Weekly Competition #343 - Wildlife in Nature Competition

I wasn't expecting to judge again so soon, but I was delighted to be able to set a competition covering something I've been recently having a go at myself. Wildlife and Nature are not easy subjects, so let's see how we did!

Elks by darlene – A fine creature and an alert pose offer a great opportunity. The expression and attention have been caught, but I do feel the image is slightly dark. Better lighting might well have helped. Also, showing a closer head portrait or the whole animal could be considered, rather than the half way step as shown.

Male Bullfinch by QuestionableCarrot – This is a very well composed shot of this gorgeous bird in its natural habitat. Enough of the setting is shown and the bird itself is large enough in the frame to show proper detail. The exposure is a little on the light side.

Snails by tyronet2000 – Here the exposure is spot on, well done for that as the camera left to its own devices could have been seriously fooled by the large areas of darkness. There's plenty of detail in the snails and just enough in the shadows to add a bit of interest and texture to the background. Excellent colour.

Winter Friends by davidrobinson – A bit of man made structure creeping in with this one, but compositionally everything is in the right place. I find the exposure is very light, so it would take quite a bit of darkening quite comfortably.

Common or Viviparous Lizard by coker – Sharp and colourful, the image of the lizard is great. The bright highlights in the background are somewhat distracting and it's always useful to remember that bright areas attract our eyes. Not always easy I know.

Teeing up the wrong bark by simonarron – It's a well arranged and sharp shot indeed. The colour balance looks rather yellow to me and perhaps darkening the image might be enough to reduce that. It's worth thinking about titles as well. In a more formal nature competition this title wouldn't be allowed in. Titles have to be factual for nature, common names will do, it doesn't have to be the full Latin name.

B. Bumble by perspicador – The name caveat about the title, but more important is the lack of sharpness in the bee. Having identified that the bee is the subject, we find that it is really very blurred. High shutter speeds will be needed to arrest the movement of insects in flight, but it is worth practising.

My little cliché by gwing – Titles again, really do keep nature titles accurate if you enter any camera club competitions. This is a really good robin study, well composed and with good colour and sharpness. The added magnification of the 400mm lens has paid off.

Majestic Swan by mowser – I'll stop mentioning titles now, but it applies all through the competition. Swans are the most dreadful birds to photograph as they are so easily over-exposed. All that white almost inevitably leads to washed out feathers somewhere. So this did need less exposure at the taking stage, not too severe but still detracting from the quality of the image. Swans are not easy subjects.

Giant Wood Spider by Jim-w – If you hadn't expressed doubt I would have taken your word for the name of this! Good placement in the frame, needing a little more sharpness and suffering slightly from poor light. The background is brighter than the subject, so it needs some light to be reflected into the spider itself. That could help to bring it to life.

Go Away Big Horn Sheep by JudithAnn – Good colour, good sharpness and it's nice to see a close up portrait of this animal. The green background could have been a problem, but the exposure there has been reined in so the green does not become over bright and yellowish. Good skills here.

Spotted Thick Knee by noelcmn – I really like the pose and composition here, but the problem is the over-exposure. In the background this makes the greenery go that unfortunate yellowish shade that results from green being over exposed. This would have to be darkened quite a bit to tome that down, so the remedy seems to lie in the initial camera exposure.

Mr Angry by johannes1 – This is a great heron portrait. Although the light is coming from the wrong side the photographer has overcome this disadvantage very well.

Biting off more than he can chew by JAK – It's sharp and colourful and has the added advantage of showing the bird doing something, rather than just sitting on a branch. The grass is just about held in before its colour goes astray with too much light.

The Crow by geordie01 – Nice and close is good and the arrangement is also fine. Maybe a bit over sharpened and we do tend to lose the detail in the black areas. Perhaps the adjustments have just been a bit severe.

Bee on Helenium Mardi Gras by nicesparky – The photographer has gone in close, but the lighting has not been helpful as it's far too vivid and bright. This creates too much background distraction. Unfortunately the bee is not sharp
as well, so I think there are some sharpness and exposure issues to work on here.

Hawker in Flight by davidstorm - A correct title and also an incredible expression on the Hawker's face. Technically, this is presented to a very high standard indeed. The bokeh is a bit on the harsh side for me.

Croc Skull by michaelblue – When I see an image as well exposed as this one it always reminds me of the best Kodachrome slides. It's just good quality and we can feel the textures of it. The subject is very simple, but the photography reveals someone who knows very much what to do to get the best out of it.

My Beaks Bigger by bforbes – Proper title please to get a winner in more traditional competitions than this one. Here. It's a gorgeous and elegant image and you should be very proud of it. I really like that sharpness (not overdone) and precise colour.

Sparrowhark by kevinroy – Another good image, spoilt a bit for me because of the treatment and grain/noise. The subject is quite diffused and although this is a good effect it's not really a wildlife image effect.

Grub's Up!! by cvhennessy – A great pose with excellent detail and colour.

White Butterfly by Steve O – There is very good detail in this and it shows yet again that compact cameras are these days very powerful tools for macro photography. Macro and Super-Macro or 1cm settings make close up work so easy. This is no way detracts from the photographer's skills, which are here quite clearly of a very high order.

Whitethroat by GaryJohn – The photographer has highlighted the issue with sharpness, although this is mitigated to a degree by the excellent context and natural colour.

Orange Top by DrOrloff – I was tempted to think that this was too light, but I think on reflection that the butterfly is probably absolutely right. The detail is very impressive and the subject is indeed a beautiful subject.

Dream the impossible dream! by dromfit – Oh dear, bad luck for the butterfly...but no matter the scene has interest and the technical aspects of the image are fine.

And now to the conclusions. There's no doubt that nature photography is very challenging, but it offers immense possibilities. APS-C sensors in particular aid long range photography because of the crop factor, but sometimes the longest lenses are still not enough and then skill and knowledge come into their own. There's been plenty of those qualities on show in this competition.

So, the winner is bforbes for his beautiful image My Beaks Bigger. But please, that title has to go!

Second Place is Mr Angry by johannes1. Lovely backlit shot, but again, title....

Third Place is Hawker in Flight by davidstorm. Great image and what timing!

The following photographers deserve very highly commended: DrOrloff, Steve O, michaelblue, gwing and tyronet2000.

So, over to bforbes for our next exciting competition!

Thank you John, lovely judging, lots of advice. I really like it when a judge shares his thought to what can improve the photo....I have learned so much from this kind of judging.

Congrats to all the winner....nice set of photos.

JA

Congrats Bforbes, Johannes1 and Davidstorm. And of course the HC's. What a great set of images! For a nature lover-made my week! Thanks for judging and constructive comments on all the photo John. With JudithAnne on this one-great place to learn!

Thank you John for setting and judging a competition that allowed a more specialist set of images. Also thanks for selecting me as the winner, despite the title. I will change it by deed pole to "Gannets Bonding".

I'm with Noelcmn, having an interest in wildlife it was great to look through everyone's images.

Congratulations to the Winner and other places and thanks for my HC. Thanks to John for an interesting subject well judged and comprehensively commented.

Thank you John for the highly commended --- that was a very pleasant surprise --- and I'm learning a lot from your comments about all the photos.
Congratulations to the winner, it's a super photo, and to the other places.

Great judging as usual John...
Dr Orloff's female Orange-tip is perfect as you surmised...
how do I know?
The colour of the flower is spot on!!
Just around here, the under-wing colour is much darker on both sexes... usually it is just the male that has darker underwings.
The orange, locally, seems to be much richer here than from my UK experience...
but that could be down to either/both diet and light.

I had already picked "My Beak's Bigger" as the winner...
but what is wrong with the title?
I've recently been to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibition when it visited Bourges...
Virtually all of the 150 pictures on display had no mention of the subject in the title [all in English, by the by]...
that was relegated to the "sub-text" on another label... along with camera, lens & date.
And very rarely did it mention the Latin name...
[this is France, they usually never do!!
But they are getting better!]...
fortunately they had the English translation there as well!
[As well as the title, translated into French]
So, is it just at Club level that the name is required in the title?

The moment I saw your picture, I knew that could be a winner, well done Barrie.

John, thank you for the advise. I not sure if this is the place to do it, but is there any advise you can give regarding the giving of titles, you did mention it a few times.

Regards to everybody

Hannes

Regarding titles, I'm aware that many members here are also camera club members. The title comment is aimed at them, because there are usually rules about titles in nature and record sections of competitions.

So, in a "proper" nature competition a correct title would be "Bullfinch" but an incorrect one would be "Cheeky Little Chap". Likewise, a correct record shot title would be "Rolex watch" but an incorrect one would be "I'm full of envy!"

It all depends upon the competition and its rules, but I thought it was worth a mention in a specialised subject like this one.

Well done to Barrie for the win and the other podiums and HC's.
Thanks to John for setting comp and constructive judging.

Jim.

Thanks John...
I haven't been a Camera Club member now for about 30'odd years...
I'd forgotten the often stringent rule structure....
I very rarely entered competitions...
mainly because the subjects were never attractive to me!
But it was a great way to get cheap bulk film and chemicals!!
Aaahhh! Darkrooms... how I miss them.... NOT!!
At least now I can play with a photograph and pick up my beer without worrying!!!!
In fact... see to pick up my beer...
orangey-red light changes the colour of a lot of things!!

Oh... The WPotY Exhibition was at Orleans...
we came back via Bourges to see another wildlife photographer's exhibition... also wonderful...
overdosed on inspiration!!

Thanks for the judging John, excellent detailed comments on each shot. Many congratulations to Barrie on a superb winning image, fully deserved.

Regards
David

I really enjoyed that!

Thanks john for the critique and well done to the winner!

Congratulations to the Winner and other places . Thanks for the constructive judging John.

Thanks John for another great competition...this is fun.
Congratulations to Barrie, what a fabulous shot! and thanks for my HC and your kind comments.
Good constructive judging too.