Exceptional patience, unusual skill and a certain degree of rapport with animals were all needed to capture a split image of swans above and below the water as they feed.

The picture by Grant Thomas won first place among British photographers in the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year contest. With more than 5,000 entries, the competition is becoming one of the most interesting photo contests in the world.

“I chose Loch Lomond as the location for this shot due to its idyllic scenery, water access and friendly swans,” said Thomas, who now lives in New Zealand. “My initial idea was to frame a split shot of one swan feeding below the surface. But when I noticed how comfortable they were around me, I was confident, with some patience, I could get that magical shot of the two.”

Martin Edge, one of three judges in the contest, noted how this photograph impressed the judges more and more as they looked at it. The split between water and air forms a perfect curve at the traditional one-third line, with the scene punctuated by blue sky and puffy clouds, he said.

“The eyes have just enough base at the bottom of the frame to look into,” he added. “Like archways, the curved neck of both swans draws the eye even further into the frame.”

Out of the 5,000 images, 110 were called out for awards and featured in the 2018 UPY Yearbook (PDF 37.2 mb), which can be downloaded from the UPY website. A video presenting all the winners can be viewed at the bottom of this page.

“I do not believe that you will find a better selection of underwater images anywhere else, either online, in magazines, books, journals or any other publication I can think of,” said Edge, who has published several of his own books on underwater photography. “In my opinion, this particular edition is a universal experience in superior underwater imagery.

“Since the conception of this competition four years ago, we have seen a number of groundbreaking techniques, which have inspired and encouraged other creative photographers to continue to push the boundaries,” he added.

Speaking of pushing boundaries, the photograph judged to be the overall best in the contest this year is a composite panoramic photograph of a shipwreck by German photographer Tobias Friedrich. One can see amazing details on the cargo deck of the SS Thistlegorm, a British merchant ship sunk by German aircraft in World War II. Trucks carrying motorcycles remain as they were before the ship sank 77 years ago.

The image simply does not work on a small scale, so I’m not showing it on this page. But you can click and zoom in on the award-winning photograph titled “Cycle War.”

The winner in the “Behaviour” category is Filippo Borghi of Italy, who spent two days in shallow water near Osezaki, Japan, to get the shot of a cormorant with a sardine in its mouth.

Edge’s note to the photographer: “Filippo, this is one of my top four images in this year’s competition of UPY. Flawless in every way. Congratulations!”

A picture of three seahorses together in perfect profile was the winner in the “Macro” category. Photographer Shane Gross of Canada placed his off-camera strobe and flashlight on a small tripod behind the trio and waited for them to turn the right way, as the sun set and plankton began to rain down.

One of my favorite photos among the winners is a “highly commended” image in the “Macro” category showing a black-saddle snake eel with a tiny shrimp on the end of its nose. I’ve been writing a lot lately about the Puget Sound food web, and I’ve learned that a key to successful energetics is the size of a predator compared to its prey. This miraculous photo, taken by Italian Marchione dott. Giacomo in Indonesia, captures in fine detail this sense of scale.

From a photo of a tiny shrimp, I’d like to jump to a “highly commended” shot of a killer whale in the “Wide Angle” category. The picture was taken near Skjervoya, Norway, by Tobia Friedrich, the same photographer who revealed the shipwreck Thistlegorm. He noticed a pod of killer whales circling a net filled with herring and used a 8-15 mm fisheye lens to provide a mystical feeling.

“This is an image that transports you to a wondrous moment in an extreme location,” said contest judge Alex Mustard. “Tobi had the inspiration not only to shoot the orca, but to also tell the bigger story with the snow-covered mountains surrounding the fjord.”

The winner in the “Portrait” category showed a sand tiger shark in the midst of a “ball” of bait fish near the wreck of the Caribsea off North Carolina. U.S. photographer Tanya Houppermans laid on her back and aimed her camera upward until the fish parted and she got a clear shot of the shark’s white underbelly.

In another engaging photo by a U.S. photographer, multiple elements — colorful coral, intense sunset and human silhouettes — were all put into a single frame by Brook Peterson. The image, which took third place in “Wide Angle,” was captured in Egypt’s Red Sea.

“This lovely sunset split shot is enhanced with the other snorkelers on the pier,” wrote judge Martin Edge. “Most of us would have avoided them, but Brook had other intentions, which made for a dynamic different image.”

A whimsical image of an underwater campfire — fire under ice — came “highly commended” by the judges in the “Wide Angle” category. Photographer Pekka Tuuri of Finland pulled together a bunch of props to create this picture. Dry ice was used to create bubbles, and a piece of orange gel over a dive light provided the proper color for the “fire.” Pieces of firewood were nailed together, and the sausage came from a local gas station near Kuortane , Finland, the site the frozen-over Kaatiala quarry.

One of the photographs surprised me as an optical illusion, although that was not mentioned in the notes on the photo. When I first looked at the image called “Battle of the Tompots” (click to view), I saw two owl-like eyes staring at me. It looked like the creature had a yellow beak and whispy feathers over both eyes. But this was actually two fish biting each other’s lips as part of a mating battle. The photo, by Henley Spiers, was the winner in the “British Waters Macro” category.

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