Sheep

A beautiful and atmosphetic scene of two rather adorable Herdwick sheep in the Lake District. I love the composition, with the sheep well positioned to be the obvious subject, yet still offering us a grand view down to the lake and mountains below. The golden glow of the low sun adds a lovely atmosphere to complete the scene. Congratulations on your winning image.

A fabulous and rather unusual portrait of a sheep, zooming in close to capture just the essential features, which contain enough information to visually describe the creature as a whole. The textures around the eye and ear are lovely, and the shot is especially successful as the subject fills the entire frame with no distractions. Some may be bothered by the ear clip and may even have been tempted to clone it out, but it is a reality and does not draw the attention ftom the gaze of the eye. Great work, well done on your top ten placing.

This image really conveys a sense of these hardy sheep battling the elements in the winter snow. Being captured with a long lens has compressed the perspective to heighten the impression of the sheep being tightly packed as if for protection from the weather, and what I really like is your capture of the long wool of the main subject as it is blown by the wind. The whole image has a real sense of movement. Colouring is great too; nicely natural with a limited palette as befitting the subject as a whole. Congratulations on your third place finish.

A striking portrait of a sheep. I love the positioning of the head and face that you have captured, with the side and downwards-facing head on a strong diagonal across the frame, creating a bold composition. The detail throughout has been extremely well captured, and the viewer gets a clear sense of how the skin, the wool and the horn would feel to the touch. The monochrome processing suits the subject too. Congratulations on your second place finish.

I love this rather unusual shot of a flock of sheep, captured in a way that creates quite an abstract image. The dark ears against the pale wool really stand out, with the green, yellow and blue ear clips adding a pop of colour. There is no shooting data attached, but I imagine this has been taken with a long lens, which has compressed the perspective making the flock seem even more tightly packed, adding to the abstract. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.