Minimalist Wildlife

Des has captured a beautiful wildlife shot of two gannets here. The overexposure has created an eye catching high key style which definitely fits our minimalist brief and the off-centre composition is interesting too. The focus, camera settings and editing are all spot-on, great job!

Wayne has caught an incredible macro shot here of a praying mantis in a fantastic pose on a tree branch. The composition is top-notch with the whole mantis in frame and some of the blossoms along the branch too. Our only slight issue is the lighting is a little flat so the exposure looks a bit undercooked, a dark background can work well but the mantis really needs a little more light to pop out, a small reflector could work well for this on future shoots. This small issue aside it's a top shot!

Chris has caught a wonderful moment between these two chicks looking at each other with their heads turned side-on the camera creates a brilliant symmetry in the shot. He's also got low to the ground to be eye-level with the subjects which makes it much more intimate and has helped him separate the chicks from the background too.

Thomas has caught a fantastic moment here of an Osprey returning to its nest with its catch of the day in tow. His camera settings are spot on with a rapid shutter speed of 1/1000 sec to freeze the action and the focus is nicely on the osprey's eye too. The only slight criticism we have is that the wing is cropped off at the top of the frame and the composition would work well a little wider to get all of the subject in the shot. This small issue aside, it's a great photo.

Shooting with 105mm macro lens on a cropped sensor Canon EOS M50 allowed Adam to get a remarkably close-up and detailed shot of this damselfly. Claire's work in Photoshop to the exposure and colours has given it an incredibly dark and moody atmosphere too - great work!

Julie has taken a fantastic macro shot of this butterfly on a purple echinacea. It's a wonderfully minimal, square composition that works well with just the side-on profile of the butterfly, the colourful flower and clean green background. Great job!

Howard's managed to find an excellent minimalist composition by zooming in tightly on this sheep and revealing all of the textures. There's some wonderful details and contrast in this image and his decision to convert to black and white works brilliantly well!

Pete's caught a cracking shot of this little owl. It's nicely posed with the whole owl within the frame and looking towards the camera for strong eye contact too. The background has also been nicely blurred with long zoom and wide aperture creating a good separation between the little owl and background. Great job!

Kate's puffin portrait impressed us, catching the moment a puffin was facing towards her with a beak full of sand eels and brilliant eye contact. The colour palette is also simple and minimal with the blues in the sky and the white defocused flowers in the foreground and of course the vibrant orange puffin's beak that instantly stands out.

Johan hit our minimalist brief with this fantastic silhouette of an oyster catcher which is side-on so you can see it's whole profile including their famously long beak. We love the gradient of the warm sunset tones fading into cooler blues towards the bottom - its the perfect backdrop for his subject to be placed on. Great work!

Henrik's shot is impressive not only because he's caught an incredibly rare European hamster [Cricetus cricetus] and in an interesting pose with fantastic eye contact, he's also covered all of the basics ensuring it's correctly exposed, colours look bright and the focus is spot-on as well as getting down low and shooting through the grass for a more intimate angle.

Steve's caught an incredible image of this tree frog. The central composition works wonderfully well, with those bulbous red eyes making a strong focal point. The use of space also works well with the foreground taking up the bottom third and the background filled with fantastic water droplets which add an interesting texture too.

While not strictly a wildlife image, Pawel's pet portrait won us over with his professional use of off-camera flash lighting, beautifully soft autumnal colours and minimalist composition. Whiskey's pose is also nicely caught and the focus has been put on the closest eye to make sure it's pin-sharp. Great job!

Lyne has captured an incredible portrait of the Great Grey Owl. Zooming in tightly on owl's face with her Canon EF 100-400mm reveals incredible detail in the feathers and those piercing yellow eyes, this is also where she's masterfully focused.

Jay's managed to capture a brilliant macro scene of these two butterflies here and it's absolutely full of brilliant purples and yellows that really draw the viewer's eye in. The wide f/2.8 aperture provides a wonderfully soft and shallow depth of field too.