Image Competitions

This week I decided to enter my first photo competition. First I headed to the ‘Australian Photography’ website and clicked on the monthly competition, ‘January theme - Wildlife’. I love looking through these types of collections. The photographer’s use of cropping, camera settings, composition, subject matter, and lighting all utilised differently to make their images shine. Take two photographers and shoot the same subject, each will produce a different resulting image. The one image that I wish I could submit, I have not been able to achieve as yet. The image would depict a very cold, icy morning. Patches of snow covering the ground and a large clearing of rock, scrub, and grass surrounded by eucalyptus trees. It is early morning and a lone stag walks to the edge of the clearing, its nose up smelling the air, exhaling its breath, steam streaming from its nostrils. That is the shot I am after although a doe would definitely suffice. Central highlands would be my preferred location although I will practice through a few of the local deer farms. ​ The image I decided to submit was one taken at the local Cataract Gorge. An image of a Peacock in full fanning position.

I have seen many images of Peacocks and how easily it is to loose the birds face in tail plumage. As a photographer, it is essential to always think about the composition and the effect the background will have. Taking this image from a forty-five degree angle has allowed me to utilise the focal plane to focus only on the head and nothing else. The leading lines the plumage creates, draws the viewer into the frame. Technically, this is one of my favorite animal images taken to date.