Wildlife

An abundance of kingfisher images were submitted in this contest, but the choice of colour palette, sense of speed and beautiful balance between sharpness and softness caught our eye here. While there’s an element of luck in capturing a picture like this, there’s no denying that the patience, persistence, photographic skill and subject knowledge on the part of the photographer that goes into creating that ‘luck’. Hats off to anyone who can react quickly enough to train their lens at the right spot and capture an image as impeccably timed as this.

You don’t have to travel far to shoot impactful wildlife photos. As Kath’s shot proves, a domestic garden can throw up a host of opportunities to capture interesting behaviour and dramatic pictures. Freezing the moment that these two greenfinches clashed in mid-air makes the meeting appear almost balletic, but in reality it must have been a blur of wings and cacophony of noise that was near-impossible to keep track of through a 750mm-equivalent lens. There are some super details here, including the perfect position of the beaks, the glint in the eye and the spread wings and posture of the nearest bird.

What an uplifting shot! This image ticks many wildlife portrait photography boxes: an engaging subject, precision timing and a focused composition that’s free of distractions. It’s deceptively simple in its execution, but anyone who’s tried their hand at wildlife photography, particularly where the subject is as small and supercharged as this European ground squirrel, will know how challenging it is to get close enough to fill the frame and take a shot that’s sharp and clean, let alone one that expresses behaviour in such an evocative way.