The first thing to captivate me in this wonderful image is certainly the lighting. The backlight is a very clever choice from the photographer's part - it enhances the silhouette and the details of the subject whilst giving the entire image a magical and intimate atmosphere, making the shot stand out in its genre. The background has been cleverly blurred by a fairly wide aperture, making the subject immediately stand out. Choosing to incorporate the sun in the background with the subject in the foreground is a very clever choice that adds much visual impact to the shot. Well done!
Photographing butterflies isn't as easy as one could think - photographing two, facing each other on the same pretty flower, is an even more skilful accomplishment. There is beautifully-used depth of field in this image, that picks up on the subjects and nothing else, eliminating all other distractions and adding a very appealing softness to the shot. The colour palette of this image is simply delicious, something I could look at all day. That's not something easily achievable on nature shots, where rich and sometimes distracting green tones are so prevalent. A beautiful image, well done!
A very captivating image that caught my attention from the moment I saw it. The first thing I love about this shot is certainly the subject and the situation it was caught in, which is both funny and endearing. Technically speaking, this shot showcases beautiful use of aperture, used to create a very shallow depth of field that perfectly highlights the subject, separating it from an otherwise busy background. When using such shallow depth of fields, it isn't easy to have the focus fall exactly on the (moving) subject, but it's most certainly a mission accomplished in this shot. I very much love the choice of angle - eye level with the subject - that draws the viewer into the shot and at the same time creates an appealing composition. The colour palette is also extremely pleasant (something not always easy to accomplish in wildlife shots where green is so prevalent). A very well deserved first place!
644 Images entered
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**This contest is open to photographers ranked between 1 and 250 in this week’s <a href="https://www.photocrowd.com/photographer-community/">Leaderboard</a>.** Our gardens often offer a wildlife haven that is easily overlooked, even when we live in a town or city. Photography offers us an opportunity to explore our world more closely, and there can be great joy in being confined to a small area in which one must find interesting imagery. It’s a discipline that teaches us to make the most of what we’ve got, and that often it is enough, The same can be said of looking for wildlife in one’s garden or local patch of green. It might require patience for a bird to land, or a fox to pass by, or a macro lens that makes the bugs a bit bigger, but wildlife gets everywhere, thank God, and we’ll be there to take interesting pictures of it.
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