We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for December 2025 has been chosen. Congratulations to Lukas Heuss with his photo "Horrifying barracuda".
Lukas wins a free stay at the RSDS village of his choice congratulations again!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
Two predators at either end of the size scale were my two favourite pictures this month for the close of 2025.
Other noteworthy close runs to mention were a couple of dramatic looking turtles, a lovely swimming example against a sun pierced blue surface by William Brown and a headshot by Nikita Kostylev.
Then there was a dramatic close cropped Lionfish against a black background by Rudolf Gonda.
I also liked the tiny Damsel Fish in a sea of tentacles by Susi Rosadini but I felt that it could have benefited from a bit of a crop as I found the left hand top part of the shot with no Anemone Tentacles a bit distracting and it would have looked better with just tentacles and Damsel Fish to highlight the scale.
And Dirk Van Winkels shot of a Peppered Moray was cute and framed well.
In the end though my two different sized predator choices were my final pair from Lukas Heuss with the head on shot of a toothsome Barracuda and Pamela Fischers tiny Coral Goby against a nice blue background.
Pamela's shot is the most technically proficient well lit, clean and with a good edit. Whilst Lukas’ shot stands up by framing alone and isn't quite as well edited with a bit of easily removed backscatter that is a bit distracting, however overall and despite its shortcomings I feel it’s a better overall image and so this was my eventual choice of winner. Dramatic and a well caught unusual angle, not an angle you see that often too, so well done Lukas.
Well done to everyone else, and maybe you’d like to join our
Fotofest this year in June?
This workshop is designed for camera users of all experience levels, with any type of underwater camera.
