Winners of the 2013 National Geographic Photo Contest

[gulfbeach47]

<p>Some amazing photos. The Ice Bear, Flying Egrets and Graveyard are my favorites.</p>

<p>http://weather.aol.com/2013/12/19/look-winners-of-the-2013-national-geographic-photo-contest/</p>

[ShunCheung]

The ice bear image is amazing.

[kts]

<p>the ice bear, the crow's nest, flying egret's and the graveyard were my top 4 </p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>thank you John - every shot amazing in its own way</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p><a href="http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/19/the-2013-national-geographic-photography-contest-winners/">The video and transcript on the Nat Geo site</a> was pretty interesting as well - shows the editors in the process of paring down the choices to the final few.</p>

[cyanatic]

<p>Some really nice work there. My taste runs toward the more thoughtful (to me) photos with a human presence in them. "Together, Alone" & "Arabic, Gambia" stood out for me. Ice Bear leaves me cold (bad pun, boo), as I just can't get excited by wildlife photos. However, I thought "Flying Egrets" was wonderful. "Graveyard" is stunning, but typical eye candy fare whose appeal wears off after a brief period of time. (Man, I sound like such a snob. Sorry, just relaying my personal taste.)</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing the link.</p>

[AmyHelmick]

<p>I watched the video; interesting to see the varied thought processes around paring down these images. Thanks for these links John and Lex.</p>

 

[robert_k1]

<p>- Images and photographers from around the globe are represented. Photography is universal, and the playing field is level.</p>

<p>- One photographer got two (!) images selected from one (!) project.</p>

<p>- How was the "Flying Egrets" done? Single frame with l-o-n-g exposure, or with in camera multiple exposure? Or with post processing from multiple frames?</p>

[MichaelChang]

<blockquote>

<p><em>"How was the "Flying Egrets" done? Single frame with l-o-n-g exposure, or with in camera multiple exposure? Or with post processing from multiple frames?"</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/uY3PJt2fxPxqXEDd7gXKdKnW5oWmAfmHgP3uv*A6s2fUibJbfRz0wsHpuS8eqet2XQLt54PIZljD3QTZbXAMxcLBM27dGdIl/flyingegrets.jpg">http://api.ning.com/files/uY3PJt2fxPxqXEDd7gXKdKnW5oWmAfmHgP3uv*A6s2fUibJbfRz0wsHpuS8eqet2XQLt54PIZljD3QTZbXAMxcLBM27dGdIl/flyingegrets.jpg</a><br /> <br /> Looks like it could be a single frame long exposure, maybe 0.25-1.0 second. <br /> <br /> But, given that only a couple of birds on the ground are in the take-flight posture and all others appear calm, it also could be a two-shot composite. <br /> <br /> Great pictures, and that "Ice Bear" photo is so typical of National Geographic.</p>

[MichaelChang]

<blockquote>

<p><em>"Together, Alone" & "Arabic, Gambia" stood out for me."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/u/TvyamNb-BivtNwcoxtkc5xGBuGkIMh_nj4UJHQKuoXZZpqG7j-nhjfPGVttG94OZ-zNyB1FPB2WSSw/">http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/u/TvyamNb-BivtNwcoxtkc5xGBuGkIMh_nj4UJHQKuoXZZpqG7j-nhjfPGVttG94OZ-zNyB1FPB2WSSw/</a></p>

<p>Steve, I know this will sound quite amateurish, but don't you think the above photo might benefit from a camera position slightly panned more toward the right? </p>

 

[cyanatic]

<p>Michael -- Why would that sound amateurish? It's a good point and I think you may be right in it creating more aesthetic appeal. A slight pan right would place her off center and maybe bring in more interest from that side (although we don't know what was there). It's funny how I didn't even notice that. Whereas if it were my photo, I'd be saying, "Shoot! She's centered! I'll be crucified for placing her at center!" ;-)</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>Steve, it might sound amateurish because I'm just an amateur. :-) </p>

<p>Also because I've concluded that I don't know what a good picture is any more; only what I like. </p>

<p>The author of the photo does have a tendency to center his subjects. This is his website (might take a few seconds to load): <br>

<a href="http://maurin-bisig.ch/">http://maurin-bisig.ch/</a></p>