The Underwater Photography Guide is now accepting images for the Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition 2013.
There are over $75,000 worth of prizes, including over 35 liveaboard and scuba diving resort packages. Winners will be able to rank the prizes they would like to receive, making it more likely for winners to receive a prize they want.
The competition has 12 categories, including a Novice dSLR category and 3 compact camera categories, giving underwater photographers of all levels a chance to win a great prize. Unique categories include SuperMacro, Cold/ Temperate Water, Nudibranchs, and Divers/ Fashion. The more traditional categories include Wide-Angle, Macro, Marine Life Portraits, and Marine Life Behaviour.
Judges include world-renowned underwater photographers Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman, Tony Wu and Todd Winner. Martin Edge is the author of the most popular book on Underwater Photography on the market , The Underwater Photographer. Marty Snyderman is a still photographer, film producer, author and speaker specialising in the marine environment. He has won many prestigious awards (including an Emmy) and has been featured in many top publications including National Geographic. Tony Wu is a renowned underwater photographer and author of Silent Symphony. Todd Winner has won over 60 international underwater photo competitions and is author of The Shipwrecks of Truk.
Photos must be submitted on or before the deadline of 10 November 2013. The cost for entry is $10 (US) per photo. If you enter 10 photos you get the 11th free. Photos must be in jpeg format and at least 2500 pixels at the longest length.
The rules include directions about Photoshop (or similar imaging software) The organisers admit that Photoshop has become a necessary tool for processing images, but it’s not a substitute for good photography. They allow:
- Global changes; color temperature, brightness, contrast, dodge & burn, sharpening, saturation changes, tonal adjustments, color balance adjustments and changes that can be made using a Camera RAW converter.
- Rotation, flip and flop
- Limited removal of backscatter. This does not mean removing divers, fish, etc.
- Cropping is allowed, but judges often look down on significant cropping.
The competition does not allow:
- Cutting and pasting sections of images from another part of an image or from another image. No cloning objects or composite images. For example, moving fish, reef or any other elements of a photo, adding a glow to simulate a flashlight, or adding a diver or animal silhouette in the background.
- Excessive blurring
- Double exposures.
To enter see the Ocean Art Photo Competition webpage.
