December 2014 Monthly Competition Winners

Subject
Polar Bears

Location
Alaska National Wildlife Refuge

Subject
Atlantic Puffin

Location
Noss National Nature Reserve, Shetland Islands, Scotland

Subject
Wood Duck Drake

Location
Sterne Park

Location
Everglades NP

Subject
Female Rufous Hummingbird

Location
Golden, CO

Description
This photo was taken in the morning light that was backlighting the hummingbird as she posed for a few seconds. The front fill light was provided by a reflector put in place for that purpose.

Location
Castle Pines, CO

Description
Bobcat chases squirrel up pine tree in just seconds. Filmed from deck of my home.

Subject
Mule Deer

Location
Ken-Caryl Ranch, Jefferson County, Colorado

Description
While waiting for a moose or bear to appear in Glacier National Park, this damselfly kept me entertained on some grasses in front of me.

Subject
Wood Duck

Location
Littleton, CO

Description
Taken thanksgiving weekend.

Subject
Black Bear Sow and Cub

Subject
Bristlecone Pines under the Milky Way

Location
Mount Evans

Subject
Collegiate Peaks

Location
Mt Princeton

Description
View to the Southwest from the top of Mt. Princeton at 14,197'

Description
The early morning sunrise kissed the peaks across the stillness of Swiftcurrent Lake at Glacier National Park--summer 2014

Subject
Great Blue Heron in Flight with Reflection

Location
Hilton Head, South Carolina

Description
A Great Blue Heron and its reflection appear to be shining through a rapidly streaming scene. Copy, paste heron and reflection to new layer in Photoshop. Massive motion blur of entire scene including the heron. Make Heron layer visible to create speed sensation with the slipstream effect from blurred heron wings.

Subject
Double-crested Cormorants

Location
Cormornants: Lakewood, CO; Sunset: Bent County, CO

Description
Constructed a mask by separating the Double-crested Cormorants and their nest from a light background with a threshhold filter. Refined the mask by deleting a few extraneous branches and slightly smoothing and feathering edges. Applied the mask to a black solid color layer. Inserted a horizontally-flipped sunset layer beneath the masked black layer.

Subject
Bat

Location
Near Green Valley Arizona

Description
A bat taking a drink of water from a pond.

Subject
Green Jays fighting

Location
Laguna Seca Ranch ,South Texas

Subject
Wood Duck

Location
Ltttleton CO

Description
Thanksgiving morning

Subject
Yellow-Bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris)

Location
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

Description
I thoroughly enjoyed photographing this Yellow-Bellied Marmot female as she carried her pups from one den location to another.

Subject
Nile Crocodile

Location
Rufiji River, Selous Game Reserve, Southern Tanzania

Description
I was on a small boat on the Rufiji River with Rita and Charlie Summers and, as we approached many of the Nile Crocodiles resting on small sandy beaches, they would turn and flee into the water. We were always hoping that they were high up so that they would create "waterfalls of sand" as they dropped into the water.

Subject
Green Sea Turtle

Location
Cancun, Mexico

Description
A young Green Sea Turtle heads for the surface for a gulp of fresh air before returning to graze on the grasses that grow on the sandy bottom of Half Moon Bay.

Location
Coyote Buttes Wilderness, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona, USA

Description
The clear night sky and practically no moon provided perfect conditions for this image of star trails. The land was captured in one exposure taken shortly after sunset, and the stars were captured in a series of 14 images each 12 minutes long beginning an hour and a half after the image for the land.

Subject
The Horsehead Nebula

Location
Colorado, lookign up

Description
Around the lower left (eastern) star (near center in the above image) in the belt of Orion are many faint nebulae. At the very top of the image is the center star of Orion's belt called Alnilam. The beautiful Horsehead nebula (center) is made of dark dust in front of an emission nebula (reddish-pink). The bright nebula to the lower left of the belt star is the emission nebula NGC 2024 (to the left of the Horsehead nebula).

Canon 7D Mark II, 20-megapixel digital camera, Canon 300 mm f/2.8 L IS version II lens at f/2.8. Seventy 60-second exposures at ISO 1600 were added (70 minutes total exposure).

Subject
Starburst with Glacial Ice

Location
Black sand Beach South Shore Iceland

Description
Glacial Ice reflecting the rays of the sun at Sunrise

Subject
Arches NP

Location
Arches NP

Description
This image was made during my spring tour to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I’ve longed to get this shot with water in the potholes to reflect the formation known as The Organ. The clouds were also very cooperative.

Subject
Yellowstone Scenic

Location
Wyoming

Description
Topaz Simplify, Color Sketch, lots of added drawing and cloning.

Subject
Giraffes

Location
Selous Park, Tanzania

Description
Topaz, Simplify, Color Sketch, lots of cloning and drawing

Subject
Amazon Tree

Description
Amazon Tree modified with multiple Topaz Filters.