Winner Chosen - March 2011 - Admin's choice - Image of the month

[Marko]

Hi members,

In case you are new around here this is where the Admin (me) chooses one excellent photo each month from all the photos nominated by other members during that month in the Member's monthly choice forum.

Just so it's clear, the photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I've come to realize it's not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That's why there are categories in photo contests. My goal is to simply choose an excellent photo and talk about why I think it rocks.

This month's choice is Urban Eagle by Michaelaw.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Story and composition - The title Urban Eagle tells it all and the awesome background imagery of a bridge and cranes make the story more compelling. Themes and subthemes abound in shots like this and I really enjoy that. The eagle is well positioned in this shot that had to be composed super-quickly. The background elements (bridge structure and cranes) are also very well placed in the shot.

Degree of difficulty - timing/decisive moment - This is no easy shot to get. The timing, (just look at the lovely frozen open-wings) the focus, and composition have to be very well synced and Michaelaw did an excellent job.

Sharpness - The bird's feathers are really sharp and the eye looks quite sharp along with some lovely background bokeh.

Colour and post processing - Both are well controlled to create this very striking image with a lovely 'cool' colour palette that totally suits the image. If it were my shot I may have burned in the rear white wings a bit and dodged the face a wee bit but that's it.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month. Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That's cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again Michaelaw for capturing this wonderful scene!