These incredible underwater images from a scuba diving photography competition will change how you see the ocean

Jamie Hall/Scuba Diving Magazine

• The annual Through Your Lens underwater photography contest by Scuba Diving Magazine has given out its awards for this year's competition.
• The magazine said the images were chosen for their beauty, creativity, and their ability to impact and inspire.
• The winning entry in this year's contest was an upside-down shot of a whale calf.

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A surprising large portion of our planet is underwater, extraordinary and largely unexplored.

As a result, the ocean provides ripe pickings for photography enthusiasts, spoilt by rapidly improving technology.

This year's Through Your Lens photo contest, developed and produced by Scuba Diving magazine, just wrapped up for its 14th year after drawing more than 2100 entries — the full list of winners and honourable mentions are featured in the September/October issue of Scuba Diving and can also be found online here.

The 2019 competition opens on November 1 and is open until May 31, 2019. You can see the full list of categories and official rules here. Scuba Diving said the winning images "were chosen for their beauty and creativity, and further for their ability to impact and inspire".

The prizes were awarded across four categories — wide-angle, conceptual, macro and compact camera. Here's a small selection of the stunning, other-worldly images photographers brought back to the surface.

Yap Katumbal's photo of a small octopus earned him second place

Picture: Yap Katumbal/Scuba Diving Magazine

Katumbal was a runner-up in the compact camera category.

Rodney Bursai managed to create this illusion of a whale floating above the water

Rodney Bursiel/Scuba Diving Magazine

This photo of a whale calf is actually upside-down, to create the appearance of the whale floating above the water.

This eerie snap taken off the coast of Tala Bay earned Alex Dawson the top prize in the wide-angle category

Alex Dawson/Scuba Diving Magazine

Alex Dawson caught this image of an anti-aircraft tank off the coast of Jordan.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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