Run by the British Society of Underwater Photographers from Plymouth’s Mount Batten marine centre, the competition challenges divers to set forth and get the best shots they can on the day.
A number of local boats ferried the participants to their sites of choice.
Possibilities including the waters of Plymouth Sound, the seabeds off Rame and Wembury heads, and the wrecks of the WWII Liberty ship James Egan Layne and the decommissioned frigate Scylla.
Diver could also go further afield by car if they wished, the rules simply dictating that they should get their results back to the competition office by the close of play.
Dr Tim Priest, from Solihull, was the overall winner with a shot of a spider crab captured off Hillsea Point at a depth of about 15m, operating from the charter boat Maid Maggie 2.
The sun, he told Divernet, was “popping in and out” and visibility had been “about 4m”.
Priest achieved the shot using a new Nikon D800 camera on only its third sea dive and a housing which had arrived that week.
Temporarily lacking strobes and shooting in “quite dark” conditions, he was forced to shoot at high ISO while experimenting with lighting from “the LED light from my Sola 600 [torch]”.
He was “also experimenting with a Sigma 15mm lens on a Kenko teleconverter behind an old Anthis dome designed for a 90-degree field of view, with the aim of reproducing a close-focus wide-angle effect”.
The crab had been “co-operative, but also a little annoyed at my dome a few inches from its face, making a characteristic defensive or threat gesture”.
For winning the Overall Prize, Priest gets to enjoy a seven-day luxury liveaboard holiday for two in the Maldives, excluding flights, provided by Maldives Scuba Tours.
His spider crab shot also won the individual Marine Life category.
Other category winners were Charles Erb, for Mankind in the Sea; Rob White, for Theme - Crustaceans; Martin Davies, for Humorous; and Paula Bailey, for Compact Camera.
Full results, with all winning photographs, prize details and sponsor creditations, can be seen at www.bsoup.org.
Meanwhile, the deadline for entries to the annual Print Competition, run by the BSoUP and DIVER magazine, is 19 September.
An exhibition of finalists and the judging of winners will take place at DIVE 2012, held at the NEC in Birmingham over 27 and 28 October.
Details can be viewed at the BSoUP website (link above). On the home page select 'About', then 'Competitions'.
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