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7TH Annual Our World International Underwater Photo & Video Competition
HOSTED BY WETPIXEL & DIVEPHOTOGUIDE.COM 
The Our World Underwater international underwater photography and video competition, now in its 7th year, has become one of the biggest and most respected photography competitions in the world. The competition not only celebrates the beauty of the ocean, but the art of underwater photography as well.
The OWU competition, together with the DEEP Indonesia competition, are a unique series with a the prize pool of over $100,000. Winners also achieve the glory of being named one of the world’s best underwater photographers, the respect of their peers, and their images will be exposed to millions of readers of dive, travel and photography magazines and websites worldwide. Esteemed judges will include leading professional underwater photographers, cinematographers and magazine editors from around the world.
Underwater photographers of all levels, from novice to professionals, will compete in what has become the “Superbowl” of international underwater imagery events, for over $60,000 in world-class prizes! Additionally, Best of Show will receive an additional cash prize of 1,000 Euros!
The unique competition series was founded and hosted by the popular underwater photography websites DivePhotoGuide.com and Wetpixel.com. The competition is held in association with the Our World Underwater dive expo in Chicago.
** Deadline for submissions Jan 23, 2012 **
Winners will be announced live on stage during the Our World Underwater film festival in Chicago, and will be revealed here on UnderwaterCompetition.com, and will be published by supporting media partners worldwide shortly thereafter. Winning videos will be broadcast as episodes of the iTunes-featured DiveFilm Podcast Video.
The entry fees are $10 per image or video entered. As with all UnderwaterCompetition.com events, 15% of entry proceeds will be donated to marine conservation efforts.
Register and Enter Competition
Categories
Any underwater image of a 7×5 inch or smaller picture area. The “Traditional” divisions allow for the adjustment of brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness only. Cropping, cloning, and other digital manipulation is not allowed in this category. This restriction on digital manipulation will enable people who are not as savvy at Photoshop to compete on more-or-less even ground as those with more experience. It also highlights composition and lighting skills by not allowing cropping and cloning. Before selecting winning entries, we reserve the right to audit your original RAW or JPG files. Our judges are digital photography experts, so please do not submit cropped or manipulated entries in this category.
Any underwater image of a 7×5 inch or smaller picture area.The “Unrestricted” divisions have no such rules regarding digital manipulation. Anything goes, but as we are not running a digital manipulation contest, you should exercise care in the decisions that you make.
Any underwater image of a 24mm x 36mm (0.95in x 1.4in) or smaller picture area. The “Traditional” divisions allow for the adjustment of brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness only. Cropping, cloning, and other digital manipulation is not allowed in this category. This restriction on digital manipulation will enable people who are not as savvy at Photoshop to compete on more-or-less even ground as those with more experience. It also highlights composition and lighting skills by not allowing cropping and cloning. Before selecting winning entries, we reserve the right to audit your original RAW or JPG files. Our judges are digital photography experts, so please do not submit cropped or manipulated entries in this category.
Underwater images larger than a 7×5 inch picture area. The “Traditional” divisions allow for the adjustment of brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness only. Cropping, cloning, and other digital manipulation is not allowed in this category. This restriction on digital manipulation will enable people who are not as savvy at Photoshop to compete on more-or-less even ground as those with more experience. It also highlights composition and lighting skills by not allowing cropping and cloning. Before selecting winning entries, we reserve the right to audit your original RAW or JPG files. Our judges are digital photography experts, so please do not submit cropped or manipulated entries in this category.
Underwater images larger than a 7×5 inch picture area. The “Unrestricted” divisions have no rules regarding digital manipulation. Anything goes, but as we are not running a digital manipulation contest, you should exercise care in the decisions that you make.
Underwater images of all kinds, taken by point ‘n shoot, non-SLR digital cameras. In this category, no entries from scanned slides or digital SLRs will be accepted. Although there exist many great underwater images taken by point ‘n shoot cameras, it is often difficult for them to compete with SLRs when it comes to image quality. In this category, digital manipulation is allowed, but as we are not running a digital manipulation contest, you should exercise care in the decisions that you make. Please not that any camera with interchangeable lenses is not considered a compact, and should not be submitted into this category
Since participating in competitions is a way to progress one’s photography, we have established a new Novice category. This category is specifically for amateur and novice photographers who do not want to compete with more established photographers. Ultimately the final decision to compete in this category is yours, however, we have established some basic guidelines and restrictions. 1. Have been shooting underwater less than 5 years 2. Never placed (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in a major competition 3. Never won more than $100 (value) in a photo competition 4. Never licensed an image for more than $100.
Non-wildlife focused underwater images of commercial, conceptual or fashion related subjects. Images can be shot in a pool or in the wild, but the primary subject should not be wildlife.
Any film five minutes or less in duration, and at least 50% of the footage must be shot underwater.
Celebrity judges include leading professional underwater photographers, cinematographers and magazine editors. A formal announcement of judges will follow.
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