Weekly #883 - Garden Wildlife Competition

Thank you for all for some excellent competition entries that have made my judging process so difficult. My notes are as follows and are based on my personal thoughts and likes.

The Opportunist by Nigelk – As a bird watcher I envy you having a little egret visit your garden. I like the image which is well caught and interestingly composed with the sprinkler giving good context.

Feeding by MHOL190246 – I’m very impressed with this shot, the hover fly is sharp and the blurred wings give the image movement. Well captured.

Frenetic feeding by Perspicador – a well composed shot with difficult lighting conditions meaning that the birds are slightly underexposed whilst the highlights are just being blown.

nectar feeding time by rbuckell – another well composed shot with a nice out of focus background resulting in an almost 3D image. I do find the over saturated flower does distract from the butterfly.

Damsel in distress by Flan – again a blurred background highlights a beautifully exposed insect. Here the blue of the dragonfly stands out from the foliage, emphasised by spot on exposure and focussing.

The Night Frog by johnriley – another difficult shot to get the exposure right but the flash and camera metering has handled it well.

Hoepoe by Noelcmn – a beautiful bird that I have been lucky to see in Spain. A well composed image with bird perfectly positioned on the thirds and looking into the picture.

Probing for nectar by stevistds – Another great shot of an insect feeding. Pin sharp focussing with the flower petals all serving to draw your eye into the fly.


One thing that stands out from the images is how good the Pentax 100 mm lens is. After much thought my winners are:

1st Place – Probing for nectar by stevistds
2nd Place – Damsel in distress by Flan
3rd Place – Feeding by MHOL190246
Highly Commended – all the other entries as they are all have their own merit

Paul

Thanks Paul, some great images and so very different it does make judging difficult, but you've done it well and super-fast!

What's next stevistds?

Paul,
Very many thanks for third place and for the judging. Congratulations to stevistds for a stunning winning shot. Also to Flan for his Damsel fly

Michael

Paul,
Thanks for the comments on the photo and for the first place.
I agree with your comment re: the Pentax 100mm Macro lens - it produces good images and the colour rendition is perfect.

Steve

Hi John,
Good question - it's difficult finding a subject that hasn't been used previously.

Steve

This might be helpful in choosing a subject:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/previous-competition-subjects-8987/p-4

Good pick for the winner and great handling by Sevistds.
Thanks for the runner up spot and kind compliment from MOHL aka Miicheal.
Enjoyed the critique also on all entries.