UPY 2025

UPY  Up & Coming - Third
'Glowing Goby'
Mario Vitalini

We spent a lot of time shore diving a busy cleaning station at around 23m, where this emperor angelfish was a frequent visitor. I wanted to use it as a colourful, graphic canvas on which to capture the cleaning behaviour of the Lysmata shrimp.

Judge's comment: Peter Rowlands: Here is a perfect example of how to light a subject to great effect but backlighting can introduce problems of its own and enhance any backscatter. The lovely contrast between the rich black background and the translucent body of the fish combined with a powerful diagonal composition make this a very effective image.