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Low Light: Wild Animals

Challenge #1 in the Low Light series. Hosted by alaska_tim.

Challenge has finished

Many animals are most active at dawn, dusk or even the dead of night. This makes photography of their activities difficult. Show us your best low light capture of wild animals in action. Please consider both the artistic quality of the photographs entered and how challenging the lighting was in creating the photograph when rating images.

Show full rules

Announced:

Thursday, 29th April, 2010 (GMT)

Submissions:

Thursday, 6th May, 2010 – Wednesday, 12th May, 2010 (GMT)

Voting:

Thursday, 13th May, 2010 – Wednesday, 19th May, 2010 (GMT)

Processing rules:

Please be judicious in post. Basic processing only.
No frames, borders or watermarks.
No surrealism.

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

The animal must be the main subject, shot outside, preferably in its natural environment. So please no shots of sunrises or sunsets (or anything else) where animals are little more than decoration.
In the description, please indicate the month or season, and time of day the photo was taken. Shots taken during normal daylight hours will be disqualified.
No extreme artificial light. Please be judicious. The theme of this series is low light; too much artificial light negates this.
No silhouettes.
No pets.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

150

submission
phase has

ended

73 entries

voting
phase has

ended

2930 votes

Slideshow 13 / 81 Full size Next Challenge Previous

Tricolor Heron Closeup

by zackiedawg

13^th place

2.990

low

high

Taken handheld at 6pm on a February winter day, temp 48 degrees, after sunset, from no more than 7 feet away from the bird. ISO1600 and wide-open aperture needed for fast shutter speed. I was on my way out of the reserve after a day of shooting when this opportunity presented itself. Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, FL.

Camera:	Sony Alpha DSLR-A550
Lens:	Tamron 200-500 F5-6.3
Submitted:	Friday, 7th May, 2010 22:56 (GMT)
Taken:	Saturday, 20th February, 2010
Focal length:	420 mm
Shutter speed:	1/400 sec
Aperture:	F5.6
ISO:	1600
Notes:
Views:	1012

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Your complaint (along with the complaints of others regarding this entry) will be reviewed by the challenge owner. Depending upon the nature and applicability of the complaint, the entry may be disqualified. In extreme circumstances the user who submitted the entry may receive a ban from the challenge or series in question.

Reason:

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Entry comments

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Oldest first

zackiedawg

Many many thanks, Dave!

--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

May 20, 2010permalink

zackiedawg

Many thanks Ed. Appreciate the compliment. I have to say I was very pleased to finally not get my set of 4 .5s again!

I was a bit miffed with some of the 'low light' entries, when I see ISOs of 100 or 200, and apertures of F8-15, and yet shutter speeds of 1/1000 or more. On average, it looks like the voters mostly agreed and voted appropriately, but there were a few that ranked higher than I would have thought, and a few that really were low light shots that didn't get the credit.

But that's to be expected - it's somewhat heartening to me that there didn't appear to be as much corruption in these votes - if some got higher votes despite not being on theme, likely most of them just got 'ooh' and 'aah' votes for the photo, not the adherence to the rule.

I'm OK with that. I had fun!

--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

May 20, 2010permalink

Chato

And a hell of a lot better than the winner...

Hmm?

Dave

May 20, 2010permalink

Ed at Ridersite

Fits the theme perfectly and is simply a haunting shot Justin. For general purposes, you might brighten it up just a little, but not for this challenge. Shows the strength of the A-550 too at ISO-1600 with all that detail. Great shootin!

May 20, 2010permalink

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