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Weekly #666 - Garden Wildlife Competition

Competition Details
Closing Date: 03/05/2020
Judge: PRYorkshire

This weeks competition is Garden Wildlife. This can be any creature, excluding pets, that can be seen in your garden from foxes and squirrels through to birds and insects. For those without a garden then your local park is also acceptable.

The usual weekly competition rules apply - the photo can have been taken at any time however it has to have been shot with a Pentax or closely related camera. Ask if in doubt. The winner will then set and judge the competition next week.
Competition Entries
PRYorkshire
Posted 04/05/2020 - 00:05 Link
A good selection of photos of garden wildlife, the very high quality and varied nature of the shots has made this almost impossible to judge. My thoughts on each entry are as follows:-

Chorister - Perspicador

Lovely photograph of a garden favourite. I like the composition with the well positioned branch, plain background and well focussed on the eye. The only negative is that the bird colours seem slightly subdued and dull when compared to the background.

Butterfly on Lavender - Vic Cross

Another well composed photo of a regular garden visitor. Well exposed and hard to criticise, the only distraction is the purple fringing on the black and white of the lower wing.

Wasps are back - Pipinmels

Not sure about this. A well composed shot and I particularly like the hexagonal structure. However for me the wasp is underexposed. The photo has also suffered from appearing to be heavily cropped resulting in noise and a lack of definition of the wasp itself.

The Slug - davidwozhere

Undisputedly an example of garden wildlife, even if not entirely welcome by flower and vegetable growers. A stunning image, spot on focussing and well exposed and enhanced by the textures of the container it is climbing over.

Frog - JAK

A stunning image of a creature found in many garden ponds. A well composed shot, it’s almost as if the frog was actually posing for the photo. I particularly like the complimentary colours of the frog in the pond weed, an image that is hard fault.

Here Comes the Night Frog - johnriley

Another frog photo that is hard to fault. Spot on exposure and well composed with the frog well positioned with the strong diagonal. I’m not sure if the piece of straw or vegetation on the left adds or detracts, it is almost as if the frog is looking towards it.

Dead Fox - newbiek50user

When I set the competition I did expect we would have a photograph of a fox. However I thought it would be of a live one, maybe sitting in the sun or on a nighttime prowl.

Ant with Dead Fly - Nigelk

An interesting subject. I’m guessing this would have been a “quick grabbed shot” with little chance to set anything up. Well taken with spot on exposure and focussing. Maybe a tighter crop to lose the distraction in the bottom left, but non the less very impressive.

Designed to Delight - Noelcmn

Another well taken shot of a garden subject, particularly given that it was taken at f5.6 and so would have a fairly narrow dof. There does appear to be some digital artefacts around the wing edges, possibly from over sharpening, but still an outstanding shot.

Starling on Bird Bath - EricD1306

A well composed shot of a regular garden visitor. I like the smooth background bokeh which makes the bird stand out and you have nicely captured the iridescent colours of the starling. The focussing looks pretty good on the bird’s eye, however there does appear to be some blurring of the feathers, possibly due to either bird or camera movement.

Comma - retsoor

A cracking shot of a butterfly. Well composed and spot on focussing and composure, the diagonal lines of the vegetation balances the shot nicely.



After great deliberation I have decided on the following:

1st Place - The Slug by Davidwozhere, a garden creature that I wasn’t expecting but an absolutely cracking shot, not sure how you got it to pose on the edge of the container.

2nd Place - Comma by retsoor. Another faultless photo of a garden creature. Spot on positioning and focussing with what would have been a narrow depth of field.

3rd Place - Frog by JAK. Again a cracking shot of a common garden creature. I like the complimentary colouring of the frog and pond weed and spot on focussing on the frog’s eye.

It was very difficult to actually separate these first three positions.

Very Highly Commended - Ant with Dead Fly by Nigelk and Here Comes the Night Frog by Johnriley.

Many thanks for the very high standard of all entries and it is now over to Davidwozhere for next week’s competition.

Paul
Paul

K1000, Espio 140, ist, istD, K70, K3iii and numerous lenses, just don't tell my wife.
Noelcmn
Posted 04/05/2020 - 20:13 Link
What a beautiful winning shot- worthy winner in what was a competition with cracking images. Congrats David. Congrats too to Retsoor and JAK, and the Highly commended NigelK and Johnriley. Superb images in this challenge, a hearty thanks to our Judge, for the challenge and the C&C's. Much appreciated as always.
Posted 04/05/2020 - 20:33 Link
Thank you Paul for the competition and for my 2nd place and comments. Congrats to David for a worthy winning shot. Well done also to JAK for 3rd and to Nigel and John. Once again some good entries
PRYorkshire
Posted 04/05/2020 - 21:45 Link
Apologies to mikeprotts but I had missed off my comments on his entry Feeding Time. Again a good entry of a common Garden visitor. I like this shot that was obviously taken in not the easiest of circumstances. The birds are nicely framed by the foliage and highlighted by the sun. However the high ISO has introduced some noise that could have been reduced in post processing.

Paul
Paul

K1000, Espio 140, ist, istD, K70, K3iii and numerous lenses, just don't tell my wife.
mikeprotts
Posted 04/05/2020 - 22:16 Link
PRYorkshire wrote:
However the high ISO has introduced some noise that could have been reduced in post processing.

This was a tricky capture. I'd closed the aperture to get a bit more DOF as it was tricky to focus with all the twigs & leaves in the way - the camera AF worked better than the MF shots.

The slug was a well deserved winner, but the shot I'd have picked was Ant with Dead Fly - so much detail.

Mike
davidwozhere
Posted 05/05/2020 - 01:30 Link
Curious how our ideas about a winner differ. I would have picked JAK's frog because it has froginess to perfection. And retsoor's Comma is a corker. So thank you Paul for the podium and congratulations to JAK and retsoor. Thank you for an interesting contest and prompt judging.
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