On a Full Belly by Umberto Raganato — Macro 1st place — Santa Caterina di Nardò, LE — See in the Sea 2025 international underwater photography contest

Photobook International Underwater Photocontest

The winning images 2025

Black and White Macro Wide Angle Mediterranean Portfolio

The leadership

President of Ortona Sub

Paolo De Iure

"I have asked myself many times, staring in silence at this black screen... Fragments of blue overlap with blurred faces, the hushed echo of light bubbles, distant waves, suspended sensations scented with sun, salt, sea water... shifting colours and forms where nothing is what it seems... In a now distant past I tried to tell the story of our journey, a meeting of gazes, passions fused to create a story, the thrill of an irrational vision, the magic of searching beyond the horizon..."

Technical Director

Giuseppe Pignataro

Many years have passed since the first time I was considered as a jury member at a photography contest. Many years, in which I have asked myself many questions and found answers. What is certain is that photography changes over the years, in the way we frame it, light it, and make visible what was once invisible, through communicative languages and hidden stories. Today, in my role as technical director, I coordinate logistics, safety and judging criteria, ensuring the quality standard of the contest. This is what I believe in, this is what I seek through the expertise and the eyes of the jury.

Jury

The judges

Pasquale Vassallo

Pietro Formis

Domy Tripodi

Preface

A year of images
from the silence of the sea

Twelve authors, four categories, a single language: light.

This volume gathers the photographs awarded at the 2025 edition of See in the Sea, the international contest dedicated to underwater photography.

Every shot is an encounter. With a subject, with a lighting condition, with an unrepeatable instant. Turn the pages slowly.

01 Black and White
02 Macro
03 Wide Angle
04 Mediterranean Portfolio

Category

Black and
White

Three authors. Three monochrome visions.

1st place — Black and White

Playful Encounter

Marco Domenicucci, Tonga Islands, Oceania

An adult female humpback whale, calm and curious, grants me a long, close encounter in the waters of Vava'u, Tonga — a major breeding site during the austral winter. Meetings like this reveal the social intelligence and extraordinary sensitivity of these giants of the sea.

2nd place — Black and White

Ctenophore

Alessandro Grasso, Portofino Marine Protected Area

This monochrome print captures the intricate structure of a Ctenophore, laying bare its almost total transparency. The inner light, stripped of its natural iridescence, focuses here on the geometry of the comb rows, making tangible the invisible boundary between organism and abyss.

3rd place — Black and White

Face to Face

Yves Guenot, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

During a night dive, this curious squid approached us, drawn in by our lights. Their curiosity matches their unpredictability — often you have only a few seconds to take a shot, unique, as in this case.

Face to Face by Yves Guenot — Black and White 3rd place — North Sulawesi, Indonesia — See in the Sea 2025 international underwater photography contest

Category

Macro

The invisible, a palm away from the lens.

1st place — Macro

On a Full Belly

Umberto Raganato, Santa Caterina di Nardò, LE

During a summer night dive, a small jellyfish catches my eye — similar to many I've photographed before. This one, however, is different: inside it sits a tiny fish in larval stage.

2nd place — Macro

Contours of Light

Giancarlo Mazarese

A hairy frogfish (Antennarius striatus) photographed with two flashes. The first, backlit, with snoot and yellow filter, outlined the subject's contours, highlighting the transparencies and filamentous structures of the body. The second flash was focused on the eye to preserve a natural chromatic rendering at the point of greatest interest. The absence of ambient light and the black background exalted the play of light and shadow, letting shape, volume and texture define the image.

The mark of man in contrast
with the courage of the sea.

Piercing, Renata Romeo, Hurghada, Egypt

Piercing by Renata Romeo — Macro 3rd place — Hurghada, Egypt — See in the Sea 2025 international underwater photography contest

Steel scars on a teapot Platax: the mark of man in contrast with the courage of the sea. The testimony of a fragment of life that carries the weight of our passing, without surrender.

Category

Wide
Angle

Space, scale, ambient light.

1st place — Wide Angle

… what a shot!

Marco Giuliano, Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, Indonesia

A few metres from the shore, near the beach of the resort hosting me, a huge patch of sargassum floats: their ideal habitat, where they camouflage themselves almost invisibly. Among those leaves, three frogfish watch me, motionless.

2nd place — Wide Angle

The Opportunist

Marco Gargiulo, Monte di Procida, Naples

A blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) roams the shallow seabed inside a small fishermen's harbour. Scraps from professional fishing are thrown onto the bottom and thus easy prey for a free, effortless snack.

3rd place — Wide Angle

Alien World

Enrico Pompei, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

In South Africa, in False Bay, cold nutrient-rich currents fuel the incredible biodiversity of cold-water reefs. In the photograph, a Puffadder Shyshark (Haploblepharus edwardsii) hides among the sponges and soft corals of the reef.

Alien World by Enrico Pompei — Wide Angle 3rd place — False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa — See in the Sea 2025 international underwater photography contest

Category

Mediterranean
Portfolio

Three authors, three triptychs. Nine readings of a single sea.

1st place — Mediterranean Portfolio

Mimmo Roscigno

Angry

Marina Grande, Sorrento

A large Mediterranean lobster raises its powerful claws in a plainly defensive posture, perhaps disturbed by my approach as I tried to capture that instant.

Primordial Broth

Saline Joniche, RC

During a night dive in the Strait of Messina, a stargazer fish makes its way through a great cloud of tiny shrimp.

Forever

Santa Croce Bank, Gulf of Naples

The photograph shows two crinoid symbiont shrimp, the male on the right and the female on the left. They live in symbiosis with this yellow crinoid — an echinoderm, a close relative of sea urchins and starfish.

2nd place — Mediterranean Portfolio

Francesco Visintin

Sepiola

Argentario, Cala Grande, Grosseto

A moment suspended in the half-light of the Mediterranean, where the delicacy of the subject meets the precision of the light.

Common Octopus

Argentario, Cala Grande, Grosseto

A common octopus on a rock at Cala Grande, Argentario, at about 30 metres depth. Here I sought a balance between artificial light and environment to preserve naturalness and three-dimensionality, integrating the subject into its habitat.

Common Cuttlefish

Forte dei Marmi, Lucca

Taken in front of the beach of Forte dei Marmi at about 4 metres depth, it shows three cuttlefish aligned before an abandoned but still active fish trap. I spent over 30 minutes with them, shooting more than 1,200 frames: it was extraordinary to watch the continuous colour changes during their interactions, while they ignored both the sand crabs — their usual prey — and the trap, often a place of egg-laying but also a potential snare.

3rd place — Mediterranean Portfolio

Marc Casanovas

Lophius

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) inhabits both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This specimen stands out as the largest I've had the chance to photograph in recent years, measuring almost a metre and a half in length. Its imposing size and unusual appearance make it one of the most remarkable predators of these waters.

Nesting Syndrome

Mediterranean Sea

Nests play a crucial role in the reproductive biology of Symphodus cinereus. This species builds its nests on the seafloor, typically in areas with sandy or gravelly substrates, often near seagrass meadows. The male attracts females to his nest and, after egg-laying, takes on the responsibility of their protection and care.

Guarding the Next Generation

Mediterranean Sea

A Diplecogaster bimaculata, a clingfish native to the Mediterranean, intent on protecting its clutch. The small dots with visible eyes are embryos developing inside adhesive capsules attached to the surface. Parental care includes constant fanning of the eggs to ensure oxygenation and to shield them from predators and sediment — behaviours crucial to the survival of the offspring.

Colophon