Animal Planet

Sara's taken a lovely shot of a wild stallion on the dunes of Corolla Beach in North Carolina with a gorgeous sunset and backlighting turning the horse into a stark silhouette which makes for an incredibly eye-catching and dramatic photograph. Great job!

Nick's taken an incredible shot of a gannet at Bempton Cliffs using a long 500mm telephoto lens and wide f/5.6 aperture to transform the green foreground and blue sky into a wonderful wash of colour that really helps the gannet to stand out from its surroundings. Great job!

Chris's shot of these king penguins taken in the Falkland Islands is full of atmosphere with the snow drift in the foreground adding some interesting blur. The penguins stand out brilliantly from their bleak surroundings with their bright orange beaks. Great job!

By taking this working dog away from its usual environment of fields and swamps, Lana has been able to capture an incredible action shot with incredible eye contact and dramatic water splashes. With the dog running directly towards her she’s done a brilliant job of focusing on the eyes to make sure they’re pin sharp and used a rapid shutter speed to ensure that the action and water drops were frozen in time. A wide aperture has also helped turn the background into a lovely blur.

Reiner has caught an incredible moment between two bee eaters exchanging a caught butterfly. Using a 150-600mm lens he's been able to zoom right in on the action for a frame-filling shot and used a rapid shutter speed of 1/4000 sec to freeze the moment in time. Great job!

Carole has caught a fantastic shot of a barn owl in flight beautifully backlit by the low setting sun in the golden hour. Her image is razor sharp, expertly focusing on her moving target and using a fast shutter speed to freeze the owl in flight. Great job!

Claire's unique animal portrait of a pair of badgers is distinctive and instantly caught our eye. We love the contrast in this image with the deep black background helping the bright white badger stripes to really pop. The circular pattern from the reflection pool also adds some wonderful symmetry to her composition. Great job!

Deborah has caught the fantastic moment a kingfisher returned to its perch after an unsuccessful dive and a solitary drop of water fell from its beak. The side lighting adds some strong contrast and helps the colourful feathers to pop. Her use of composition also works well, leaving active space on the right of the frame for the bird to look into. Great job!

Des has taken a fantastic shot of this Pine Marten looking back over its shoulder on a rainy day with excellent eye contact. His shot just goes to show that great photos can still be taken in wet and miserable conditions, with the wet scenery taking on a fantastic reflective sheen and rain drops increasing the atmosphere. Great job!

Adrian's done a brilliant job of photographing this rare Western capercaillie with gorgeous sunlight backlighting its frosty breath on a cold spring morning. His composition is spot-on, leaving plenty of active space on the right of the frame for the bird to look into and he's expertly focused on his subject for a pin-sharp shot too.

Bartek has taken a wonderful landscape scene with this photo and it has some incredible depth. He's composed so that the dog in the foreground anchors the shot and has used a wide framing to include the brilliant mountains and Polish scenery behind.

Shooting in the Ltungai-Malaso Convervatory, Kenya, Neil has taken this stunning wildlife photograph. He's expertly composed, positioning the two giraffes on the right of the frame with a lovely tree on the left and made sure to wait until the giraffes were facing towards the camera to bolster eye contact. Great job!

Janet has taken a lovely shot of two gannets with this photo. The muted colours and careful processing give this image a fantastic high key effect and using a telephoto lens with a wide aperture has helped diffuse the water behind into brilliant bokeh circles into the perfect backdrop. Great job!

Jacquie's managed to take a sublime photo of this stunning brown bear in northern Alaska. Trekking through over 10km of difficult terrain she was rewarded with fantastic photographic opportunities. The eye contact with this young male is fantastic and must have been a nerve-racking experience to shoot in!