UPY 2024

UPY  Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'Honu Sunburst'
Renee Capozzola

This image of three green sea turtles circling beneath the sun was captured in Maui, Hawaii near a known cleaning station where these turtles often congregate. On this particular morning, the water was clear and the sun's rays were perfect at a shallow depth, so I set my camera to a low ISO, high shutter speed, and small aperture, wanting to obtain a nice sunburst shot of a turtle. During this dive, I uncharacteristically only took a total of a dozen images or so, spending the majority of my time just watching the resident turtles nearby, not wanting to disturb them and hoping they would get into a nice formation or display an uncommon behavior. When I saw these three turtles starting to come together, I slowly approached them underneath making sure to not exhale any bubbles and waited for the exact moment to capture this unique composition.

Judge's comment: Such a beautiful image. It's the precise position of each individual turtle which grabs my attention. Each turtle is in such a position to bring about good eye contact. The sun burst is bright but not over exposed in any way. One of my favourites.
- Martin Edge