Wildlife Photo Competition 4 2014 : Entry Number 62

The black and white makes an eery atmosphere for this fierce looking pike. I love the underwater detail of the wreck, the urchin and distant fish which all add to this original shot. Well done.

My name is Tanya Houppermans, and I took this photograph off the coast of North Carolina while diving on the USS Schurz at a depth of 105 feet. This particular barracuda was about 3 feet long, and was just hovering slightly above the wreck. I had to get as close as possible since I was using a wide angle fisheye lens, and I was afraid that the barracuda would swim away as I got close. But on the contrary, it stayed put and let me take several shots from different angles, all the while watching me. When I viewed this image later, I was disappointed with the colors, so I tried converting it to black and white in post processing using Silver Efex. I was very pleased with the mood of the image in black and white, and with just some slight cropping and sharpening, it turned out to be one of my favorite images that I've shot. Taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1, Lumix 8mm f/3.5 fisheye, Nauticam housing, dual Sea&Sea YS-D1 strobes.