Amateur Photographer monthly forum competition results for April 2009

As regulars will know macro is one of my favourite subjects, so I was really looking forward to seeing the images you all produced for this round. My weekends have been filled with decorating recently, while my rapidly growing garden hedge writhes with life just a few feet away. My bellows are calling for action and my shutter finger is twitching!

What makes macro photography so fascinating for me is seeing things when I look closely that I would usually miss. Put your lens down near the grass and you’ll see endless beetles, ants and crawly things, and aim it under the leaves of a tree to see eggs and hiding creatures in rugs of silk. As you’ve shown here too, there is a multitude of subjects and objects that look different close-up, and which make the miniature world a wonderful place to explore.



Just to remind you, the forum competition is kindly sponsored by Nikon. The top prize each month is the delightful Nikon Coolpix S560 10MP compact camera. Our second and third prize-winners get an ‘Amateur Photographer Loves My Pictures’ mug.

I’ve come to expect very high quality from this competition and this month’s entries demonstrate just why – there are some really exceptional images on show. I’ve kept the shortlist to thirty this time – so I could show two groups of 15 pictures – but it could have contained at least four more excellent shots.





Special mentions this month go to Ilon for ‘zipper’, OneTen for ‘Munching’, Simon_King for ‘USB Mini Cable’, David_gu1 for ‘Little screw’, JonMcGovern for ‘Biding its Time’, Tonycro for ‘take off’ and AnnieM for ‘Fixing the 'any key'’

So on to the winners:

I haven’t been able to chose between two images here to make a third place, so we’ve got a draw. My PA will go mad as we’ll be getting through the mugs too quickly, but I just couldn’t pick one from the other.

Joint third place: TomM, for 'NAB: not another bee! Hoverfly in flight'



Hover flies make brilliant, but trying, subjects as they do live up to their name and actually hover – thus keeping still for a few moments while in flight. The frustrating part, of course, is that those few moments are hardly enough to frame, zoom, focus and shoot, so TomM has done a great job here with this chap. There is luck involved for sure, but there’s plenty of perseverance, skill and forethought involved too. This is an excellent image.

Joint third place: Northerner, for ‘Whip Goby’



I’m guessing, but I suspect Northerner shot this Whip Goby resting on a rod coral after he moved from Manchester to Sydney! They’re not that common in the Irwell. Shooting underwater is no mean feat, and when the subject is transparent life becomes even more complicated. Northerner has lit this fishie really well, with an overhead light to bring out his colours, show his shape and let us see right through him.

Second place: Snowqueen, for ‘This little piggy went to market......’



Talking of mean feat...

This is a very touching image. I love the contrast between the black background and the pink luminance of the baby’s skin. The lighting works very well to draw and keep our attention, and Snowqueen’s framing helps us look at the smaller toes without the big toe dominating the show. It’s a lovely shot that I’m sure the mother will treasure.

First place: Tomel, for ‘Mesmerized’



What an extraordinary picture! The longer I look at it the more certain I become that he is just about to start singing I’ve got you under my skin into those Radio City microphones. Seriously though, I think this is a fantastic photograph. Tomel has made the best of a lucky moment to produce an image filled with colour, beautiful light and a perfect combination of stunning subjects. I hope we see more of Tomel in the coming months. Well done.

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to enter your photographs and for the comments that keep the pulse of the competition going. The immediate feedback and encouragement is great, and I hope you all enjoy participating as much as I look forward to viewing and judging. A great effort entirely. Thanks.

I hope you can all find the time to enter the May round too.

Damien

Click the links to see all the Amateur Photographer forum photographic competition entries for April and here to read the April forum photographic competition discussion thread

This is where you'll find all the rest of the year's Amateur Photographer forum photographic competitions and discussion threads.