My BBC WPOTY Image

[Doug Brown]

Thought I'd share a decent-quality version of my WPOTY image with the BPN community. The one on the Natural History Museum website is fairly low res. This is one of the images I took of a family of Peregrine Falcons during a week I spent with them in 2009. Interestingly enough, Jim Neiger was there with me. When I first captured this image, I didn't think much of it. I had been hoping for better skies. But when I got back to Albuquerque, the photo started to grow on me. I worked it over in PS, and was pretty pleased with the results. I decided to enter it in the BBC competition, and was fortunate to get runner-up honors in the Animal Portraits category.

I'd like to thank everyone at BPN for helping to make me a better photographer!

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Canon 1D Mark III, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 640, manual exposure, hand held

[Jonathan Ashton]

It's a lovely shot Doug, indeed the more I look the more I like it, the fine colours and details in the plumage are superb.

[Greg Basco]

Doug, the whites are blown. I can't believe this won a prize.

Seriously, I like the artistic feel of this image a lot. Big congrats on the honor!

Cheers,
Greg

[Sid Garige]

Excellent details Doug. Awesome job.

[Katie Rupp]

Doug, you know I love high key and this is just great. I really like how the out-streched pose echoes the form of the bare branches. Big-time Congratulations!

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Big congrats! Glad to see the bigger version.

Cheers

Randy

[John Chardine]

Very, very nice to see Doug. Do they allow any cropping or is this out of the camera?

[Danny Laredo]

Big congrats Doug. Fantastic image.

[Danny Laredo]

.double post.

[DanWalters]

Like the simplicity and the position of the wing. Very nice!

[David Gancarz]

What a superb image this is! The composition could be JJ Audubon, if he painted high-key backgrounds. This shall be my November workstation display background at work!

[Stu Bowie]

Huge congrats Doug. Your photography is an inspiration, and can see why this was chosen in such a prestigious competition.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Big congratulation. Really like the composition of this image, love how the raise wing goes along with the branches very well.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Big congrats!

killer pose,details,composition,perch!!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Sweet! I love the intensity of the falcon, the high-key background, and the nice even light. Big congrats Doug!

[James Salywoda]

That tree sure adds character to this shot and the
high key bg and pose by the Peregrine make for such a highly
artistic feel to this image... I Love It!!!:)

[Myer Bornstein]

Excellent and there is not any more to say

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is an incredibly impressive shot Doug! Huge congrats mate. :)

[Grace Scalzo]

Congrats from me too, Doug. Well seen and executed, but then I would expect no less from you!

[Dan Brown]

Congrats Doug! Love the shot! It has an asian feel to it with the stark white bg! Nice shot man! And thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us!

[Doug Brown]

Do they allow any cropping or is this out of the camera?

They do allow cropping John. All they care about is that the image needs to hold up to the enlargement that they use for the exhibition. If image quality breaks down when they print it big, the image will not advance in the judging. This was their motivation for creating a minimum camera megapixel number last year. I believe they're going to drop that rule next year, but they're still going to want enough pixels to print the image really big.

[Ken Watkins]

Great picture Doug, certainly nice to see it in decent quality.


All they care about is that the image needs to hold up to the enlargement that they use for the exhibition. If image quality breaks down when they print it big, the image will not advance in the judging. This was their motivation for creating a minimum camera megapixel number last year. I believe they're going to drop that rule next year, but they're still going to want enough pixels to print the image really big.

I always wondered how they judged images. Is this normal for all competitions? I just thought this was strange that a good photo that does not blow up well is dumped, perhaps the competition should be renamed?

[Stephen Earle]

Congratulations. Well deserved indeed.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful image Doug. The high key and the branches are lovely. Super big congratulations and well deserved.

[Ignacio Yufera]

Sincere congratulations. It really is an unusual and original shot, and the white sky doesn't detract from it at all.

[Harshad Barve]

Big congrats Doug. Super Fantastic image

[Doug Brown]

Thank you all! The kind words are most appreciated!

[Kiran Poonacha]

super job... big congrats Bhai....

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx for sharing the higher res. image. This is a stunner in every way. Combo of image design, high key treatment and pose is superb.

[Scott Vincent]

Congrats Doug - Nice image. I had 2 in the final round, but didn't get further - Did better with Natures Best though! Congrats again!