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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

  • Australian Wood Duck (Image ID 21121)

    Australian Wood Duck.   Photographer: Con Boekel

  • Australian Wood Duck (Image ID 20205)

    Australian Wood Duck.   Photographer: Con Boekel

  • Gouldian Finch (Image ID 28168)

    Gouldian Finch.   Photographer: Bill Harding

  • Nankeen Kestrel (Image ID 19614)

    Nankeen Kestrel.   Photographer: Glenn Pure

  • Plumed Whistling-Duck (Image ID 29030)

    Plumed Whistling-Duck.   Photographer: Adam Higgins

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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.

 

Winner: Australian White Ibis - RA35GT (Image ID 21913)

The feeling of awe at watching birds glide high above is wonderfully conveyed here. The light through the bird’s wings highlights the extended wing feathers and tips, allowing the viewer to focus on the form and function of the different feathers and of the bird itself. The mottled blue and white sky provides a background that complements the bird, adding to the dreamy atmosphere.

Winner: Black-shouldered Kite - James Harrison (Image ID 16860)

This photo impressively shows the wonders of flight and a fascinating interaction between two birds. To photograph this moment the photographer has shown knowledge of the birds’ behaviour and the ability to act quickly. Critically, the shutter speed is fast enough to render the birds perfectly still - motion blur in the wings, for example, would likely distract from image.

Winner: Australian Brush Turkey - Leonard Ezzy (Image #21440)

Lovely light sets off the beauty of this photograph. Colours are vibrant and clear. Focus is spot on showing all the fine hairs and the detail in the eye is lovely. The contours of the skin and beak are well- defined with beautiful detail. The depth of field is also spot on as the slightly out-of-focus neck concentrates the gaze onto the birds head nicely. Background is soft and even and compliments the bird beautifully. The stare captured is intense and the fine details around the eye and in the iris itself are wonderful.

Winner: Purple Swamphen - Jonathan Pridham (Image #21427)

A wonderful portrait of a big and clearly beautiful species. The sharpness and definition on the beak and eye is very good, exposure is good and details very nice. In addition, the light is beautiful and composition is well balanced with the bird placed nicely in the frame. The colours are wonderful and the depth of field nicely set to concentrate on the beak and eye,

Competition was stiff at this Intermediate level, with a number of images that would not have been out of place in the Advanced level. That said, there were a several images which would have been further improved with some additional selective cropping, even amongst my final selections. Birds in flight images can be spectacular, or awkward, depending on the wing pose or angle of view at that critical moment the shutter is released.

There were a lot of good photographs entered at this Level and it was difficult making a final choice. From a technical point of view, I was looking for images that were in focus, well exposed, reasonably sharp and without too much noise. About half the images passed these basic image quality criteria and were then considered for aesthetic qualities and special points of interest. This resulted in a short list of ten well-crafted images that deserve mention:

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