Winners of the Red Bull Illume photo competition

Each year, Red Bull holds its Illume competition to celebrate the best sports and action photography from around the world.

Over 6000 photographers submitted images to the competition, with the final entry tally sitting at 28,257 photos.

The winning image was taken by Lorenz Holder, a snowboarder-turned-professional photographer from Germany. Holder also won the Experimental and Playground categories. As the overall winner, he took home a Leica S, a Broncolor Move Outdoor kit and equipment from Sun Sniper.

More of the winning images can be found on the Red Bull Illume website.

Holder used a Canon 5D Mark II with 18mm Carl Zeiss lens to snap this photo, using two Elinchrom flash units to create a silhouette of the dish and to illuminate the snowflakes. A four-second exposure was needed to gather enough light.

This image won the Sequence category for the surf photographer. It depicts Gabriel Medina catching a wave in Hawaii. Noyle used a 70-200mm lens handheld to capture the surfer in flight.

One of the only studio shots in the competition, this photo won the New Creative category. Vojtech set up his studio to allow Czech four-cross rider Tomas Slavik to hang from his bike while suspended from the ceiling.

The Lifestyle category prize went to Morgan Maasen for this shot of surfers in Fiji.

Another surfing shot, this time with a twist. This image won the Spirit category, with photographer Chris Burkard capturing two surfers returning after trying to catch a wave in Norway.

Jeroen Nieuwhuis won the Close Up category for capturing Erik Journee in the Netherlands. After several attempts and almost smashing his camera on the road from the pursuit, Nieuwhuis was able to grab the winning image as the sun was setting.