You Be the Judge: Youth
The judging for the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition is complete. All of the judges including me were stunned by the quality of the images. We will be posting all of the images that were sent to the judges. Each of you will have a chance to judge the images. Please read the directions below carefully. Your votes will not determine the winning images but it will be fun to see how everyone’s votes compare to the votes of the judges.
Below are the ten images in the Youth category that were sent to the five judges: Darrell Gulin, Chris Van Rooyen, Julie Zickefoose, Tim Laman (who filled in for a honey-mooning Andy Rouse), and yours truly. Here is another big time thank you to Darrell, Chris, Julie, and Tim. And a big time thanks also to Peter Kes and Denise Ippolito for helping me choose the images that were sent to the judges. We worked very hard for nearly three full days to get from more than 5500 images down to the final 163.
The Youth category is for images created by young photographers born on or after March 31, 1994. Fewer images were entered in this category than in any other category. Before you vote, please click on each image to view it at full size. Then pick your five favorites and vote them 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 with 5 being your very favorite. Like this:
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 5
Hawk Owl vertical: 4
Snowy Owl pano: 3
Merlin on fence post: 2
Emu laughing: 1
The “Sample Vote” values above are for illustrative purposes only. Please do not let the sample vote or the vote’s of others influence your vote. Please put each of your five favorites on its own line by hitting “enter” after each one. You can make your life easier by cut and pasting the name of each image that you wish to vote for. No ties; please assign a single digit, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 to each of your five favorites.
If you wish to comment on any or all of the images that you voted for, please do so below your five voting lines; this will make tallying the votes easier. Votes cast by those who fail to follow the formatting directions will be relegated to the Trash Bin.
A tally of the public vote along with the actual winning images for each category will be announced approximately 48 hours after each posting.
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Jabiru Stork silhouette |
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Kestrel hovering |
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| Black-headed Gull braking in flight |
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Hyacinth Macaws on fence |
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Hawk Owl vertical |
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Snowy Owl pano |
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Merlin on fence post |
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Emu laughing |
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Short-eared Owl on post vertical |
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Great Grey Owl on post |
Kestrel hovering 5
Great Grey Owl 4
Snowy Owl pano 3
Hawk owl vertical 2
Short eared owl `
The voting is now closed. Thanks a stack to all who participated. Will are now tallying the vote. The winners will be announced soon. artie
Kestrel hovering: 5
Black-headed Gull braking in flight: 4
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 3
Emu laughing: 2
Merlin on fence post: 1
Awesome job by everyone. Good action shots are harder to get than good static shots, so I ranked them that way, even though the static shots are great.
5: Great Grey Owl on Post
4: Hawk Owl Vertical
3: Short-eared Owl on Post
2: Black-Headed Gull Breaking in Flight
1: Merlin on fence Post
Snowy Owl Pano 5
Kestrel Hovering 4
Hyacinth macaws 3
Great grey owl 2
Hawk owl vertical 1
Merlin on fence post 5
Hyacinth macaws on fence 4
Hawk owl vertical 3
Kestrel hovering 2
Short eared owl on post vertical 1
Hyacinth Macaws on fence 5
Kestrel hovering 4
Emu laughing 3
Hawk Owl vertical 2
Short-eared Owl on post vertical 1
Kestral hovering 5
Hyacinth Macaws on fence 4
Emu laughing 3
Great Gray Owlon post 2
Merlin on fence post 1
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 5
Emu laughing: 4
Black headed gull: 3
Krestal in flight:2
Merlin: 1
First of all – everyone did a wonderful job. The captures are all great. I hope you all keep up your photography and I can’t wait to follow your careers. Now for my thoughts.
Macaws – I absolutely love these two. Are they juveniles? They look like babies to me in comparision to the size of the fence. Now lose the bottom of the fence – just crop it off. It’s all about the two birds interacting with each other. Where was this photo taken?
Emu – love it – the cooky look, the angle of the photo, bkgd is slightly light on my monitor and the tan thing in the tree line is distracting
Gull & Krestal in flight – love the flight capture on both the gull took third due to eye contact
Merlin – Love the high key – I would have removed the disconnected plant tops and just made the area high key “blank” space to match bkgd
Grey Owl – love the sharpness of the bird and the bkgd bokeh – I would have moved the bird to left rule of thirds line which would have moved some of the bright distracting bkgd spaces and then put the direction of the owl’s eye sight looking more out of the photo and giving it more space across the whole photo
Again to all – a wonderful job and just keep on shooting and learning – you all have a wonderful talent and remember no matter the final ranking comes out to have gotten this far is a extreme honor and you should be very proud of your accomplishments. Everything I have said is to hopefully help you create even stronger images in the future – take it all and learn.
Congrats to all – know keep on shooting and that goes for the rest of you. Artie please keep showing these young ones your wisdom.
Jabiru Stork 5
Black headed Gull 4
Kestrel hovering 3
Merlin on fence post 2
Snowy owl pano 1
5 Kestrel hovering
4 Hawk Owl
3 Merlin
2 Great Grey
1 Short-eared Owl on post
Merlin on fence post: 5
Kestrel hovering: 4
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 3
Black-headed Gull braking in flight: 2
Hawk Owl vertical: 1
Kestrel Hovering 5
Snowy Owl Pano 4
Jabiru Stork Silhouette 3
Black Headed Gull 2
Great Gray Owl 1
All 10 images are wonderful. Congrats to the young photographers!!!
Black-headed Gull braking in flight: 5
Kestrel hovering: 4
Emu laughing: 3
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 2
Great Grey Owl on post: 1
Here is my ranking
Kestrel hovering 5
Black-tailed gull braking in flight 4
Merlin on fence post 3
Snowy Owl pano 2
Hawk Owl vertical 1
Hyacinth Macaws on Fence 5
Kestrel Hovering 4
Snowy Owl 3
Great Grey Owl 2
Black Headed Gull 1
Hawk Owl vertical: 5
Merlin on fence post: 4
Kestrel hovering: 3
Black-headed Gull braking in flight: 2
Great Grey Owl on post: 1
Kestrel Hovering 5
Black Headed Gull Braking In Flight 4
Great Grey Owl on post 3
Hyacinth Macaws On Fence 2
Jabiru Stork silhouette 1
Argh! I hate judging, and I hate criticizing people who’ve done their best! I want to include other images just because I like them, but have ecluded them for specific reasons. I will give my explanations after the final judging. 🙂
Hyacinth Macaws 5
Emu Laughing 4
Kestrel Hovering 3
Black-headed Gull 2
Hawk Owl Vertical 1
5 Merlin On Fence post
4 Kestrel Hovering
3 Hyacinth Macaws On Post
2 Black-headed Gull braking in flight
1 Hawk Owl Vertical
Even though I gave Merlin on Fence Post #4 it is my favorite image. Look at it enlarged it is tack sharp, a great exposure, waving grass and the overall image is just beautiful. One of those images I would never tire of looking at. I forgot to mention the great head turn!!
That’s why Arthur said: ”click on each image to see it full size…”
Ted, I made the changes that you requested. Thanks for voting. In the future please consider your votes carefully before hitting “Submit Comment” as it is a pain to have to go back and edit the posts :). Thanks. And please view the images at full size as well.
Kestrel Hovering: 5
Hyacinth Mccaw on Fence: 4
Emu Laughing: 3
Merlin on Fence Post: 2
Black-headed Gull braking: 1
Kestrel hovering 5
Snowy Owl pano 4
Hawk Owl vertical 3
Jabiru Stork silhouette 2
Great Gray Owl 1
and a special OOTB award for the Emu laughing for great creativity, imagination and a wicked sense of humor!
5-Black headed gull
4-hyancinth mccaws
3-great gray owl on pose
2-kestrel hovering
1-emu laughing
Macaws 500 (I just like this soooooooooooo much! 😉 )
Great Grey Owl on Post 4
Black-headed Gull 3
Snowy Owl pano 2
Merlin 1
Snowy Owl Pano- 5
Hyacinth Macaws on fence-4
Short eared owl on post-3
Merlin on fence post-4
Emu laughing-1
Hawk owl vertical: 5
Jabiru stork sihouette: 4
Kestrel hovering: 3
Black-headed gull: 2
Short-eared owl: 1
Black-headed Gull: 5
Kestrel: 4
Hyacint Macaws: 3
Great Grey Owl: 2
Snowy Owl: 1
Snowy owl pano: 5
Great grey owl on post: 4
Kestrel hovering: 3
Hawk owl vertical: 2
Merlin on fence post: 1
I’m not surprised that this would be the smallest category. Generally, I think, indvididuals who start photographing birds usually start a little later in life (think of the stereotypical birder). Most kids with a camera would be pointing it at other things before thinking about birds. As these photographs demonstrate, there are exceptions.
Snowy Owl Pano 5 – I really like the composition of this picture!
Hyacinth Macaws 4
Short-eared Owl 3
Great Grey Owl 2
Kestral Hovering 1
Black-headed Gull breaking in flight: 5
Emu laughing: 4
Great Grey Owl on post: 3
Kestrel hovering: 2
Hawk owl vertical: 1
Emu laughing – 5
Macaws – 4
Black headed gull – 3
Hawk owl -2
Kestrel -1
All great, but the emu really made my kids cackle with laughter, so that gets top billing for this round in our house…
Kestrel hovering: 5
Merlin: 4
Hyacinth Macaws: 3
Snowy Owl: 2
Great Grey Owl: 1
Kestrel hovering: 5
Great Grey Owl on post: 4
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 3
Black-headed Gull braking in flight: 2
Hawk Owl vertical: 1
I would hang all of these on my wall. There’s a lot of talent here.
YOUTH
Black-headed Gull : 5
Hyacinth Macaws : 4
Short-eared Owl : 3
Kestrel hovering : 2
Great Grey Owl : 1
Emu Laughing: 5
Hyacinth Macaws on fence: 4
Black Headed Gull Braking: 3
Kestrel in flight: 2
Great Grey Owl: 1