In its 17th year the Through Your Lens underwater photography contest continues to deliver an extraordinary assortment of undersea images. This year's highlights include a stunning shot of a shrimp helping clean the teeth of a moray eel and a clever composition of a scuba diver under thick ice.
This year, the Through Your Lens contest, which is developed and produced by Scuba Diving Magazine, accrued more than 1,700 submissions spanning four simple categories: Behavior, Wide Angle, Compact and Macro.
The Grand Prize this year went to experienced photographer and marine biologist Lorenzo Mittiga, whose winning shot was taken around his Caribbean home of Bonaire Island and offers a unique portrait of the inquisitive and territorial French angelfish.
"In this case, I was totally concentrated to get a nice front portrait of a less common queen angelfish, shyer and faster, hiding intermittently behind a rock," says Mittiga. "This French angel looked like it wanted to be the prima donna, and it stole the scene."
Another highlight comes in Viktor Lyagushkin's Wide-Angle-category-winning shot contrasting the world under sea ice with a person standing on the surface. Lyagushkin says he spent hundreds of dives looking for this particular shot.
"I dreamed of showing the difference between the surface and under-ice worlds in one shot," says Lyagushkin. "It was not an easy task: The difference in quantity of light under and over the ice was great. I also wanted to include a diver and something on the bottom of the frame."
Take a look through our gallery at all the winners in this year's impressive contest.
Source: Scuba Diving Magazine