta housing; Retra strobes; f16, 1/250, ISO 400
‘Time to Relax’, by Jules Casey
Octopus relax on a Buddha statue, Port Phillip Bay, Australia.
Shot with: Olympus EM1 MK II; 8mm lens; Isotta housing; Kraken Sports KR-S02 strobes; f4.5, 1/160, ISO 200
‘Wunder-ful Dive’, by Mark Chivers
A larval-stage wunderpus octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) which stayed with me for a few minutes during my first blackwater dive in Anilao, Philippines.
Shot with: Nikon D500; Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G lens; Nauticam housing; 2x Sea&Sea YS-D2 strobes; f18, 1/250, ISO 400
‘Last Days’, by Jules Casey
A male pale octopus curls up for its last days of life after mating. Port Phillip Bay, Australia.
Shot with: Olympus EM1 MK II; 40mm lens; Isotta housing; Kraken Sports KRS-02 strobes; f5, 1/160, ISO 200
‘Love Over the Mistletoe’, by Morgan Riggs
Morgan: Two cuttlefish mating over some ‘ocean mistletoe’ I have never seen before, during a muck dive in Manado, Indonesia.
Shot with: Sony a7R Mark III; Sony 90mm macro lens; 2x Sea&Sea YS-01 strobes; Nauticam housing; f10, 1/200, ISO 100
‘Blue Line Dancer’, by Pete McGee
Pete: A blue-ringed octopus stuck this pose for me during a night dive in Sydney Harbour.
Shot with: Sony NEX; Sony 30mm macro lens; Nauticam housing; Backscatter Mini Flash and snoot; f18, 1/100, ISO 200
‘Octopus Love’, by Christian Horras
Two octopus mating on a reef at the end of a dive in Egypt.
Shot with: Nikon D810; Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lens; Isotta housing; Retra strobes; f 13, 1/80, ISO 200
‘Pygmy Squid’, by Miguel Ramirez
A tiny pygmy squid, around 1cm in length, clings to a twig during a night dive in Anilao, the Philippines.
Shot with: Olympus TG-5; Olympus housing; UCL-900 PRO900 +23mm wet lens; 2x INON D200 strobes; f 6.3, 1/100, ISO 100
Previous Big Shot competition winners:
