Big Shot Patterns & Textures - the winners!

Check out the winning and highly commended images from our Big Shot Living Together underwater photography competition – as featured in our Autumn ’25 print magazine

There’s a glorious dynamism to the underwater world. The interactions between myriad different species and their habitats can seem random, chaotic even.

Yet there’s method in the madness – nature loves a pattern, from clever camouflage to the effects of wave action to the endless repetition of self-cloning corals. Zoom in and you’ll spot more patterns still, in the elaborate textures that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Miguel Ramirez’s fascinating close up of a striated triggerfish’s mouth is a case in point, the creature appearing somehow tigerish with its stripey, fur-like skin.

Miguel wins an Aggressor Adventures’ liveaboard trip in the Red Sea, Egypt.

Highly commended are Colin Marshall’s unusual view of a mosaic cushion star and Peter McGee’s southern pygmy leatherjacket. They each receive a year’s print and digital subscription to DIVE Magazine, while the other entries published
receive a digital subscription alone.

Thank you all for entering. For our next issue, we’re asking you to vote for your favourite image from this year’s Big Shot underwater photography competitions – a portfolio of the winner’s work will feature in a future issue.

Watch out for the competition link in the coming days – and sign up for our newsletter below so you don’t miss out!

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OVERALL WINNER

ALL MOUTH, by Miguel Ramirez

During a night dive off Réunion Island, my eye was drawn to some strange colours at the bottom of a cavity: it turned out to be a striated triggerfish.

Shot with: Nikon D500, Hugyfot housing, 85mm lens, Inon Z330 strobes; f25, 1/200, ISO 200

HIGHLY COMMENDED

KALEIDOSCOPE by Colin Marshall

I took this picture of the underside of a mosaic cushion star in Laha, Ambon, a muck diving site in Indonesia. The species is named for its resemblance to a pin cushion.

Shot with: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 60 mm f2.8, Subal housing; f10, 1/200 ISO 200

HIGHLY COMMENDED

HOLD TIGHT by Peter McGee

Southern pygmy leatherjackets, like this one I spotted in Chowder Bay, Sydney, Australia, bite onto sponges and seaweed at night to avoid drifting away on the current.

Shot with: Sony NEX-7, 30mm Sony macro lens; f16, 1/100, ISO 200

FEATHER ANGEL by Wayne MacWilliams

I used my wife’s camera on a micro dive in the Philippines. It has built-in filters that allow your creative juices to flow.

Shot with: Olympus Tough TG-4, Olympus housing, Sea & Sea D2 strobes; f9, 1/50, ISO 125

ENTANGLED by Carmen Sánchez Carnero

A close-up of a cabbage coral off Atauro Island, Timor-Leste. These twisting patterns showcase the reef’s hidden complexity.

Shot with: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, 14 mm lens, Backscatter housing; f6.3, 1/60, ISO 200

RIPPLE EFFECT by James Ferrara

While free diving in the Bahamas, I had the privilege of sharing the water with several beautiful tiger sharks. As one swam beneath me, I took a deep breath, before hovering above until the perfect moment arrived to frame the curve of the shark against the patterned sand below.

Shot with: Sony A7R2, Zeiss Batis 18mm f2.8, Nauticam housing; f5, 1/1000, ISO 200

ON THE MOVE by Ariane Hinkel

This lightning flatworm lived up to its name, speeding across the reef at Pulau Hantu, Singapore and flashing its vivid stripes in striking patterns.

Shot with: OM System OM-1 Mark II, 90mm macro lens, Nauticam housing, AOI Q1 RC strobe; f8, 1/250, ISO 200

MAGIC EYE by Miguel Ramirez

During a recent stay in Wakatobi I was lucky enough to see crocodile fish. I was immediately drawn to their eyes, which have unique patterns and textures. I was able to get close enough to take this almost full-frame photo.

Shot with: Nikon D500, 85mm lens, Hugyfot housing, Inon Z330 strobes; f29, 1/200, ISO 100

PEAK DISTRICT by Colin Marshall

These brain corals near Menjangan Island in western Bali can form huge mounds.

Shot with: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 60 mm f2.8, Subal housing, Ikon Z240 strobes; f16, 1/250, ISO 200

SOFT FOCUS by Shinto K Anto

A glimpse into the delicate gills of a nudibranch, in Tulamben, Indonesia.

Shot with: Sony A7RIII, AOI UCL-900PRO lens, Isotta housing, Weefine video lights; f10, 1/160 ISO 640

GUARDIANS OF THE REEF by Catherine Holmes

Stony coral polyps emerge at night to feed and perform gas exchange.

Shot with: Olympus EM1 Mark II, 60mm lens, Nauticam housing, Inon Z-240 strobes; f11, 1/100, ISO 200

ON THE ROCKS by James Ferrara

My goal was to capture the diver beneath the ice of Lake Huron as though they were exploring another planet.

Shot with: Sony A7RIII, Sigma 15mm f2.8 DG fisheye lens, Nauticam housing; f9, 1/500, ISO 200

FLOATING FREE by Imogen Manins

Closely related to corals and jellyfish, hydroids often grow attached to shaded rock cliffs and reefs in deeper waters in Port Phillip Bay, Australia.

Shot with: OM System OM-1, M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO, Nauticam housing, Sea & Sea YS-D3 strobes; f16, 1/320, ISO 80

LOOKING UP by Daniel Sly

A stargazer waits in ambush beneath the volcanic sand of Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait.

Shot with: Nikon Z8, Nikon 105mm f2.8G, Nauticam housing, Retra Pro Max strobe; f/16, 1/6, ISO 400

TESSELATIONS by Imogen Manins

The underside of a Tosia australis sea star, at Australia’s Port Phillip Bay.

Shot with: OM System OM-1, M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8, Nauticam, Sea & Sea YS-D3 strobes; f18, 1/250, ISO 200

NOW YOU SEE ME by Vanessa Mignon

A perfectly camouflaged small crinoid shrimp in the Philippines.

Shot with: Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 50mm lens, Nauticam housing, Inon Z-240 strobes; f16, 1/200 ISO 200

BABY BLUE by Michael Gallagher

Juvenile emperor angelfish, spotted in an overhang off the west coast of Mauritius.

Shot with: Canon EOS 5DS, Canon 50mm lens, Hugyfot housing, Inon Z-240 strobes; f16, 1/200, ISO 400

GOING GREEN by Daniel Sly

A striped triplefin rests on a patch of hard coral.

Shot with: Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S Micro 105mm f2.8, Nauticam housing, Inon Z-330 strobes; f/18, 1/100, ISO 500

Big Shot Patterns & Textures – the winners!