Winner, British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP) - Focus on Big Animals competition. August 2015

Tiger Shark in Sunrays.

Judged by Alex Tattersall - founder UnderWaterVisions/Nauticam UK.

"I chose this shot as it is compositionally and artistically the most beautiful in the series to my eye. The light is well managed, the surrounding reef is lit nicely and the impressiveness of the shark is well translated in the image. It is likely this shot was taken as part of a shark feed in the Bahamas but we do not see the chaos of chum and divers everywhere from this image. It is not the most original of shots but it kept coming back to me as my favourite."

This was taken early in the morning at about 10 o'clock, when light from the sun was streaming through clear, cobalt water giving a lovely spotlight effect. I'd been watching this mysterious shadow skirting the periphery of the shallows for a little while. I knew it was a Tiger shark from the size and shape and of course, where we were diving - but it was well out of range.

I wanted to capture the amazing natural habitat with the shark just cruising its territory, doing its own thing. So it was a case of finding the optimum place where the sunrays played ball and then wait for the star of the show to come in closer to investigate. And if you give them a little space and time, they'll do just that ...

Gold on the ceiling!

15mm fisheye lens @ 1/200 secs. f/13 ISO 200. Twin INON s2000 strobes.

Location: Tiger Beach, The Bahamas

Photographer: Laura Storm