You Be the Judge: Tight
As regular readers know, the judging for the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition has been complete for some time. All of the judges including me were stunned by the quality of the images. We have been and will continue to be posting all of the images that were sent to the judges category by category. Each of you will have a chance to judge each category. Please read the directions below carefully. Your votes will not determine the winning images but it (usually) has been and will continue to be fun to see how everyone’s votes compare to the votes of the judges. So far the top pick of the public vote has matched the top pick of the judge’s panel in half the categories; I do not think that that will happen in Tight.
With 413 images entered, this was a popular category. The 14 images sent to the five judges, and presented here below reveal that there were some very good images in this group. Here is the next-to-last thank you to Darrell, Chris, Julie, and Tim. And another big time thanks also to Peter Kes and Denise Ippolito for pitching in during the first rounds of image selection. We worked very hard for nearly three full days to get from more than 5500 images down to the final 163.
Here we were looking for dramatic tight portraits and images of body parts, head shots, feather detail, etc.
Before you vote, please be sure to click on each image so that you can 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:
Roseate Spoonbills squabbling: 5
Siskins fighting: 4
Snowy Egrets midair combat: 3
Great Crested Grebe displaying: 2
Common Tern feeding chick: 1
Please do not let the votes of others or the names assigned to the images influence your vote. Please put each of your five favorites on its own line by hitting “enter” after each one. No ties; please assign a single digit, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 to each of your five favorites. As you will see there are a great many dramatic images here.
Please Note
If you wish to comment on any or all of the images, 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.
The voting will be closed in about two days and the actual winning images for this category will be posted soon thereafter. A tally of the public vote along with my analysis and comments will follow.
Thanks for voting and please remember to breathe deeply and have fun. The two remaining categories will be covered when I return home from my upcoming bear boat trip in early August and the overall winner will be announced soon thereafter. Sorry for the added suspense. 🙂 We will definitely finish everything up by mid-August. I get back from the bear boat on August 1.
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Raven screaming |
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Cormorant vertical |
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Black-backed gull flight |
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Gannet in heaven |
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Roseatte Spoonbill on green |
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Sandhill Crane in grasses |
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Kori Bustard head and neck |
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Swan head portrait |
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Emperor Penguin family |
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King Eider head portrait |
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Chestnut teal with wake |
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American Bittern head and neck |
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| Laysan Albatross head portrait |
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Pileated Woodpecker detail |
New York City Weekend Nature Photography Seminar December 8-9, 2012; denise and artie
Details for this great weekend seminar are available here. Do consider joining Denise Ippolito and me for a great learning experience. Do click on the link to see many of Denise’s incredible tree and flower images. Camera club discounts available; see the details at the link.
Camera Club Discounts
You can save $20 per person on the seminar registration if your photo club promotes the event. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to Jim and ask him to forward the Sponsoring Club note.
Gannett in Heavan 5
Cormorant Vert. 3
Chestnut Teal 4
SandHill in Grass 2
King Eider 1
Gannet in heaven: 5
Emperor Penguin family: 4
Chestnut Teal with wake: 3
Raven screaming: 2
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 1
5 – Black-backed gull flight
4 – Pileated Woodpecker
3 – Gannet heaven
2 – Raven screaming
1 – Chestnut Teal
Sandhill Crane 5, I love the sharp detail of the bird and the blurred background
Gannet in heaven 4, beautiful colors
Swan head 3, the water drops make the picture, and also the monochrome colors (for me anyway…)
Chestnut teal 2, I really like how the wave created by the bird conveys movement in this otherwise still photo
Raven screaming 1, you can almost hear the bird!! Love the sharpness and the contrast
5 King Eider
4 Chestnut Teal
3 Pileated Woodpecker
2 Sandhill Crane
1 Kori Bustard
Ganett in heaven: 5
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 4
Kori bustard: 3
Laysan Albatross head portrait: 2
Black-backed gull flight: 1
Chestnut teal with wake-5
Pileated Woodpecker detail-4
Sandhill Crane in grasses-3
Swan head portrait-2
Kori Bustard head and neck-1
Pileated Woodpecker detail: 5
Roseatte spoonbill on green: 4
King Eider head portrait: 3
Cormorant Verticle: 2
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 1
Kori bustard 5
woodpecker 4
raven 3
gannet 2
swan 1
I have to agree that this is not what I thought the tight category would be.
Beautiful images though and the kori bustard is superb.
Artie,
FWIW, if you want to make the correction…………..the bittern in this series is actually an American Bittern and not a Least.
Thanks Brian. My bad. And careless.
CHestnut teal with wake: 5
Pileated woodpecker detail: 4
Kori bustard: 3
Emperor penguin family: 2
Kig Eider head portrait: 1
Laysan Albatross head portrait: 5
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 4
Gannet in heaven: 3
Pileated Woodpecker detail: 2
Chestnut teal with wake: 1
Chestnut Teal: 5
Pilated Woodpecker: 4
Roseate Spoonbill: 3
Kori Bustard: 2
American Bittern: 1
5-Chestnut Teal
4-King Eider
3-Swan
2-Spoonbill
1-Woodpecker
All very nice portraits. Congratulations to all.
Gannet in heaven: 5
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 4
Emperor Penguin family: 3
Chestnut teal with wake: 2
Raven screaming: 1
King Eider head portrait 5
Gannet in heaven 4
Sandhill Crane in grasses 3
Chestnut teal with wake 2
Laysan Albatross head portrait 1
Raven Scremaming. 5
Pleated Woodpecker. 4
King Eider head portrait. 3
Kori Bustard 2
Swan head portrait. 1
Another tough one, forcing me to leave out some great shots that I really liked, such as the teal, the eider, the bustard, the . . .
Cormorant Vertical 5
American Bittern Head and Neck 4
Pileated Woodpecker Detail 3
Sandhill Crane in Grasses 2
Swan Head Portrait 1
Kori Bustard head and neck: 5
Laysan Albatross head portrait: 4
Swan head portrait: 3
King Eider head portrait: 2
Sandhill Crane in grasses: 1
Black Backed Gull – 5
Chestnut Teal – 4
Swan Head Portrait – 3
Pileated Woodpecker – 2
Kori Bustard – 1
Chestnut Teal with Wake: 5
Gannet in Heaven: 4
Kori Bustard head and neck: 3
Cormorant Vertical: 2
American Bittern head and neck: 1
5 Spoonbill
4 Woodpecker
3 Eider
2 Gannet
1 Teal
5 – Kori Bustard head and neck
4 – Emperor Penguin family
3 – Chestnut teal with wake
2 – Pileated Woodpecker detail
1 – Laysan Albatross head portrait
Chestnut Teal: 5
Kori Bustard: 4
Raven:3
Pileated Woodpecker: 2
Ganet: 1
Gannet in heaven: 5
Chestnut teal with wake: 4
Raven screaming: 3
Cormorant vertical: 2
Swan head portrait: 1
pileated woodpecker….. 5
raven screaming…… 4
chesnut teal with wake… 3
swan head portrait…… 2
king eider head portrait…… 1
5. – Kori Bustard head and neck
4. – Chestnut Teal with wake
3. – Gannet in Heaven
2. – Pileated Woodpecker
1. – Swan head portrait
All images were superb and most impressive!!
King eider head portrait: 5
Swan head portrait: 4
Sandhill crane in grasses: 3
Roseate spoonbill on green: 2
Raven screaming: 1
5. Pileated Woodpecker Detail
4. Chestnut Teal with wake
3. Laysan Albatross Head Portrait
4. Kori Bustard Head & Neck
5. Sandhill Crane in grasses
Gannet in Heaven: 5
King Eider: 4
Emperor Penguin: 3
Pileated Woodpecker: 2
Swan Head: 1
Chestnut Teal with wake: 5
Swan head portrait: 4
Kori Bustard head and neck: 3
Pileated Woodpecker detail: 2
King Eider head portrait: 1
Black-backed gull flight 5
Pileated woodpecker 4
King eider 3
Chestnut teal2
Kori bustard 1
It looks to me like an American Bittern, not a Least Bittern.
Thanks Bill. You are of course correct.
5 – Pileated Woodpecker detail
4 – Roseatte Spoonbill on green
3- Black-backed gull flight
2 – Chestnut teal with wake
1 – King Eider head portrait
5 – Kori Bustard
4 – Penguins
3 – chestnut teal
2 – Albatross
1 – Gannet
While I find these photos to be stunning portraits, I am with Jan on being disappointed. I expected more unique captures and not just head shots.
Pileated Woodpecker detail 5
Black-backed Gull Flight 4
King Eider head portrait 3
Chestnut Teal with wake 2
Roseate Spoonbill on green 1
I agree Jan, I think this was a missed opportunity to show something unusual and dramatic.
#5 Chestnut Teal With Wake
#4 Pileated Woodpecker Detail
#3 Gannet In Heaven
#2 Swan Head Portrait
#1 Roseate Spoonbill On Green
Chestnut Teal with Wake – 5
King Eider Head Portrait – 4
Black-backed Gull Flight – 3
Gannet in Heaven – 2
Pileated Woodpecker – 1
Gannet in heaven – 5
Laysan Albatross head portrait – 4
Sandhill Crane in grasses – 3
Swan head portrait – 2
Black-backed gull flight – 1
Chestnut teal with wake: 5
Kori Bustard head and neck: 4
Raven screaming: 3
Roseatte Spoonbill on green: 2
Swan head portrait: 1
5-beautiful wake, sharp duck
4-gorgeous sharp feathers
3-sharp will-exposed feathers plus behavior. White sky very effective
2-sharp. beautiful soft green background with no distracting spots
1- water drops make it for me.
on 2 and 1 and several others, I wonder if Nik Efex would be helpful to sharpen some areas of feathers even more. I liked gannet and penguins very much but felt the composition needed a bit of moving.
Ganett in heaven – 5
Kori bustard – 4
Layssan albatross – 3
Chestnut Teal – 2
Pileated Woodpecker – 1
5. – Pilated Woodpecker
4. – Swan Head Portrait
3. – Emperor Penguin Family
2. – Chestnut Teal
1. – Kori Bustard
Laysan Albatross head portrait: 5
King Eider head portrait: 4
Kori Bustard head and neck: 3
Swan head portrait: 2
Pileated Woodpecker detail: 1
Kind of dissapointing to see that these are all headshots.
I had expected more detail photo’s and extreme close ups as the category was Tight.
All very nice imagaes but i had expected something else.