Bbc Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Exhibition

[Ripley]

I took a late lunch today and went to the Sydney Museum to see the winning BBC International Wildlife Photographer of the Year photographs that are currently touring the world in an exhibition.

It was well worth the visit. Sydney Museum is a short walk from Hyde Park. They had the photos displayed in a dark room that was lit up to display the wildlife photographs. It was hard to choose a favourite, but I loved the backlit polar bear, the black grouse at dawn and the snow leopard shots taken at night. There was a photo of a Right whale and a scuba diver eyeballing each other which was blown up to the size of window.

All wildlife was captured in the wild. Some great underwater shots and some lovely shots from 11-14 year old budding wildlife photographers. Interesting to see one shot taken with a Canon powershot, not all great shots are taken on DSLRs but most of the cameras were Canon or Nikon, I paid attention to that - and the apertures/shutter speeds and of course, the lenses I can never afford. A few film shots there too.

Here is the site with all the photographs, most of which can be seen in Sydney now. Some of the ones there include. There are many more displayed.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/tem...nlineGallery.do

the award winning one is first - the snow leopard won the overall award. It was taken with a remote controlled camera at night up in the mountains of India.

I really loved the one of a black grouse too, up close it's a beautiful image.

The one of the giraffe and lioness was taken by a 15 year old and won the youth category.

ETA: All exif data is also displayed along with Camera and lenses used and a short commentary from the photographer on how they got the shot.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Ripley

[chezzyr]

Lucky you - because it won't be coming to Melbourne!

All terrific but there is something special about that rim lit Polar Bear

[Guest Tess32]

They are all amazing but to capture a wild snow leopard must be pretty wow....glad it won.

The monkey one makes me lol though.

[Ripley]

It's not too late to enter now if anyone is thinking of it for next year. Here is the link. I think I might buy the latest issue of BBC Wildlife now I've seen that Sir David Attenborough talking about Charles Darwin is on the cover

http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/wpoty.asp

Here are some of the Rules:

Digital guidelines

Format Images should be submitted as JPEGS with no interpolation applied. Save JPEGs at the highest possible quality setting.

File size requirements For the initial submission, images must be 1400 pixels on the longest dimension. Images must have been taken on a sufficiently high resolution camera - at least six million pixels, on the highest setting.

Calibration and colour Images must be colour profiled/corrected using a calibrated monitor and utilising Adobe RGB 98 colour space before submission. Allowances will NOT be made for poorly colour managed/corrected images. Please ensure your images are not over saturated and faithfully represent the subject matter.

Adjusting your image Digital adjustments are only acceptable if limited to minor cleaning work (removing dust spots), levels, curves, colour, saturation and contrast work. Sharpening is allowed (but use sparingly - many images are ruined by over-sharpening). Cropping is allowed, but please be mindful of the effect of cropping on file size.

The faithful representation of what was captured at the time of the shot being taken must be maintained. Compositing and multiple exposures are not allowed. Sandwich shots, double exposures, photographs which consist in any way of more than one separate image and images that have been digitally manipulated outside of rule 5 are not eligible. Adding or removing animals, parts of animals, plants, distractions, people etc into/from the image is not allowed.

Subjects and Ethics

Subjects and Ethics Images of domestic animals (cats, dogs, farm animals, etc) and cultivated plants (species or hybrids grown in a cultivated setting) do not count as wildlife and are not eligible subjects. No live baiting is allowed.

Images of captive animals must be declared. The judges will take preference to images taken in free and wild conditions. Pictures of animals being restrained in any way, or animal models or any other animals being exploited for profit may not be entered (except for the One Earth Award). WPY puts the welfare of animals and the preservation of their environment above all, and asks that photographers do not do anything to upset or stress animals, in their attempt to get the photograph.

If cruel or unethical practices are suspected by the Owners or any of the judges, the entry will be disqualified, and the photographer will no be permitted to enter the competition again.

[Ripley]

Forgot to put how the photographer got that snow leopard shot which won.

"After 10 months and a winter with little snow in Ladakh's Hemis High Altitude National Park, India, I was running out of hope of getting the picture I wanted. But one freezing morning I checked my remote-controlled camera and found a snow leopard had triggered it the night before, in the frame I'd dreamed of – in its true element.'

Snow leopards are adapted to life in the mountains of central Asia. They have long, waterproof outer fur, dense woolly under-fur and large nasal cavities that warm the air as they breathe it in. This allows them to survive temperatures as low as -40°C. But the leopards can also tolerate the heat of the Gobi Desert, where temperatures can reach 40°C.

Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens at 16mm; 1/200 sec at f16; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + Plexiglass tubes for flashes; Trailmaster 1550-PS remote trigger.

The guy who won the shot also had 2 other snow leopard shots featured in the exhibition, guess he couldn't pick which one to enter. He spoke to local people to get knowledge on which track the leopard used at night. Reminds me of that movie with Chris O'Donnell - Vertical Limit where he was photographing the snow leopards from a hide.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Ripley

[Guest Tess32]

Interesting they do allow captive shots.....seems kinda odd.

[Ripley]

The photos detailed how the photographer got the shot and the pains he went to in some cases. One poor b*stard had camped out in a hide for 4 days not happy with any photos he took until he got his 'money shot' on the 5th day. Hope he had a good book on him while he waited around That photo (have put it below) was amazing, I lingered over it as it was just stunning, the casual but focused look in the Osprey's eyes as he grabbed a wild salmon.

There were some lovely landscape shots and some fungi and plant shots (no flower shots though). It wasn't all wildlife, but the majority on display was. Some lovely b/w images too.

Says again in the rules:

Legal issues

"Where necessary under the Wildlife and Countryside Act or equivalent national or international legislation (e.g. in the case of protected species), pictures must be accompanied by copies of the relevant permits. UK entrants should note that, without a permit from Natural England, the Countryside Council for Wales or Scottish Natural Heritage, it is illegal to photograph some British birds at the nest."

This is the osprey photo I loved, the guy who took it must have been so relieved after all that time spent waiting.

His blurb about it:

Osprey snatch

'I lived in a hide overlooking a lake in Pohtiolampi, Finland, for five days, waiting for ospreys to stop off to feed. For four days, the wind blew in the wrong direction, and the birds dived from behind the hide. Only on the last day did the wind change, allowing just this single shot of the osprey I had hoped for.' Ospreys hover over water then dive, plunging into the shallows to grab prey. They have special feet to hold onto slippery fish scales: the soles are covered in spines and one talon can move so the bird can grip either side of the fish. Ospreys are found by rivers, lakes and lagoons all over the world.

Canon EOS-1D Mark III + 300mm f2.8 lens; 1/3200 sec at f5 (-2/3 compensation); ISO 400.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Ripley