Birds of a Feather – Competition September 28th 2023

The ‘Birds of a Feather’ competition brought in a number of excellent entries. Birds could be wild, garden or pet birds.

Judge David Rowlands commended the images submitted, stating they were of a high quality.

He particularly appreciated the images that showed action or the behaviour of birds as shown in Meredith Retallack’s image “Spring Fling”, “Large Billed Tern” shot by Judy Sara and “War Wounds” by Michael Selge.

The quirky and cute birds shown in the images by Paul Hughes “Am I Ready” and “Bathtime” were also appreciated by the Judge.

The good use of backgrounds without distractions employed by Judy Sara in “Hornbill Courtship” and the good use of post processing in “Sparrow Hawk” by Judy Sara were attributes praised by the Judge.

David particularly commented on the advantages of being at eye level with the bird to capture the light and reflections in the eye and commended many images for achieving this, among them “Pelican Sleep Time” by Sue Bell.

Showing good dynamic detail “Plonk” by Michael Selge showed the landing speed leaving behind clear water droplets and water movement.

In the Open Category, Michael Selge scored top marks for 3 images, “The End”, which the Judge said was well executed, even though not a pleasant subject, the good use of leading lines led the viewer into the image. “Storm Summoner” with a good interpretation of the art work and “Darwin Sunset” which scored top marks.

Meredith Retallack and Steve Wallace elected to enter very different street scenes, both of which told a story. Mary’s “Playing into his Hand” is a contemporary street scene with the people in the street being happy, active and animated, while Steve’s “The Store, Dunlop Station” is a step back in time showing an historical building with an interesting old bike in front of it.

“Dawn on the Bank” by Mark Pedler and “F18 Shooting Flares” taken by Sue Bell were also commended by the Judge.

Of the critiques the Judge gave, he suggested removing distractions where possible including any smudges, dust spots and distracting light spots in backgrounds. He also suggested darkening or lightening backgrounds to better contrast with the image subject and cropping photos to make the subject the most prominent object in the image.

Susan Bell