Light is a photographer’s most important tool, and shadow its inevitable consequence. For our Big Shot Light and Shadow competition, however, we wanted to focus on images where these elements are not just present, but make a material difference to how the subject would otherwise appear.
Nur Tucker’s image of a blue-ringed octopus framed in glowing red was an obvious winner. Nur’s use of the red backlight lends the octopus a dark and menacing aspect while clearly retaining its distinctive skin colouration – a novel and creative composition of a well-used subject. She wins a liveaboard trip to Belize worth $3,695 courtesy of Aggressor Adventures.
Michael Gallagher’s beautiful macro shot of a goby silhouetted against a brightly-lit whip coral, yet still capturing the fish’s eye takes second place and Cathy Holmes’ iconic picture of a motorcycle on board the wreck of the SS Thistlegorm takes third. Both win a year’s print and digital subscription to DIVE. Fantastic highly commended pictures from Christian Horras, Ian Uhalt, Fabi Fregonesi and JillAnne McCarty round out the best from this issue’s competition, and each win a year’s digital subscription.
For our next competition, the theme is artistic creativity. We want you to use your skills with not just the camera, but lenses, lighting and post-processing software to create images that are more than just photographs. How you do that is entirely up to you – as long as it’s crafted by you, and not an AI bot. Enter on our website before 3 June 2026 for the chance to win an Aggressor Adventures liveaboard trip to the Cayman Islands worth $3,495.
DIVE’s Big Shot Creative – enter here
Winner DIVE’s Big Shot Light and Shadow
RINGS OF FIRE by Nur Tucker
Rings of Fire by Nur Tucker
I’m a former investment banker but left London’s trading floors for the tranquillity of the ocean. Since then I’ve become an award-winning underwater and wildlife photographer, recognised in major international competitions including Most Promising British Underwater Photographer of the Year in the UPY contest, Master Photographer of the Competition at the Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year, and winner of the Seascapes category of the United Nations World Oceans Day Photo Competition. I aim to use my photography to reveal the beauty and mystery of marine life to non-diving audiences and inspire greater appreciation for the ocean.
During a muck dive in the famous Lembeh Strait, my dive guide Opo and I encountered one of the ocean’s smallest yet most dangerous predators – a blue-ringed octopus.
I had photographed them many times before but this time I wanted to create a dramatic, sculptural portrait that would reveal its form and electric blue rings in a new way.
The challenge began immediately. I signalled to Opo that I wanted to try a backlit shot, but the octopus had other plans and refused to stay still. What followed was an intense underwater dance.
I had to keep pace with the octopus while controlling my buoyancy so as not to stir up the sea bed, at the same time maintaining precise focus on its tiny eyes and coordinating with Opo so that the red backlight would outline the animal perfectly. For a few brief seconds everything aligned, and the moment I captured the frame I knew I had a strong image.
Shot with: Sony A1, 90mm lens in Nauticam housing, 2 x Retra Pro strobes and Inon narrow beam torch with red filter. f/8, 1/200s, ISO 500
Instagram @nurtuckerphotography
Second place
GOBY IN THE SPOTLIGHT by Michael Gallagher
Goby in the Spotlight by Michael Gallagher
I am originally from Australia but have lived in London for the past 25 years where I work as a banking and finance lawyer. I’ve been diving all my adult life, and taking underwater photographs since 1995, which all helps to keep me calm and grounded!
I took this picture of a whip coral goby perched on top of its host in Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea in 2009. I was experimenting a lot with my lighting, playing around with using either one or two strobes, plus a homemade snoot. I was delighted with this image, spotlighting the goby’s eye with the rest of the fish silhouetted against the lit whip coral behind it.
Shot with: Canon 50D with 60mm macro lens, Hugyfot housing, 2 x Ikelite DS-125 strobes plus homemade snoot. f22, 1/200sec, ISO 200
Instagram @scubamichael99
Third place
ELLE’S BIKE by Cathy Holmes
Elle’s Bike by Cathy Holmes
Originally from Australia and now based in England, I’m an underwater photographer, dentist, and watercolour artist, driven by a passion for protecting our fragile underwater ecosystems. I have been honoured at the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition in 2025 and 2026, and was crowned Underwater winner of the GDT European Wildlife Photographer 2023.
I find profound calm in the beauty and silence of the underwater world, and photography allows me to share these experiences in the hope of inspiring essential environmental change.
Photographed in 2024, ‘Elle’s Bike’ is a 1940 BSA M20 motorcycle which rests in the second hold of the SS Thistlegorm, a British Merchant Navy ship sunk on 6 October 1941 by German bombers in the Strait of Gubal, in Egypt’s northern Red Sea.
We positioned off-camera strobes and video lights behind the wheels using backlighting to create distinct beams and define the silhouette against the cavernous interior. A small window of natural light provides essential perspective and a resident starfish in the foreground highlights the vibrant biodiversity that now inhabits this site of conflict.
Technically, the environment demanded a delicate balance, so I opted for a slow shutter speed and high ISO to expose for the deep shadows, while low-power strobes provided fill-flash to reveal the rusted textures of the bike without overpowering the ambient mood.
Shot with: Nikon D500, Nauticam housing, Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lens; f/13, 1/10, ISO 1600
Instagram @catherineholmes.photography
Highly commended
MANTA DANCE by Christian Horras
Manta Dance by Christian Horras. (Photo: Christian Horras)
I am an underwater photographer from Germany. I have always been fascinated by the beautiful, rich colours of coral reefs and admired underwater pictures from the first time I saw them.
I became a certified diver in 2013, and in 2015 decided to buy a camera and underwater housing to show my friends and family the beauty of a world that many of them had never experienced. Since then, my pictures have been published in various magazines and have been awarded in several international competitions.
I took this picture on a still tropical night in the Maldives. The powerful lamps of the dive boat attract plankton, which in turn attracts mantas. Photographing this moment was a challenge as the contrast between the bright lights and the surrounding darkness created a difficult lighting situation.
Too much exposure and the highlights would blow out; too little and the manta would dissolve into the black water. I spent nearly two hours experimenting with settings and angles, waiting for the manta to pass through the frame in just the right way.
Each attempt required careful timing and patience so as not to disturb the animal. By the time the image finally came together, my camera battery was nearly exhausted and the memory card almost full, and I had missed dinner on the boat. Spending time in the water with those majestic animals, however, was more than worth sacrificing a meal.
Shot with: Nikon D810, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, Isotta Housing. 1/200s, f4, ISO 640
Instagram @christian.horras
Highly commended
SANTA BARBARA SEA LIONS by Ian Uhalt
Santa Barbara Sea Lions by Ian Uhalt
I woke to the sound of waves lapping against the hull of the Pacific Star liveaboard, having travelled 61 kilometres overnight to our anchorage on Santa Barbara Island off the coast of Los Angeles.
I jumped into the water hoping to find the sprawling kelp forests and sea lion rookery, and in no time at all I was being buzzed by a sea lion. Trying to get photos of these agile animals is a challenge, but that morning, the water was clear and the light angled through the kelp.
It felt like I was trying to play sea lion mind reader as I tracked the up-and-down pattern of two playful pups with my camera. Eventually, they lined up with each other, as I aligned my angle to catch the sun behind them. I switched off the flash to avoid backscatter, but getting the exposure right came down to both years of experience with my camera and knowing how to seamlessly make adjustments with the housing.
The moments with these two sea lion pups and the light went so quickly, and I had no idea if I got the shot until I returned home at the end of the weekend. As a school teacher, I get a few trips a year to pursue the perfect shots, and this proved to be one of them.
Shot with: Nikon D810, Tokina 10-17mm lens, Aquatica AD 810 housing, Sea & Sea YS-D3 strobes. 1/400s, ISO 300, f10
Instagram @ian.uhalt.images
Highly commended
THE SHOT: CAVE’S SHADOW by Fabi Fregonesi
The Shot: Cave’s Shadow by Fabi Fregonesi. (Photo: Fabi Fregonesi)
I am an underwater photographer and visual storyteller from Brazil. After a 20-year career leading sales teams in the corporate world, I transitioned in 2024 to dedicate myself full-time to photography. My work is focused on documenting marine life and underwater environments to support ocean conservation and create narrative-driven imagery.
This image was captured at Caverna da Sapata, a dive site in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, Brazil. My objective was to position myself deep within the cave, using the entrance as a natural frame to create a high-contrast silhouette of the diver against the exterior light. I planned the composition specifically for a black-and-white post-processing edit.
The primary technical challenge was managing everything without the use of artificial lighting. I relied entirely on ambient light to preserve the atmosphere and the definition of the silhouette, which required precise camera settings to avoid blowing out the highlights at the cave’s mouth while maintaining enough detail in the shadows.
Success relied heavily on pre-dive preparation. I conducted a detailed briefing with the model before entering the water, ensuring he understood the exact position required to achieve a clean profile against the light.
Shot with: Canon 5D Mark IV, Nauticam housing, 28-70mm lens with Nauticam Wide Angle Conversion Port, natural light. 1/100s, f/7.1, ISO 800
Instagram @fabi_dive
Highly commended
LERU CUT by JillAnne McCarty
Leru Cut by JillAnne McCarty
Raised in coastal Santa Barbara, California, USA, my earliest memories include marvelling at life in the local tide pools. Upon retiring after a career as an ophthalmologist, I’ve rekindled my passion for scuba diving, capturing the underwater world through photography, and making creative images to call attention to the imperative of safeguarding this awe-inspiring and vital ecosystem.
I think of every dive as a wonderful adventure where new discovery is routine. The creation of compelling images to share these unique experiences is a most gratifying reward.
The renowned Leru Cut allows radiant sunlight to penetrate the Solomon Sea’s pristine waters through a narrow chasm, pouring light from the jungle canopy to the seabed.
This natural spectacle occurs for only minutes each day when the sun is optimally positioned overhead. Most images of this iconic location are composed from the opposite perspective, toward the open ocean, but the moody effect and emphasis on the chasm’s ‘God rays’ are created by photographing a diver swimming in the opposite direction.
Descending 60 feet (18 m) to the seabed, I shot upward using only ambient light, intending to turn around to capture the open sea as a background. The sunbeams were ephemeral on this cloudy day, vanishing shortly after this shot was made, but the unconventional composition imbued this image with a timeless and dramatic effect.
Shot with: Nikon D850, Nikon 8-15 mm Fisheye Lens, Nauticam housing, ambient light. 1/60s, f8, ISO 640
Instagram @jillmccartyimages
Enter our Summer ’26 Big Shot Creative competition!
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