If you’re planning to go head-to-head with a sea creature, it’s probably best to start small.

Only the very brave, or very stupid, would begin a headbutting competition with a 50-ton sperm whale… after all, its head is one third of its overall size.

Nevertheless, here are pictures of a snorkeller doing just that – swimming with his head down right up to a massive whale.

Up close and personal: A lucky snorkeller takes whale-watching to a new level by nudging heads. The amazing photo was taken of Dominica in the Caribbean.

Of course, you can’t make a 60ft animal do anything against its will, so it’s up to the whales to decide if they are in the mood to play. But, when they are feeling sociable, the results lead to amazing pictures like these.

Dominica has become known as the whale-watching capital of the Caribbean. Sperm whales can be seen year-round and – because the ocean floors drops to thousands of feet deep just off the coast – the whales are within easy reach of humans.

Whale of a time: The snapping snorkeller keeps his distance from the giant whale to capture more intimate shots

Read Full Article at Dailymail.co.uk

Mazdak Radjainia has won the Humans category (07:51) and Still Camera video category (27:01). He also came second in the Big Stuff category (07:05).

Ali Perkins has achieved second in the Temperate Waters category (03:21). (The numbers in brackets correspond to times in the video below.)

For those keen underwater photographers out there, here is some information you might find of interest.

Most importantly, read the Underwater Photographer’s Code of Practice.

This book is the bible for underwater photographers, and it’s currently on sale from Fishpond (41% off!). Shout yourself a copy, you won’t regret it.

The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge (Fourth Edition)

I stumbled across this today – Eric Cheng’s Top 10 Underwater Photography Tips. The magnificent photographs will delight you.

Brian Mayes – here is somebody doing incredible things with a Canon G9 in Canon housing (no strobes, no external lights) – his macro photography is inspired and a testament to what can be achieved with a very simple setup by today’s standards.

Get close and shoot up!

Happy shooting,
Ali Perkins
Vice President 2011

Check out the sardine run from 2009 – quite a different story!

You could call it a whale of a “swarm”—the biggest observed gathering of whale sharks was spotted off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula (see map) in 2009, according to a recent study. Snapped from a small plane, the above picture shows a white boat (bottom right) amid the fishy gathering.

Usually the oceans’ biggest fish—which reach lengths of up to 40 feet (12 meters)—stick to themselves as they cruise the world’s tropical waters looking for plankton and other small prey. (See picture: “Smallest Whale Shark Discovered—On a Leash.”)

“To see a group of that many all in one place was phenomenal—to the point where you couldn’t navigate a boat through that without having concern for the fish. That’s impressive,” said study co-author Mike Maslanka, head of the Nutrition Science Department at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia.

Read more at National Geographic

If a photo can say a thousand words, then how much can two, three or five words show in a photo?

This is the question External Relations is hoping keen photographers can answer. The words – campus moments, learning landscape, and holidays – are the three themes for the first holiday card photography competition, which is open to University alumni, students and staff.

Participants may submit up to two photos that capture one, two or all three of the competition themes. The top three entries will be featured on External Relations holiday cards, with the photographer’s name and University affiliation on the back. Winning photos will be selected on composition, how they best capture the chosen theme(s), and suitability for use on a card.

First-place prize is a D7000 Nikon camera with 18-105mm lens, generously donated by TA Macalister. Retailing at $2,539, it has the latest in camera technologies and functions, including a new Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor and new image-processing engine, EXPEED 2. The D7000 is also equipped with the D-Movie function enabling superior video quality in full 1080P HD , as well as an effective pixel count of 16.2-million pixels and improved capability of shooting under dim lighting.

Second- and third-place prizes, also donated by TA Macalister, are a Manfrotto 190CXPRO 3 carbon tripod with 496RC 2 ball head – retail value $1099, and a Lowepro Versapack 200 AW Backpack – Retail value $200. Participants should send one or two photos to alumniphotocomp@gmail.com between Monday, 13 June and Friday, 1 July 2011, along with name, contact details, student or staff ID number (if known), and caption.

Please visit www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/photo-competition for full contest terms and conditions.

We searched and tested hundreds of point & shoot cameras to find the best match between pocket-size portability, price, and the goals of an aspiring underwater photographer.

As we did in 2009, the Backscatter team took ten steps back and examined the hundreds of underwater point & shoot camera options with fresh eyes. We focused a great deal of attention on the lowest priced and smallest sized cameras as our goal was to find a high quality camera that fits in a pocket, will survive a beach party, and can produce great images on an afterwork dive.

We gave cameras a nod for their sex appeal. A sexy camera is fun to hold, fun to use, and more likely to get slipped into a pocket for a night on the town. We found ourselves giving some cameras a second chance, but had to vote them off the island due to poor underwater performance, or otherwise not meeting the needs of an aspiring underwater photographer.

If underwater photography is paramount to your next point & shoot camera decision, we’re confident that you’ll be happy with any of these test finalists on your next land excursion or on your next dive.

Read full article from Backscatter.

Read about the evolution of underwater photography, from the early underwater colour photographs taken in 1926 to photographs of the Titanic on the seabed – on National Geographic.