This contest is run by the National Wildlife Federation, this competition is open to both amateurs and professionals, consisting of are seven categories which are:- birds; mammals; other wildlife; landscapes/plants; connecting people and nature; backyard habitat; and global warming.

Cash prizes of more than $30,000 plus other gifts will be awarded to the winners in seven categories in three separate divisions. Go to the entry page for more details and the complete rules.

• Two $5,000 Grand Prizes
• Pro, Amateur and Youth divisions
• For your $20 entry fee, you can submit up to 25 images in 7 categories: Birds, Mammals, Other Wildlife, Landscapes/Plants, Connecting People and Nature, Backyard Habitat and Global Warming
• Winning images will be published on our website and a selection will appear in our December 2010 issue

To enter the contest, you must:

• Be at least 13 years old
• Possess a valid credit card for the $20 entry fee, which includes a one-year membership to the National Wildlife Federation and six issues of National Wildlife magazine
• Have your own photos in digital format (information on sizing and how to upload will be given)
• Provide descriptions and stories behind your photos
• Have an email and mailing address
• Enter by July 6, 2010

Enter by clicking here.

Unfortunately, good photography requires one to be willing to change lenses, so I know my strategies are not the best.

With this as a background, I was EXTREMELY excited when I found an article on sensor cleaning with the phrase “I may never need to clean my sensor again!”.  The article is at “Photo Blog – Niebrugge Images” and is specifically at this link.   Note that the product discussed is by the previously mentioned Dust Aid.  They have given me great service in the past, so I immediately went to their web site to learn more about the new product.  To save you a little effort, below is the instruction video for the new solution:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you can see, the solution is quite unusual.  Does it work?  I am not sure.  I have lost a little of my zeal when I noted that at the information page (link here), the Ron Niebregge ( the owner of the blog where I first found note of the product) is quoted all over the place.  Is this coincidence? Is he a paid spokes person?  I just don’t know.  I have also lost a little zeal realizing that I am now placing an inexpensive clear membrane between my $$$$ lens and my $$$$ camera.  I do not know the optical quality of the Dust Aid Dust Shield, but cannot believe it is up to the optical quality of a Canon L lens or even a top Nikon product (yes, I am slamming Nikon, but all in jest).

Resolution: I am going to try this product.  If it performs well, I will report back.  It may not be a perfect solution, but it just might be the right solution if you are going to a dusty place for a few days or weeks and will need frequent lens changes.

Here are a few examples worth your watching!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A late edit:  Today, I ran across Hilton Kotze’s excellent blog.  There I saw a few of his photos of vehicles crossing the Kwai River at Moremi NP in Botswana.  I thought I would add the shots to help drive home the point.

Michael Bossman crossing the Khwai - from Hilton Kotze blog

Hilton crossing the Kwai - from Hilton Kotze blog

To give the feedback, I will usually ask “What is this photo about?”.  Initially this earns me a dumb stare, so let me explain – I have seen some great images that convey a specific message or feeling to me … but when I ask the photographer, I find he/she was actually trying to convey a totally different message.  Okay, if that is the case, even if it is a great photo, it didn’t accomplish the photographers goal … a teaching moment emerges.

This question actually applies whether shooting wildlife or landscapes.  Compositions get confused because the photographer is taking a picture of a subject rather than looking to see what the photograph is really about.   Once you’ve decided your message, the challenges includes animal posture (if wildlife), light, color, focus, and angle/elevation for the composition.  All of these need to support the message you are conveying in the photo.

When you shoot your image, you are in the moment.  You know the time of day, the events leading to the shot, the emotions you felt as you entered the bush.  Unfortunately, the viewer doesn’t have the advantage of that experience.  He/She looks at your image not as you do (with your history of actually taking the photo and being with the subject), but as a unique entity that they can understand only from what is in the photograph.

If your subject is about the calm of a giraffe at sunset, but the background bush/brush are in clear focus, the composition is conflicted.   In this case, a more vast or distant background would help or one could try using a more shallow depth of field to minimize the conflict.  Do you want to convey peace or tension?  All of the elements, including the background will impact the feel and message.

Tranquil or tense? The wildebeast at sunset with the simple grass background conveys the tranquillity of the moment. Conversely, the busy bushes behind the lion add to the tension of the scene. Keep all of the elements of composition in mind as you shoot and process. copyright 2009: P. B. Eleazer

Of course ‘good accidents’ can happen also. You think your subject is an elephant crossing a stream, and you shoot that scene. When you get home and are processing  your shots,  you zoom in, and there in the frame you can see tiny drops of water dripping off of the subject elephants trunk as he crosses the river.  Luckily, with today’s larger megapixel count cameras, you may be able to crop and create this alternative message. This is okay, because the question “What is the message?” only comes into play when you present your work to others.  So what if you changed your message from when you were in the field.  It happens.

Example of a "good accident". Originally, I was trying to capture the struggle of the smaller elephant to keep up in the deep crossing, but in processing, I saw the water droplets ... and the message changed! Copyright 2009: P. B. Eleazer

Generally, one of the best ways to convey your message is by limiting the information given in the shot.  Frequently, my biggest complaint on a composition it that the photo has too much stuff in a photograph.  When on safari, animals often group together.  This may excite you as you watch the scene.  One’s mind may say “cool, in one photo I can convey the size of the herd, the cute little baby elephant with the herd and the colorful oxpecker on the one elephant”.  Fight this.  Each of these subjects may justify an image, but if you try and bring out that much in an image, you will confuse your viewer.  Remember, light illuminates, shadows define.  With this reminder and the reminder to ‘keep the composition simple”, you will be able to handle each of the above as a quality, separate composition.

Exclusion to keep it simple:This shot by my son, Justin could have been of a group of baboons or of the babe and mother, but Justin chose to exclude those elements and keep the message of the baby baboon sucking it's thumb simple. Copyright 2009: Justin Eleazer

If you start asking yourself regularly, “What is this photo about?”, it will become an automatic thing that you don’t have to think about. Ask this question when you compose the shot, when you review the image on the back screen and when again when you are processing the photo back at the computer.

Brian Valente, a partner with Redrock Microsystems, uses a Redrock EyeSpy rig to hold his camera stable while shooting video at the Santa Monica Pier around sunset.

Several models, such as the $2,499 EOS 5D Mark II and $1,699 EOS 7D, shoot high-quality stills and video that fans like Buono say look as good as a $10,000 video camera. “There’s nothing like it in the video world to even compare it to,” says Buono. “The image sensors are massive, and the images are amazing.”

But he quickly learned that he couldn’t just take the camera out of the box and start shooting. To maintain a steady image and proper focus, he reached for accessories that soup up the digital SLR/video hybrids (called VDSLRs) to turn them into super video cameras.

He opted for a loupe accessory for the LCD, which magnifies the image. “It would be impossible to focus without it,” says Buono.

About 2.7 million digital SLRs worth about $1.7 billion — many with video capability — will be sold this year in the United States, predicts market tracker IDC. And now there’s a boom in accessories to feed the trend.

Companies such as Dallas-based Redrock Microsystems and Chicago’s Zacuto are targeting VDSLR shooters. Their “rigs” are showing up prominently in the video departments at camera stores.

Simply pushing a camera’s record button isn’t enough if you want something “with some artistic merit,” says Brian Valente, a partner with Redrock. “The things we take for granted in a basic consumer video camera just aren’t there in the digital SLR.”

Some of the shortcomings and their problem-solving accessories:

•Controlling composition. You compose video through the camera’s LCD screen in “Live View” mode, similar to how you compose stills on a point-and-shoot. That makes it harder to focus and to compose correctly in low light.

Solution: LCD loupes from Hoodman, Zacuto or Cavision give you an eyepiece-like ability to compose. Prices range from about $80 to $375. Redrock and Zacuto also sell focus attachments for the camera body that allow for more precise focusing.

•Camera shake. The cameras are hard to hold steady for extended periods. Unlike video cameras, which tend to be heavier and easier to hold steady, the shakes really show up in VDSLRs.

Solution: “Steady rigs” from Redrock and Zacuto mount to the camera and help stabilize the image. The rigs rest on your shoulder.

•Sound. Audio from built-in microphones is inferior, and unacceptable for serious work. The 5D and 7D have mike inputs but higher-end microphones won’t fit.

Solution: David Speranza, who blogs about professional video for the website of New York retailer B&H Photo, recommends two small accessory microphones, the $200 Sennheiser MKE 400 and the $150 Rode VideoMic. Both plug into the mike jack, rest on the camera hot shoe and provide excellent sound, he says.

Speranza says VDSLR accessories are a big growth area for B&H. “There’s lots of interest in it. People who couldn’t conceive of shooting video that looked this good two years ago can now get amazing results for under $2,000.”

The cameras shoot directly to memory cards, but you’ll need a big one to hold the footage — an 8-gigabyte or 16-GB card is a must.

That dreamy look

Speranza says the 7D is far and away the best-selling VDSLR, because of its lower price and because it can record video in variable frame rates. The 5D shoots at 30 frames per second, standard for video, while the 7D can do 30 frames or 24 frames, similar to film. “It has that dreamy look that filmmakers love,” he says.

This week Canon announced another new VDSLR that can shoot 1080p video, at its lowest price yet. The $799 (body only) EOS Rebel T2i, out in March, has the same 18 megapixel image sensor as the 7D.

The image sensor on these cameras is much bigger than those found on video cameras. So it can produce images with shallow depth of field (blurry backgrounds) on a multitude of lenses.

“You’ve got sensors that are six to eight times the size of what you’ll find in video cameras,” says Syl Arena, a California photographer who recently used the 5D Mark II to shoot footage for a TV reality show pilot. “You get a cinematic look that is just amazing.”‘

Nikon introduced video to SLRs in 2008 with the D90. But video really took off for advanced amateurs, pros and indie productions with Canon’s 5D Mark II and 7D, which both shoot full 1080p high-definition video.

Besides Saturday Night Live, the Fox series 24 has shot scenes with the 5D. And the recent Terminator Salvation movie ran a series of Internet episodes promoting it that were all done with the 5D.

Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for Salvation, just finished making a feature film about the Navy SEALs using 5Ds, with Redrock gear to mount cameras for handheld use.

“It puts the viewer directly into the action,” he says. “With this technology, you feel like you’re in a video game.”

Link to video of a camera with some of these tools

A little background:  a friend of mine that lives in South Africa organizes our trip.  He basically finds a dozen like minded folks that wants to visit for photography.  He coordinates with the hotels for us to stay together at a small lodge and have our dinners together. We drive up to Kasane together as a caravan and return same. That’s it.  Each person handles any other logistics like vehicle rental, snack foods they wish to carry in, etc.  What time we enter the park and where we go during the day is up to the team in that individual vehicle.  The only exception is that we coordinate one night of the trip to all go out together on a sundowner cruise on a pontoon boat.

Botswana has always operated a little differently than other countries.  The focus has been called ‘low volume, high value’ for a Botswana private camp safari. At a time when there are questions on the rationale behind the government strategy on high-value, low-volume approach to tourism, especially in the protected areas like the Okavango Delta, tour operators and tourists have argued for the latter as it protects the environment.

A leading player in the industry, Wilderness Safaris, and a number of tourists argue that if the country follows other destinations like Kenya, which has opposite strategies, there will be no future for the industry. Sally Anne of Wilderness Safaris, a conservation organisation operating a number of camps in the delta, told Sunday Standard Botswana has been perceived as an expensive destination and revealed they use ‘high-value’ to dispel that argument. “It is the value of the experience and not the cost,” she said.

Mombo Camp run by Wilderness Safaris

Critics of the strategy say operators put profits first and thus locking out a number of domestic tourists in the country as tour operators normally target the upper end of the market, including the rich from the US. However, government has in the past argued that the policy is based on the overriding factor to protect the environment.

Wilderness Safaris is a conservation organization that operates in a number of camp sites in Moremi, the delta and one in CKGR.  Its flagship camps, Mombo and Little Mombo were voted the Number 1 Resort in Africa in the 2009 Condé Nast Traveler (USA) Readers’ Choice Awards. Grant Woodrow, who heads Wilderness Safaris in Botswana, believes that the environment can not sustain high volumes as it is fragile. Woodrow acknowledged the issue of access to the country’s pristine destinations as a contentious issue, but argued ‘the environment can not sustain high volumes’. “These areas will become fewer and fewer,” he said, referring to the pristine destinations around the world.

Now for the problem and the tempest: Thanks to international recognition of the camps as noted above, internet access to information and fantastic television shows lie the BBC’s footage of Botswana on “Planet Earth”, a lot of people are wanted to travel to Botswana to see this fantastic wilderness.  I confess I was/am guilty of that lust and this blog is witness to that fact.  These facts noted, Botswana’s wilds are remotely located with limited cities and towns near the regions.  There are essentially 3 ways to see the wilds of Botswana:

• Visit the permanent lodges and use their quality guides – highest cost option, but very high quality experience.
• Participate in ‘mobile (tented)safaris’ and – medium cost, with more focus on game viewing and a little less focus on luxury accomadations
• So called ‘self-drive safari’ like the adventures I have gone upon – lowest cost alternative.

With all these tourists wanting to see one of the most spectacular areas of Africa, one can see that means that strict rules and regulations had to be drawn up in order to maximize the income out of tourism and to protect the environment at the same time.

The lodges generally are supported by ‘big business’ and big dollars to state their case with the government.  The mobile safari business has a trade organization, HATAB (Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana) that argues that their business creates jobs for the countries citizens.  The independent tourist has less voice.  The tempest is all around the fact that all of these organization wish to grow yet there is a limited ecological wilderness.  So who is to lose?

Johan Knols, in his blog PlanYourSafari.com has written a good summary article on the situation. HIs article was driven by news that one tourism company is now creating a hybrid – mobile safari with semi-permanent campsites.  His conclusion:

“If the government sticks to the principle of ‘low-volume-high-cost-tourism’, something has to change and the easiest way to release the pressure on a vulnerable environment is to cut down on the self-drives. The big question is whether the mobile safari industry will be the next victim if the government would have to intervene in the problems of HATAB. Would the company that offers one night safaris get what it wants, than I predict that more mobile safari companies will follow its example. This certainly means that the mobile safari industry also had its longest time and that Botswana will become only a place with lodges for the wealthy and rich. But that might well be in the interest of the government officials who already have a steady finger in the lodge-pie!“

Typical accomadations at a mobile safari in Botswana

The mobile tour operators are defending their position.  In a recent article in the Ngama Times, (Edition 495, February 19-26, 2010) the following was reported:

Mobile safari tour operators have spoken out in their defence on why the government should let them continue operating their businesses. The operators acknowledged last week they had been slow to engage the government on the importance of their sector to the tourism industry but said remarks that the sector is solely responsible for congestion and the environmental degradation in the national parks and game reserves is based on “impressions and not facts.”

In December last year at the Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) meeting, environment, Wildlife and tourism minister Kitso Mokaila caused a row within the sector when he publicly berated operators and holding them accountable for congestion and the environmental degradation of the Moremi Game Reserve and the Chobe National Park. Mokaila’s remarks then that his ministry was to stop issuing licenses to the sector in a bold monitoring exercise sent shock waves through the mobile sector community.

Last week both sides met to find common ground. HATAB mobile operators representative, Adam Hedges, advised Mokaila to adopt a comprehensive approach including all the lodges, tourists and other contributors to the problem, saying a divisive solution would not help.

He said as the Okavango Delta Management Plan puts emphasis on the need for an objective and a critical review of the entire tourism industry to look at the impact of the mobile, the lodges, hotels and the aviation sectors, the blame should not just be placed at the door of one sector of the industry. He said lodges have more vehicles doing game drives in the parks as compared to the mobile operators. He further explained that in the Chobe alone, mobile safaris use about 30 vehicles for the 10 sites they operate, saying this is less than half the number of game drive vehicles that 4 lodges in Kasane field in the Chobe national park. The mobile representative said during the South African school holidays the number of holidaymakers who drive into the protected areas increases, further increasing congestion on the parks “I stand here as a mobile operator with more than 30 years in the industry. I belong to an association of mobile safari guides that operates throughout Africa and I believe from the bottom of my heart that my business in more environmentally friendly than any other form of tourism in Botswana,” he said. He told the minister that the safari tour operation is the cornerstone within which the tourism industry thrives – “the advantage that Botswana has is its diverse wilderness. You cannot get this in all African countries.’

Hedges said it must be noted that the mobile sector played a major role in taking tourist in to the wilderness. “When we take tourists on safari, the emphasis is on the wilderness experience, it’s about outdoors not the indoors, it’s not about glitz. Ours is about showing the country to its best natural advantages. “We don’t need plunge pools and spas to lure our guests, we just need the wilderness.” He said personalities such as actor Morgan Freeman, Britain’s Prince Harry and Prince William, actor Tom Cruise and many others prefer the mobile safari when they come to Africa, adding that this shows the importance of the mobile safari to any country’s tourism industry. Hedges bemoaned a situation when members of the sector report pirate operations in the parks and these they are not fully investigated by Wildlife authorities. It was suggested that one way the congestion problem could be solved is if the department trained scouts in conjunction with the Botswana Defence Force to man key areas where environmental degradation takes place.

“Such a unit can also check foreign vehicles for proper documentation to curb piracy and other dodgy practices going on in the parks,” he said.

Earlier, Mokaila had indicated that his ministry was concerned about congestion and unlicensed tour operators rooming the parks. After finishing consulting with all those responsible for the problem, his ministry might make some changes – including the number of the operators operating in the parks. “I will not put personal issues before the interest of the country.”

Now you have some understanding of the tempest.  Will the self drive option remain?  I sure don’t know, but hope things remain unchanged.  As a photographer, I want to go often and cannot afford to only use the luxury travel route … unless I recruit 10 people and make it a workshop.

I am a little torn. My experience is primarily Chobe. Regarding self drive (which I do), the only time I have seen ‘heavy tourist traffic’ is in late July on WEEKENDS and only then near the Kasane Gate. Elsewhere, I have never really seen the tourist loading heavy. It seems a weekend quota system on that gate is all that is needed.  I have friends which represent all 3 options for safari discussed.  I know that all of these options can provide an excellent safari experience.  The one that is right for you is really related to you much you want to ‘do your on thing’ and how much you want luxury versus roughing it.

Regarding damage to the environment or harassing of wildlife, nearly all of the times I have seen vehicles off the designated pathways it has been tour groups driving into the bush to get that slightly better tip. Usually in these events they are pressuring the relaxation of a few lions.

It seems Botswana’s ‘advantage’ on preventing excess self drive has been the remoteness of Chobe, Moremi, Kalahari, etc. As more commuter flights fly into Maun or Kasane and as more vehicle rental companies open in these cities, pressure on the game and heavier loading may occur. It seems this trend of increased flights is a) the potential problem and b) a great opportunity for HATAB members to create a good alternative, reasonable price alternative to self drive.

That's me and my son at the base of this great tree located near the Mowana in Kasane

Baobab in Chobe NP as viewed looking west from the Kasane Road - Photo: Justin Eleazer

Huge Baobab located near the Ngoma Gate within Chobe National Park

This is a Guest Article by Jane Wilkinson.  Rob and Jane Wilkinson, presently live in Windhoek, Namibia, which is an ideal base for pursuing our passions for exploring the  more remote areas of Namibia and Botswana and the photography of birds and wildlife. With our 4X4 fully equipped for camping we spend much of our free time in the great outdoors and look forward to sharing some of our experiences with you through the medium of this web site.  Rob and Jane’s leisure pursuits are wide-ranging and their blog, Wilkinson’s World reflects their interest in writing, photography, cycling, hiking, travel, meditation and Bridge.

Africa is not called the ‘dark continent’ for nothing.  It is a continent of dark secrets and legends. The legends cover not only the people, but the animals, rivers and trees.  And the tree with more legends hanging on its branches than baubles on a Christmas tree has to be the enormous Baobab (Adansonia digitata), found in just about every country south of the equator.

On the road to Epupa Falls

I personally love Baobabs and feel so excited whenever we come across them on our travels.   They transport me back to my childhood in Zimbabwe where I had the utmost reverence for these giant gnarled, funny-looking ‘upside down’ trees.  To me they represent Africa and mystery, and I’m obviously not the only one from whom similar feelings are evoked.

With leaves for 3 months of the year

Any number of legends abound about Baobabs, from their origins to their magical powers.  Every tribe has their own version of the good and bad things associated with Baobabs – which is why they are so venerated and feared.  Many believe that benevolent spirits and ancestors dwell in them, whilst others fear the more malevolent spirits of both the trees and their Gods.  Offerings of food and gifts are placed near the trees to pacify angry spirits or to show gratitude for bountiful harvests.  Rituals are held in hollowed out Baobab trunks, with drums being beaten and prayers offered up for protection, and communication is made with dead ancestors and spirits.  Animals seek shelter in them and up to forty people have been known to crowd into one hollow trunk.

In northern Namibia Baobabs are even responsible for keeping the environment clean, for legend has it that anyone who pollutes the area around a Baobab will be engulfed in its large trunk.  He or she can only be rescued by a hardworking woodpecker (and this is highly unlikely as woodpeckers apparently resent humans for tearing down trees without asking their permission first) or by a hornless mooing black cow, which is extremely hard to find.  The natives often say they hear victims crying in the trees.  This ties up with yet another urban legend that has the evil spirits lying in wait amongst the branches.  If one listens up close to the trunk one can hear the spirits laughing inside (a noise most likely caused by bees nesting in the hollow trunk).

Clinging tenaciously to the rocks

In Botswana the Bushmen believe that the flowers, which only bloom for one day, are inhabited by spirits and if  anyone has the audacity to pluck one  they are sure to be eaten by a lion!  Yet other Bushmen believe that one’s fate for such a crime is to be eaten by a tick.  If Bushmen are hunting an animal and it passes under a Baobab tree, the hunt is immediately stopped and another animal killed to preserve the life of the one that received the protection of the tree.

Magnificent specimen at Mahangu Park

There are many different versions of the origin of the tree,  like God being angry because when he planted the tree in the earth it kept on walking, so he uprooted it and threw it onto the ground upside down.  It didn’t die but continued to live with its roots in the air. Yet others believe that the God, Thora, flung the Baobab down from paradise (because it was always complaining) and it landed on earth upside down.  Its elephant-like appearance apparently came about because its maternal creator was startled by an elephant when she was making the tree and it assumed the grotesque shape and dimensions of this large animal.

The big one at Mahangu Park

Talking of dimensions, Baobabs can reach heights of twenty meters and have trunks with a diameter of twelve meters. Their trunks, which absorb vast amounts of water (up to 120 000 liters in an adult tree), vary considerably in size during the dry and rainy seasons.  Because of its watery properties, as well as the food that one can get from it (Cream of Tartar), the Baobab is also known as the ‘tree of life.’  Providing shelter, medicine, rope, cloth and protection it is no wonder that it is held in such high esteem by the people of Africa.  In addition, if one drinks the water that seeds have been soaked in, one is guaranteed not to be eaten by a crocodile!

When the South African army was present in Katimo Mulilo in the Caprivi region of Namibia during the Bush War, they held no reverence or fear of the mighty tree as they fitted a flush toilet into one, thereby defiantly showing the world what they thought the of the superstitions and legends.  The tree had the last laugh though, as its trunk grew over the door, making it difficult to open.

Toilet in the tree - Katimo Mulilo

Lauren Bowers added this insightful Baobab info: There is a pub inside a baobab tree in the Limpopo province. It has electricity, a dart board and even a phone. Another story about the origins of the baobab tree is that back in the beginning the baobab tree wanted flowers like the protea, and the protea agreed. However, the baobab was not satisfied and so the animals plucked it up and shoved it back in the ground upside down. One of the bush legends also says that if a baby drinks a mixture of the tree’s bark and water, the baby will grow up to be powerful. Legend or no legend though, is it not extraordinary the reverence that the tree demands, just by it’s pure presence?

Now in its 46th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best nature photography. The competition is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth – the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Being accepted into this competition is something that wildlife photographers, worldwide, aspire to. Professionals win many of the prizes, but amateurs succeed, too. And that’s because achieving the perfect picture is down to a mixture of skill, vision, originality, knowledge of nature and luck.

Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by a specially selected expert panel. The winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place each October at the Natural History Museum, London.

Enter the competition

The search for the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 has begun.

• Animal Behaviour: Birds
• Animal Behaviour: Mammals
• Animal Behaviour: All Other Animals
• The Underwater World
• Animal Portraits
• In Praise of Plants
• Urban and Garden Wildlife
• Wild Places
• Animals in their Environment
• Nature in Black and White
• Creative Visions of Nature

To enter the competition online you will need:

• your images in JPEG/JPG format sized at 1400 pixels on the longest dimension
• a valid email address
• your credit/debit card details if you are entering the Adult competition
• a broadband connection

Please ensure you read the following information carefully before you enter.

• Please read and abide by the competition rules before you enter. Translations are available in Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
• To enter the Young competition you must be 17 years or under on the closing date, 5 March 2010.
• Images must be digitally captured, or scans of transparencies.
• RAW files or original transparencies will be requested if an image reaches the final stage. Full picture information and technical details will be required for each picture.
• If your image is awarded a prize you will need to supply us with a high res file (minimum 30MB) for reproduction purposes.
• More information can be found in the frequently asked questions, categories and judges pages.
• If the competition organisers need to contact you an email will be sent from nhm@nhm.pmailuk.com or wildphoto@nhm.ac.uk so please add these to your address book to avoid them being blocked by your email security settings or restrictions placed by their Internet service provider.
• Fee (Adult competition): £20
• Entry to the Young competition is free
• Closing date for entries: Friday 5 March 2010

To enter, click here.

I believe that you have the best chance of fulfilling your bucket list if you have thought about it and about the composition details you will need.  Luck often follows the well prepared.

Here’s my bucket list:

• Having my kids with me on a great safari
• A great safari with my girlfriend (must be bug free and her not constantly afraid I am taking too many chances)
• Great portraits of some of the people of Botswana
• Shoot the great migration (I know it’s a Kenya/Tanzania thing)
  

  The Wildebeest Migration on the Mara River

• A rhino in the open from a low angle … preferably in a morning mist.
• star trails with the perfectly shaped baobab in the background
• Seeing a cheetah, lion, leopard or croc kill unfold before my eyes and camera
• Clear shot of a leopard in an isolated tree
• A great action shot of a Malachite Kingfisher
• A great wildlife shot ‘framed’ via shooting below the belly or chin of an ellie
• perfect profile of a darter taking off, showing those perfect water step trails behind
• Shooting from a helicopter. … elephants or buffalo crossing wetlands, a large flock of storks flying over a big herd (passing in a perpendicular direction), lone animals near sunset or sunrise when their shadows create great profile images, etc.
• A ‘money shot’ of a storm coming with animals in the foreground

On my bucket list - animals from above (this image copyright Andy Biggs)

I am sure that as soon as I print this, I will think of other ‘dream shots’.  I have been lucky and can cross off several things including sunset silhouettes and being in the bush with my son, but I wouldn’t mind re-living any of the ‘crossed off’ bucket list items.

On my bucket list - The baobab with startrails (this image copyright Emil von Maltitz)

The 2010 SANParks Photographic Competition is now open for submissions! Last year, the competition received 1 043 entries and this year we’re hoping to surpass that.

Photos from 2009 competion:Portrait "Lazy Lion" entered by David Odeldal

So, you may be pondering why enter this competition – well you have the opportunity to bathe in much admiration and fame…but what else? Prizes of course…the winners of each category will receive a voucher for two nights catering for two adults in any National Park of your choice. Now that’s a prize worth aiming for!

Last Years' entry in B&W category by Chris Miller "Stripes"

So, what are you waiting for – go on – get all the info on rules, resizing of images and much more…

Just remember entries must reach the moderators before 31 March 2010. Only e-mailed submissions will be accepted. The address is sanparks.moderator@gmail.com. May the best photos win!

Last year we had 1043 entries, many of which would be good enough for a coffee table book. If you doubt that, have a look at the entries.

What can you win besides the eternal fame and recognition?
The winners of each category will receive a voucher with 2 nights for 2 adults in any SANPark of your choice.  For SA residents the voucher will be valid for 6 months, for the winners from overseas it will be valid for 1 year.

There are restrictions:
No exclusive accommodation like guest houses and such.
The voucher will only be valid for a mid-week break, and not on public holidays.

So read the rules and instructions below while digging out your best photos. May the best photos win!

Competition Rules 2010
Please read these carefully, they have been slightly altered from last years!

"Playing Lions", a 2009 B&W entry by George Jooste

1. Entries must be digital images, taken between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009. Scans or prints are not permitted. No picture may be entered in more than one category. Series shots are not allowed, please submit one image from any series. You can crop images before submission, but please ensure the image quality is maintained.

2. SANPark employees and moderators are not allowed to enter the competition.

3. The number of entries per member is limited to two (2) pictures in each section, per entrant.

4. Digital guidelines

Format
You can enter by sending the photo(s) via mail to sanparks.moderator@gmail.com.
The original capture as it was recorded by the camera with no manipulation applied (eg *.DNG, *.JPG, *.NEF, *.CR2, *.CRW) may be requested if your image reaches the final stages of the competition and if requested must be supplied to us.

File size requirements
The photos must be sent in jpeg format, resized to a maximum of 800 pixels on the longest side. See below for a quick manual on how to do that if you are unsure.

Calibration and colour
For the best result please submitted Images colour profiled/corrected using a correctly calibrated monitor and utilising Adobe RGB 98 colour space before submission. Entries will not be dismissed if the colour management is not according to our request. But we can not be held liable for not accepting images of poor colour.
Allowances will not be made for poorly colour managed/corrected images, in particular please ensure your images are not over saturated and faithfully represent the subject.

Adjusting your image
Digital adjustments are only acceptable if limited to minor cleaning work, levels, curves, colour, saturation and contrast work. The faithful representation of what you saw at the time of the shot being taken must be maintained.
Compositing and multiple exposures are not allowed. Sharpening is allowed. Cropping (for instance to make a panorama-like photo) is allowed, but please ensure the image quality is maintained.

Borders and copyright
Borders are not allowed. The photo has to carry it’s own weight, without the need for borders.
A small copyright notice in a non-distracting place is no problem.

Barry Tanner's 2009 Landscape Entry (with ellie bum)

Labelling
This is an important bit, it will save us tons of time, avoids confusion and avoids the photo being entered in the wrong category!
The following categories exist:
Landscapes (1)
Portrait (2)
Animals and Insects (3)
Human activity (4)
(This must be legal activity and it must be artistically interpreted. It can include things like being stuck at ellie roadblocks, traffic jams with lions, doors, windows, palm trees, lonely benches with the river in the background etc.)
Plants (5)
Black and white (6).

The files should be named as follows:
<DSLR/Compact>.<Category (number)>.<first name>.<last name>.<1 or 2>.jpg
So if I was allowed to enter a photo into the Human activity category the filename I would send would be:
dslr.4.duco.quanjer.1.jpg A second one for that category would be dslr.4.duco.quanjer.2.jpg

Other information required
Hardware details (ie name of camera) should be mentioned in the mail, and if possible in the EXIF-information of the jpeg.

5. Copyright
You must be the sole author and owner of the copyright for all images entered. By entering your images into the competition, you grant South African National Parks a non-exclusive licence to publish the images for any purpose in connection with the competition including, but not limited to, the following purposes:
* judging the competition,
* display in the galleries,
* inclusion within promotion of the competition and exhibition organised by SANParks.
Credit will always be given to the photographer of course.

6. Subjects
The photos should be taken in one of the SANParks managed parks in South Africa. If in doubt, look at this page to check. Pilanesberg is not one of these parks!
Domestic animals (cats, dogs, farm animals, etc) and cultivated plants (species or hybrids grown in a cultivated setting) do not count as wildlife and are not eligible subjects. You must declare at the time of submitting if a picture has been taken in captivity or conditions that are unnatural (eg if live bait has been used). Details of the subject and location must be provided in the file info.

7. Other competitions/publications
A picture that has already won a prize in a major competition (one receiving more than 500 images) is not eligible for entry. Please avoid entering images that have been widely published in the past 12 months or entered into other nature photography competitions.

8. SANParks and the moderators have the right to refuse any entries which they deem unfit for display as part of the competition.

9. Manipulation
The faithful representation of what you saw at the time of taking the shot must be maintained. Sandwich shots, double exposures, photographs which consist in any way of more than one separate image and images that have been digitally manipulated outside of rule 4 are not eligible.

10. Judges
The moderators and a professional photographer will make a preselection of 5 photos per category. The forum members will choose the winner via a blind poll. There will be no discussion about the preselection.
Should the quantity of entries in a particular category fall below a set amount, SANParks reserve the right not to award prizes.

11. Notification
Winners and commended photographers will be notified in July 2010. All the entries will be published on the competition gallery.

12. Closing date
Closing date for entry is 31 March 2010.

How to enter?

You must e-mail the moderators your entry before 31 March 2010. Only e-mailed submissions will be accepted. The address is sanparks.moderator@gmail.com

Along with your entry, which should have the subject line read – Forum Amateur Photo Competition 2010, please remember to:

- Specify which category you are entering. You may enter the competition for Digital Compact cameras or the competition for Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras (DSLR). If you are not sure of the difference, pm a mod and we will help you out.
- Your full name and forum name
- Your e-mail address
- A contact phone number
- A postal address
- Information on where and when your entry/entries was/were taken.

Sample Landscape shot from last years competition by Ivan (last name unknown)