More about the winning entries for the 2020 Margaret Woods Trophy

First place: ‘At full stretch’ by Steve Hubbard LRPS CPAGB

The image was taken from the bird hides in Dinton Pastures. Steve wanted to catch a Blue Tit in flight – but it was not easy, it had to be on landing as they launch in a strange way, so this bird was approaching the feeder.

The image was taken at 1/1000 f/8, ISO 8000 on his Sony A73 with a Sony 600mm G-lens in APSC mode – this means effective Focal distance was 900mm, hand held!

The feeder was cropped from the right of the image, the light balance was checked and adjusted, and DeNoise was applied though Topaz AI. The image was also made slightly warmer which helped remove the muddy background

Second Place: ‘The trap’ by Steve Buesden ARPS

The image was taken on a misty September day back in 2013 in my front Garden. (The lockdown has enabled Steve to revisit his back catalogue).

The web had been built in a garden bush. The web was noticed through the kitchen window and Steve thought it could make a decent image.

It was taken on his Sony SLT99 mark1, f/5.6,  1/100sec ISO 200, 100mm (with a Tamron 28-300 lens he thinks)

As for processing:

• Converted to black and white using adjustment layer
• Curve adjustment layer to darken the background and increase contrast
• Sharpening ( Using Topaz) (new layer)
• Add a stroke (new layer)

Third Place: ‘Siblings’ by Steve Hubbard LRPS CPAGB

The squirrels were shot in Steve’s back garden later last year, they were very young, and possibly had fallen from a nest.

Shot at 1/320s F5.6 400mm ISO640 on a Sony A73, Canon 100-400mm Lens on an adapter

Post processed in Lightroom only, flattened light, cropped, and coloured with the split toning function