Wildlife Photo Competition : Results

Judges Comment
A great winner for this first wildlife competition. I love the original framing, the detail and colour of the wet, leathery skin and the flabby rolls of hippo body fat which break up this photograph. A wonderful, artistic interpretation of a commonly photographed animal. Congratulations!
Photographers Comment
Thank you! My name is Christine Mitchell and I'm from Reading, PA. Photography is my hobby. I now shoot with a Canon Rebel xTi and a 7d. This photograph was taken with my Rebel and a 70-200 f2.8 lens at the Philadelphia zoo. This photograph has very little post processing, just a bit of cropping & sharpening. The light was very good that day. Thanks again for selecting this photo. It means a lot since this is one of my absolute favorites.
www.christinemitchell.com

Judges Comment
Eyes on legs is the impression here! I love this cuddly spider shot and it thoroughly deserves a mention and practically clinched it. It is a beautiful macro photograph delivered with superb technique. The depth of field spans a mere few millimetres, creating a strong line of focus and a powerful horizontal dividing line (for spider to put his front feet on). Great creative composition and talent, keep at it.
Photographers Comment
Thank you for having selected my photo ! My name is Olivier Roland, I am a graphic designer and photographer. Spiders are my favorite subjects, I work hard to get the best photos of these wonderful animals to make people changing their negative feelings about them. I use a rather inexpensive equipment, a Pentax k5 camera with an old 50mm reversed on extension tubes and/or a macro bellows.
www.flickr.com/photos/riprod/

Judges Comment
There is so much power packed into this photograph. Here is a rare view of a magnificent animal. I love the warm tones and perfect exposure which make this action shot so compelling. It is difficult to portray movement and yet keep the subject sharp and the photographer has made a very bold and risky attempt at that here. This one also very nearly made the top spot. Well done!
Photographers Comment
Thank you so much! I love taking photos whenever the chance arrises. I think this is one of my best so far, but you never know what comes next. I really appreciate the positive feedback and hopefully I can continue to be this lucky in the future. I took this on a Cannon Rebel EOS XSI 12.2 Megapixel. I love this camera and it just goes to show you that you don't need the fanciest equipment on the market to have a great time with photography.
www.rpwphotography.smugmug.com

Judges Comment
Lovely dark tones and a soulful, so human expression make this gorilla portrait so very beautiful. I think itâ€™s the autofocus function that has caught the mouth when the eyes could have done with that sharpness. Post production focussing to correct this has made it a bit noisy. With a better resolution this one was a winner. Great effort, well done.

Judges Comment
Here is another very strong contender. This is a fabulous macro shot with a strong low angle transforming this wolf spider with its egg sack into a fearsome giant. This is an extraordinary documentary photograph which teaches us so much about our mini neighboursâ€™ lifestyle.
Photographers Comment
Thank you for having selected this photo too ! My name is Olivier Roland, I am a graphic designer and photographer. Spiders are my favorite subjects, I work hard to get the best photos of these wonderful animals to make people changing their negative feelings about them. I use a rather inexpensive equipment, a Pentax k5 camera with an old 50mm reversed on extension tubes and/or a macro bellows.
www.flickr.com/photos/riprod/

Judges Comment
I love this portrait format b+w shot for so many reasons. The background movement brings 3D quality to this magnificent shot where the athletic ease and elegance of a running cheetah are beautifully portrayed. It is a perfectly captured, difficult and daring pan shot, especially for a rare moment like this. The grainy monochrome finish is a great choice but I feel the eyes have lost their life in the inky black of an otherwise brilliant capture.
Photographers Comment
I visited The Cheetah Conservation Center in Namibia last summer, and was lucky enough to watch Cheetahs do what they're famous for. I was just learning to take my camera off auto mode, and I had adjusted the shutter speed to slow to get the 60. Mph cat in focus. But ahh, I was so happy to see what my mistake had rewarded me with! I was armed with my Nikon D60 and 55-200 mm kit lens.
https://www.facebook.com/DenettesPhotography

Judges Comment
Another hippo! This time under water. The photo is amazing and no doubt so difficult to create. I love the drifting weed in the water and the hippoâ€™s smile, but I do find the crop just a tad too tight - no matter how many times I come back and look.
Photographers Comment
My name is Michele Burgee and I took this photo at the St. Louis zoo with a Canon EOS Rebel XS. My daughter, Nicole, loves to watch the hippos there and they were particularly active this day so I snapped this one as this guy swam by us. I liked how the water was all stirred up and the straw and grass was swirling around as the hippos swam. I am grateful for the judges comments and for being one of the runners up. :)
mburgeephotography.com

Judges Comment
So original. Such a beautiful capture and composition. The green tones add to the slimy croc environment and the skin is so beautiful and graphic. It is a powerful image with graphical appeal and shows us how an unusual, inventive framing can make a photograph work. Great shot.
Photographers Comment
Thank you to the judges for honoring my photo. I am truly humbled to received this acknowledgment. My name is Sabrina Euton and I'm a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. On this particular trip I had no intention of photographing a coroc. In fact this is the only frame I took of him and it just happened to be the right one and my favorite photo of the day. Only a slight adjustment to saturation was made and the photo is un-cropped. To see more of my work please visit
sabrinaeutonphotography.com/

Judges Comment
Looks like a roe deer but itâ€™s too small to be sure, but that is just what makes this a great picture. Beautiful contrast and silhouette effect. Well done for your interesting approach to this theme.
Photographers Comment
I'd been looking for an opportunity to get a silouhet of a deer on the crest of a hill for a while and finally got it a couple of weeks ago. This is a white-tail deer in Osceola County, Michigan. I'll probably keep trying until I can catch one with a few thin clouds and a better sunset! For this image, I used a Canon EOS 5D MKII & a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5/5.6L lens.
www.robharringtonphotography.com

Judges Comment
A green environment indeed. A green frog totally at home on the green water lillies. The panoramic crop is nice but perhaps the full frame would have added to the â€œfind the frogâ€ effect that this picture has. The water drops draw the eye away from the frog for a lovely wet wander.
Photographers Comment
This Bullfrog(Rana catesbeiana)was found in the well landscaped Lilly Pond in Epcot's World Showcase China. I spent hours photographing the Pound and Frogs that lived within this Water Lilly paradise.The photo is untouched and cropped. It seems simple but a great deal of time went into this shot.The Bullfrog is found through--out central Florida in ponds, lakes and slow-moving streams. Thanks for this great honor Elizabeth Anne Yureklier DiRosa Florida Wildlife and Professional Photographer