Local Wildlife

I love this shot of the penguin feeding her young. Such a rare sight to catch and caught with a nice long lens at a high shutter speed and medium to shallow depth of field. The penguin feels human to me here, the way the mother is standing and caring for her offspring is wonderful to see.

I love this shot of the pheasant. It perfectly captures the mating dance with just the right amount of sharp focus where we need it. The bird is sharp, while the wing tip feathers are a bit blurry, enhancing the sense of urgency and excitement in this shot. The shallow depth of field also helped this shot make the bird stand out against the background.

This shot of a dragonfly looking directly into the camera surrounded by flowers is stunning. The use of a Macro lens allowed for this intimate image of an otherwise unseen insect. I love the white patterns and the dew drops on the flowers and the way they compliment the subject.

Everything about this shot of the red deer stag bellowing in the early morning mist hits the mark. I love the use of time of day to create a beautiful silhouette of this deer family. The use of a long lens no doubt helped the intimacy of the shot. The steam rising from the deers mouth caught in the early morning light is perfect and ads to an other wise serene shot.

The combination of the migratory pattern of the birds, the time of day and the lucky rainbow all make this shot a winner. The framing is good and ads energy to the shot. I like the way the birds almost hit the edges of the left and bottom sides.

I love the sharp focus caught during flight as well as the beautiful sunset light. That mixed with a long lens and shallow depth of field all make this image stand out. Your eye doesn't even go to the fencing in the background because the focus on the owl is so acute and the owl itself is looking ahead so intently.

I would love to know how the photographer achieved such a difficult shot. Wolves are known to be very skittish and to get the whole pack howling away is quite unique. I also like that the shot looks to be quite pure, with no manipulation needed.

This shot is just so fun to look at and to get lost in the soft downy feathers of the baby swans. I like how close up the shot is so that there's nothing left to distract the eye than the collective softness and brown color of the young birds. The use of a medium aperture helped to get all 3 duck in the foreground in focus giving us more to look at and explore.

I like this shot of the bird catching a fly very much. I like the splashing water and the droplets in the air, as well as the shadow of the bird on the water. What's missing for me here is total focus on the bird.

I like this portrait of the wild bighorn sheep walking along the road. What's bothering me though is the background, which looks to be manipulated around the mountain top. The manipulation of the background has taken away from the strength of the shot.

I like the use of photo manipulation here to isolate the seagull from the ocean waves. It looks like everything but the seagull has been made darker in post production. I often don't like the over use of post production, especially in a nature shot, but I feel like it works here and makes this shot very pleasing to the eye.

This shot is perfectly captured. The elephant hawkmoth is absolutely stunning in its color and intricate detail. It looks like a bit of sharpening was applied here that I think takes away from the natural beauty of the moth itself. The branch I find a bit distracting. It too, looks too perfect and sharp.

This little guy is adorable and the use of black and white works well here. The focus on the eyes if good and the framing is interesting. I love seeing his little claws gripping the tree trunk so effortlessly and the connection between the photographer and the squirrel is great.