Ocean Art is one of those photo contests that shows us the underwater world that we can’t see all that often, if at all. The contest has just announced its winners, and as always – they didn’t disappoint.

This year’s overall winner, or The Best of Show, is Luc Rooman from Belgium with his photo titled Snoeken. It was captured during a night dive in October 2021 near Antwerp, Belgium. “To my surprise, I came across these fighting pike,” Luc tells about his image. “I was lucky enough to photograph a whole series of pictures of these two pikes.” He took the photo with a Nikon D810 and a Nikon 60 mm lens protected by Hugyfot underwater housing and used Subtonic strobes to light his subjects. Luc also shares the settings he used: f/14, 1/125s, ISO 200.

In addition to the overall winner, Ocean Art recognizes winners and honorary mentions in thirteen different categories. The Black &White category is brand new, introduced this year, and three of the categories are dedicated to the best photos taken with compact cameras. Luc’s winning image was also selected as the best in the Marine Life Behavior category.

Take a look at the category winners and runner-ups below. And if you’re up for some more underwater photography, you can look at the 2019 and 2021 winners, too.

Wide Angle

Macro

Marine Life Behavior

Portrait

Coldwater

Nudibranch

Blackwater

Underwater Conservation

Underwater Art

Black & White

Compact Wide Angle

Compact Macro

Compact Behavior