Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds
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White-faced Heron. Photographer: Chris Dubar
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Golden-headed Cisticola. Photographer: Harry Charalambous
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Crescent Honeyeater. Photographer: Sandy Castle
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Curlew Sandpiper, Great Knot, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Photographer: Cherilyn Corker
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Yellow-throated Miner. Photographer: Emmy Silvius
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Mystery Reviewer Critiques
All our Mystery Reviewer critique articles are available here, with the most recent ones at the top. Those published within the last two years are member-only access; you must be logged in to see them.
The Mystery reviewer articles are written during the voting phase of the competition; the Mystery Reviewers do not know the identity of the photographers.
It has given me great pleasure to view and critique the images for this competition. There were many fine images that must have taken a lot of time and patience to acquire; my congratulations to the photographers.
It was an utter pleasure to see such fine work being produced by many photographers in Birdlife Photography. I found the standard very high but it did make the job of selecting the winner a difficult one though. I started with a very long ‘shortlist’ containing nearly a quarter of the images entered and carefully scored them, eventually settling on 8 images. Well done to all who entered as you have contributed to an excellent gallery of photos.
With the relative ease of access to birds in our populated environs, this category enjoyed a bumper number of entries. Gardens, walkways, rooftops, parks, feeder trays and even signposts were fair game for our enterprising entrants in this competition category in an attempt to grab a pic to match the topic. The competitive spirit was fierce and it was a group of well constructed, sharply focused images that made the final group for this category.
Once again, there were many fine entries in this competition which made my final choices difficult. The “City Slickers” topic was understandably broad, but in all of my selections the natural and man-made elements combine effectively to create a stronger image than just a bird on its own. In each of my final selections, the man-made element is much more than a simple prop upon which the bird is perched; there is a conscious narrative or statement being made by each of these photographers, which sets them apart.
This was an enormously varied group of photographs exploring the theme of birds in urban environments, and the task of drawing distinctions between images and selecting a winner was a difficult one. In considering these pictures I was constantly reminded on the importance of the background in a successful bird shot. Naturally enough, what is in the background is not our primary concern when an image is taken – there is more than enough to think about in terms of focusing on the bird(s) – but in the final analysis, the background can make or break the success or otherwise of the image.
Most of the images submitted for this competition were certainly well lit. Some had that warmth of afternoon light, and some featured the enveloping light that added a degree of texture, whilst others used the light to increase the vibrancy of colour in their subject.
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