13 award-winning underwater photos reveal the magical worlds beneath the ocean's surface

"Pontohi pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus pontohi) is one of the smallest and most recently discovered seahorses," Hoarau wrote. "They usually live on reef walls and can be hard to find. We had found two during the morning dive, so I decided to dedicate the afternoon to getting a backlit photo. We were lucky to find this particular individual hanging out from the wall, allowing the use of a snoot to backlight it with the help of Rando, my dive guide. After setting up the camera and strobe we had to wait for it to get used to us and finally turn toward the camera for a brief moment."

"Due to bad weather at Tiger Beach and in Bimini, we had to look for shelter near Nassau in the Bahamas and do some regular dives," Friedrich wrote. "This wreck was totally new to me and a big surprise when we descended as the bow is hanging almost completely over a sandy overhang."

"I went to Mexico to document these feeding frenzies, but was not expecting such a fast-paced hunt, almost too fast for my brain to process," Iliya wrote. "For a brief moment, this scene unfolded before me and I had to rely on all my instincts and practice underwater to take this photo. I used natural light and stayed on the periphery of the bait-ball so as to try and minimize disturbance. Watching wild animals hunt is one of the greatest spectacles in nature."

"Having dived these waters on two previous occasions, I knew what to expect," Fernie wrote. "However, I needed an elegant model as an essential element for this composition and my immediate companions could not be classified in any way as elegant! Fortunately, there was another photographer in my dingy group whose beautiful model wife was the perfect subject. Somewhat cheekily I managed to capture a few shots of her as she posed for her husband!"

"Such a much deserved winner of this compact category," contest judge Martin Edge wrote about this photo. "The author has made the carp stand out against a colourful background of yellow, greens and reds. The hint of colour in the sky sets this image off to perfection."

"As the Asian sheepshead wrasse grows older, it changes sex from female to male and at the same time it develops a large lump on its head," Ito wrote. "I thought about the lighting and composition so that the image of the bump and the powerful face could be conveyed, and challenged many times. He lives in a shrine under the water and looks just like a guardian deity."

"This particular blenny was standing out proud on a reef ledge, making it an ideal subject," Nimmo wrote. "The image was captured using snooted lighting to emphasise only the face of the blenny, with the snooted light being positioned from above the head enhancing the facial features."

"This wreck truly has become an artificial reef: the wreck attracts the wildlife and both wreck and wildlife attract the divers," Andrews wrote. "Every inch of metal is covered in anemones, seaweeds or sponges, orange and white."

"I had been watching a couple of Mute Swans at my local lake," Wade wrote. "They seemed to be following people around looking for food. I decided to attach a small weight to the back of my GoPro and threw it into the lake a short distance from me ... The GoPro hitting the water had attached the swan's interest and they swam over. I waited until one of the swans was in the correct position and with its head underwater and shot a high-speed burst of images enabling me to capture this picture."

"I had come to this region of Panama to photographing the art of making mola, the traditional clothing that the Guna people wear," Iliya wrote. "While waiting on a boat I flew my drone over this island to get this aerial perspective and give more impact to the image than I could have shooting at sea level or from underwater."

"This final shot is a culmination 25 hours over four nights of lying in darkness, covered in mud, waiting on natures unpredictable elements to align," Kirkland wrote. "Time well spent? Absolutely."

"I swam ahead and waited just beyond the beginning of the permanent mainline watching the team swim towards me, followed closely by the lighting assistants creating those beautiful halo effects," Bennett wrote. "Suddenly everything just lined up perfectly, so I pressed the shutter just as Max turned to tie into the mainline."

"I envisioned and aimed to capture the sharks underwater with the sunset seen through Snell's window," Capozzola wrote. "It took many attempts, but on this one particular evening, the water was calm, the sunset was vibrant, and I got extremely lucky with the composition as well. Since many shark species are threatened with extinction throughout the world, it is my hope that images of these beautiful animals will help promote their conservation."