Wildlife Photo Competition 1 2014 : Judges Critiques : Page

Polar bears are fantastic subjects (see the other polar bear entries this round) but they, like any other subject, need to be photographed properly. Contrast is too high here, the bear too white, the water too black. The snow (if it is snow) is burned out as are a lot of details on the bear’s hide and you have sadly chopped off his feet…

Well you won’t catch me swimming in this bay! And I notice there aren’t many folk on the beach… This amusing and interesting shot almost made the last 10.

You had interesting climatic conditions here. Falling snow and sunshine at the same time, and if I look at the snow flakes it looks like you used flash too, although that had little effect on the squirrel. I suppose there was a bit too much going on all at once to get this just right. Perhaps you could have got the squirrel looking better, you had good conditions for photographing a silhouette, for example, he had to move at some point… But this photo is a good example of one of those difficult and technical lighting situations which we either manage just right, or else miss completely. One of the most important rules in photography, and it applies even more so now we shoot digitally, is that whites should not be burned out (ok, there are exceptions to all rules). Basically burned-out white areas contain no digital information, they are like holes in your photo, should you make a print those areas would just be paper with no ink. It is very important to expose your photo whilst considering the lightest zones, (look at your histogram). So here you had a very tricky scene to get right – all those snow flakes in the sunlight and the dark side of a squirrel to expose correctly… Falling snow with flash can be really nice but you need to expose correctly, the flash is a good idea to lighten the dark side of the squirrel. It is useful to know that a flash from flash light is extremely fast, much faster than your usual shutter speed, and so, unlike the aperture, you can change your shutter settings and not affect the dose of flashlight in your photo. Daylight of course will be affected. In this picture your flash has burned the snow flakes taking away all of their detail. A slower shutter speed would have kept the exposure on the squirrel the same, while a smaller aperture would have reduced the flash light on the snow flakes.

Try the birds competition!

This is a domestic animal. Please read the guidelines.

Here is a beautiful sharp squirrel portrait, with excellent detail and nice contrast. There is nothing wrong with this technically, it went straight into the final selection but the competition is just too strong this round.

You have done very well here with this alpine ibex. Not an easy pose to capture and you have taken the risk of framing a pretty tight view, most effective, well done.

This may not be for everyone but I really like your bold approach here. Squirrel is posing nicely for you and you have framed him in a shroud of blurry pink (not sure what flowers those are). Depth of field is perfect and sets the squirrel apart, it also gives nice texture to the tree. You have gone beyond the straight forward photo of a squirrel and that has worked for you. Well done.

Eyes are always an anchor point in any portrait, it is natural for us to look into the eyes when we look at any animal, human or frog, so sharp eyes usually are best. Here your focus is on the nostrils and so it is frustrating not to be able to settle our gaze on the eyes. Otherwise this looks like an indoor “studio” shot which you have managed pretty well.

Poor, and very brave bear. Another road cuts across another of nature’s own pathways, and wildlife has to adapt once more to mankind’s ceaseless advance into every corner of the planet. This is a lovely, though sad document which tells a sorry tale, not so much of the bear but of the humans. This photo makes a mark of excellence because it is much more than just a recorded image of an animal, it is a story and it stirs up feelings, be they of awe or be they of regret. It is also very nicely taken, all focus on the bear stepping out of nature into a land of metal and tarmac, 4x4s, smart phones, domestic animals and of course people whom we all know have forgotten where they came from. Very well done.