British Wildlife Photography Awards 2010

[Gill Catton]

I saw Adam's photograph on the one show!!! They only showed three pics from the competition too. Ace! massive congratulations from me, it was on the screen for ages!

[Cordaline]

I've only just come across this thread.
Having checked out the winners link, the shots are amazing!
One lives in hope to take something close to being that good one day!

Congratulations to all the WABbers & again to Squishy!

It makes you proud to be part of such a talented, knowledgeable crowd!

[acherontia]

Just had a real good look at them all - there's some crackers there. One thing that interests me is that I thought there was a limit to the PP allowed but the winning frog image appeared to have been PP 'isolated' from the surroundings and I could swear the mating flies and dew drop were a compo? I may be totally wrong but as far as I'm concerned they are still magnificent images and worthy winners - I mean it's not as if they used a trained up animals, is it ?

Pat

[pressld2]

Hi Pat,

Post-processing is limited to the usual corrections to white balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness - all of which (except possibly white balance) are necessary when shooting raw. Composites are not allowed (which rules out HDR and focus stacking) and we're also not allowed to add or remove anything except dust specks. Cropping is allowed so a distracting element towards the edge of the frame can be cropped off but not cloned out.

The post-processing on my toad tadpole was "Curves and vibrance adjusted, some cloning of dust specks from the background and a small crop for composition in Lightroom." I had to supply the original raw files for all short-listed entries and I presume these were checked for compliance with the rules.

Dave P.

[acherontia]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Hi Pat,

Post-processing is limited to the usual corrections to white balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness - all of which (except possibly white balance) are necessary when shooting raw. Composites are not allowed (which rules out HDR and focus stacking) and we're also not allowed to add or remove anything except dust specks. Cropping is allowed so a distracting element towards the edge of the frame can be cropped off but not cloned out.

The post-processing on my toad tadpole was "Curves and vibrance adjusted, some cloning of dust specks from the background and a small crop for composition in Lightroom." I had to supply the original raw files for all short-listed entries and I presume these were checked for compliance with the rules.

Dave P.

Thanks for that Dave - now I'm wondering how the B/W frogs effect was achieved... I know all about having to produce the RAW for theses sort of comps. OH has had to do it numerous times when he's gone through to 'the next stage'.
Have you seen the good news on the other thread I put on? He's actually won something on an international comp We're very happy - even if it's not a first place. Gold isn't to be sniffed at I don't suppose.

Congratulations to all the winners of BWPA too!

Cheers,

Acher

[Toby]

Originally Posted by acherontia

Just had a real good look at them all - there's some crackers there. One thing that interests me is that I thought there was a limit to the PP allowed but the winning frog image appeared to have been PP 'isolated' from the surroundings and I could swear the mating flies and dew drop were a compo? I may be totally wrong but as far as I'm concerned they are still magnificent images and worthy winners - I mean it's not as if they used a trained up animals, is it ?

Pat

My mating flies shot was a single shot at f16, I purposely avoided image stack sequences as I knew they were not allowed and I was shooting with the competition in mind. I think people use stacking too often anyway, f16/22 with a decent lens has plenty good enough resolution for most shots.

[acherontia]

Originally Posted by Toby

My mating flies shot was a single shot at f16, I purposely avoided image stack sequences as I knew they were not allowed and I was shooting with the competition in mind. I think people use stacking too often anyway, f16/22 with a decent lens has plenty good enough resolution for most shots.

Hope this isn't a pop at my husband's winning image in the International Aperture Awards that I put on the other thread??? (Humerous poke)
Horses for courses I suppose - you really do need stacking for scientific type very detailed illustrations which is what OH mostly does for a living.
You did very well at f16 - the lighting must have been ideal.

I see you are were ahead in the 'Commendeds' of one of my Facebook friends, Danny Beath! We met him when he was just starting out on a visit to the Welsh red kites - he's certainly extremely talented now.

Congratulations to you too! An excellent shot! I like the way the grass in the rain(?) drop is pin sharp which displays a sense of place whilst the 'bokeh' that loses that detail gives a very good subject isolation. One thing about eating/mating insects is that they stay put a while in sunny situations.

Acher