Garden Lockdown Photography Competition Winners

Announcing our Garden Lockdown Photographic Competition prize winners:

First prize: Hennie van der Westhuizen

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher plus Heinrich van den Berg's Moods of Nature Elite Edition worth R2000

The photo was taken at the birdbath in my garden. Single bees regularly came to drink, but it was incredibly difficult to position them at the right angle to create a reflection.  

I decided to make a strong sugar solution, which I added to the birdbath and the news spread. Within an hour there were many bees feasting on the sugary drink and I had the opportunity to experiment.

The biggest challenge was the background. The natural background colour was too dark and I could not get a clear reflection until I placed a white reflector about a metre away and used a soft flash from the left side. Thereafter, it was just a matter of patience, with many bees not playing along with my planned poses. I had hoped for three stationary, drinking bees and another coming in to land, but had no success for the latter addition.

I used a Canon 5D Mark III with a 100mm f2,8 Macro lens on a tripod with side-lighting and the following settings: 1/500 sec at f8.0, ISO 1000. The photo was processed in Lightroom. 

 

Second prize: Steven Benjamin.

R500 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher plus Heinrich van den Berg's Moods of Nature Standard Edition worth R850

Malachite sunbird face-off with an orange-breasted sunbird. Canon 7D II, Canon 70-200mm, 2 x 8000 Lumens video lights.

Find out about how Steve got this image here. 

Third prize: Tess Badenhorst

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher to use on any Fine Art Print on HPH Publishing's website.

Stripe-eye flower fly. EOS R, Tamron 90mm.

  

Fourth prize: Leon Pelser.

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher to use on any Fine Art Print on HPH Publishing's website.

Wasp that got stuck in the ‘glue’ at the bottom of a strelitzia. Sony Nex 7, Sony 30mm Macro.

 

Fifth prize: Adrian Brink.

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher to use on any Fine Art Print on HPH Publishing's website. 

Male red-billed firefinch. Nikon D4, Tamron 150-600mm.

 

Sixth prize: Karen Eichholz.

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher to use on any Fine Art Print on HPH Publishing's website.

Swamp bluet hiding behind a grass stalk. Canon 600D, Canon 105mm.

 

Seventh prize: Willem de Voogt.

R1000 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher to use on any Fine Art Print on HPH Publishing's website.

The spider’s defence! Olympus OM-DE-M1 II, Olympus 300mm IS PRO.

 

Eighth prize:  Mary Walker.

R500 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher

Malachite sunbird and the leonotis flower. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 400mm.

 

Ninth prize: Kevin Scott.

R250 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher

Bee-utiful ilanga. Nikon D5600, Nikkor AF/P 18-55mm. 

 

Tenth prize: Chris Galliers.

R250 HPH Publishing Gift Voucher

Two spiders interact on a misty web. Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm Macro.

 

Congratulations to all our winners!

If you want to download the complimentary copy of the Garden Lockdown PDF Book, go to 

https://www.hphpublishing.co.za/products/garden-lockdown-pdf-book