1. BIMINI, BAHAMAS “This is a species that used to require going all the way to the Red Sea or French Polynesia for just a glimpse of,” says shooter Brandon Cole of the great hammerhead sharks that congregate January through March off South Bimini, an island in the Bahamas 70 miles off Miami. “Bimini offers a shallow, easy, reliable, close-up experience.” Depending on where the operator’s boat anchors, divers will kneel in water depths ranging from 15 to 30 feet. “You can shoot as much as you want — you’re not moving much, and you’re not limited by deco times, but rather how much bait your operator brings.” biggameclubbimini.com

2. GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR “It’s all about the big,” says shooter Tanya G. Burnett of this Ecuador outpost. From hammerheads and whale sharks to mantas and sea lions, the Galapagos are a wide-angle buffet. To take it all in, Burnett recommends keeping your breathing as regular as possible, even if melon-headed whales pass by, as happened on her recent trip. She also says it’s best to set your ISO to 400 at a minimum. “You’re dealing with volcanic rock, which is much darker than the Caribbean’s white sand, so you want to make your settings more sensitive; when things swim by, you’ll have more light to play with.” Burnett sets her focus to infinity to increase the odds of capturing in-focus subjects. Beyond that, be ready for anything. “I’ve had my eyes on whale sharks when a school of tuna passes suddenly.” aggressor.com

3. CHUUK, MICRONESIA “Everyone thinks Truk is all about the deep, but there are amazing opportunities to shoot shallow wrecks and atop deeper ones,” says Brandon Cole of World War II mecca Chuuk Lagoon. He advises that shooters first create a shot wish list. Upon arrival, talk with the divemasters to learn how to capture these opportunities. “Shinkoku Maru on the outside is stunning,” he says. “The deck guns are covered in soft corals, so you can challenge yourself to portray this as a weapon or just a coral garden.” He also stresses being realistic: Some photo ops are iconic but not necessarily within reach for all divers, such as the so-called R2D2 of the Fujikawa Maru, deep within the wreck. Instead, Cole suggests contenting yourself with the wealth of more-accessible subject matter. trukodyssey.com

4. PHILIPPINES With more than 7,000 islands, it’s no wonder the Philippines tends to overwhelm photographers looking for their next travel target. “I always tell everyone that the diving there delivers incredibly well — you can’t go too far wrong,” says photographer Alex Mustard. “You could argue there is nowhere better for macro,” he says. “So much so that people tend to forget that the reefs are so healthy and incredibly good for wide-angle.” When asked to list his favorite Philippine subjects, he mentions thresher sharks, turtles, and whale sharks in the wild, plus those attracted to the fishing nets — so you’re guaranteed encounters with these filter feeders. Plus, the country has a handful of shipwrecks. “It’s got everything you could want.” turtlebaydiveresort.com

5. CAYMAN ISLANDS “Because Grand Cayman is so established, people tend to forget how much cool stuff is there,” says Alex Mustard, who offers image-making training courses here twice a year. “Diving is most productive when you have abundant subject matter that’s reliably there,” he says. “And Cayman has turtles and stingrays as reliable subjects, plus the Kittiwake, which we call the Wreck of a Thousand Faces — it’s just the right size to shoot from so many angles.” Cayman Brac and Little Cayman also offer plentiful subjects, from stunning vistas on Bloody Bay Wall to the wreck of the Capt. Keith Tibbetts. “Every dive produces good images,” Mustard says. “The people who think it’s too ordinary always leave bowled over.” sportdiver.com/caymanislands

6. RAJA AMPAT, INDONESIA “My favorite wide-angle dive site in Indonesia is Arborek Jetty,” says Debbie Arriaga, photographer and cruise director for the boutique liveaboard vessel Arenui, which regularly visits the spot. During the day, she sets her camera focus wide to include everything from the local children hamming for her camera to wobbegong sharks sleeping under coral heads. After dusk, she switches to a smaller lens. “It’s easy to make a two-hour dive there, watching the sun set and the orange light coming through the soft corals.” As for macro, the jetty’s finds include blue-ringed octopuses, the Lembeh sea dragon, toadfish, algae-eating shrimp, juvenile pinnate spadefish, twin-spot signal gobies and much more. Says Arriaga, “So much of this stuff is so special because it’s so rare.” thearenui.com

7. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA “I took one of my favorite images near a site called Dillon Rock, and a friend liked it so much, he had it tattooed on his arm,” says photographer Jason Bradley. The image he captured was a giant Pacific octopus, which approached when Bradley happened to be somewhat far from his buddy. “Its head was the size of two basketballs, and I was afraid — it could have ripped off my mask easily,” says Bradley, who stayed with the critter as excitement churned his stomach. “I captured a beautiful portrait, representing a side of the animal that really resonates with me.” Bradley also says that overall, Vancouver is a hot spot for endless macro, as well as Steller sea lions. For diversity and abundance of life, he adds, “I think the whole Inside Passage is a terribly underrated dive destination — in fact, it’s probably my favorite place in the whole world to shoot.” tourismvancouver.com

8. RIVIERA MAYA, MEXICO Of all the cenotes in Mexico’s Riviera Maya — the stretch of Caribbean coastline that includes Cancun — Keri Wilk claims Carwash is his favorite. “It’s got a forest of lily pads, a small crocodile near the start, turtles all along the perimeter, and dead trees inside that give shots a framing element.” Partly because one site can be so subject-rich, and partly because you don’t have time to drive to more than one or two cenotes a day, Wilk recommends spending an entire day at one cenote to maximize sunlight angles. “You can go with a simple camera system because you don’t need strobes,” he says. “The caves have surreal natural lighting that’s much like how cathedrals are lit through stained-glass windows.” cavetrainingmexico.com

9. BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO “I have never been there and not had a sea lion encounter,” says Jason Bradley of Los Islotes, a dive site 30 miles north of La Paz, Mexico. This rocky site is a colony of hundreds of California sea lions, and it’s open to divers of all experience levels. “Shooting animals is a numbers game, but at a site like this, you know you have the numbers, so you’ll definitely hit a jackpot — the photography lines up every time.” funbaja.com

10. PAPUA NEW GUINEA Tanya G. Burnett’s favorite subject in Papua New Guinea happens to share her name: A seamount in Milne Bay called Tanya’s Reef. “I remember it being so extraordinary, covered in tables of coral with thousands and thousands of chromis moving as sheets,” Burnett says. She shot one of her all-time favorite images here using her widest lens, getting as close to the reef as possible without making contact. Then came patience. “You take that first shot, and the strobes scare the fish, making them scatter — so you freeze and wait for them as they dive down and then slowly rise back up.” Says Burnett, “You just keep working that same scene until you think you’ve got the most it has to offer.” papuanewguinea.travel/usa