Photography Group

January 2024 – Best of 2023. January is where members get to showcase their best images taken within the previous calendar year. Anything goes as long as the main subject is a bird.

February 2024 – Flocks. In this one we are looking for a group of birds. The more the merrier, however the quantity the photographer perceives to be a ‘flock’ is up to their discretion. 

March 2024 – Water/Wet. Looking for more than just a bird with water somewhere in the shot. Some form of interaction between the two would be preferred or maybe a bird that is wet. Other interpretations of the theme would be welcome and of course will create some discussion on the night.

April 2024 – Bird on a wire/Post. This is a fairly simple one where the subject just needs to be on some form of wire or post like object. ‘Wire’ can be stretched to metal rails or even train tracks. ‘Post’ however, can’t be a naturally occurring broken off tree stump but should be something positioned or altered by human intervention.

May 2024 -Adornments. What we are looking for here is where the changes in colour is not a block colour. For example, not the changes in colours found on a Female Satin Flycatcher or those on a male Australasian Figbird ssp vielloti. The variation needs to be something along the lines of stripes, chevrons, spots etc. So the black feathers on an Australian White Ibis, the breast markings on a Peaceful Dove, or some markings on the exposed skin of the bird would qualify. I’ve only dealt with colour adornments here but there are others types.

June 2024 – Hidden/Hiding. Here is a chance to show all those images that you would normally immediately reject. With this theme some of the subject bird is to be obscured by some object, however the eye/s must be visible. If you can compose the image so that the bird appears to be hiding while keeping an eye on you that would be fantastic. See if you can have some fun with this one.

July 2024 – Birds in the Landscape.  This one requires you to take an image that includes the environment in which the bird is found. So, you can practice your landscape/sunset photography here, however the image must contain a bird. 

August 2024 – The eyes have it. No need to guess what is required in this one. The object here is to get images of the eye or eyes. The more the eye/s fill the image the better. You may have to brush up on your field craft here to get close enough to obtain a decent close-up of the eye/s. Good luck.

September 2024 – Large Birds. An image of any species larger than an Australian Magpie will suffice for this one.

October 2024 – Out on a Limb. This is a suggestion from one of the photo group members, so don’t shoot the editor of this page. Subject/s should be in full view on a tree limb, branch, or stick, (alive or dead plant) but not on any man-made item. Images could be frontal or dorsal as long as the subject is identifiable. Overall, a fairly reasonable and easy set of instructions to comply with, I think.

November 2024 – Birds and Blossoms. Just a rename of our regular theme here. Subject/s could be feeding on flowers or simply posed in close proximity to blossoms to make an attractive image.

December 2024 – Amongst the Herbage. Another suggestion from the floor here although the editor has changed the requirements slightly, from grasses to herbage. Subject/s could be posing, feeding etc on the ground or in the herbage. Herbage, according to the Macquarie English Dictionary is any non-woody plant. So, grasses, sedges, rushes, and herbaceous plants. Subjects could be partially hidden or in full view (preferably).  On the ground with a little of the herbage visible in the image is also acceptable. 

January 2025 – Best of 2024. January is where members get to showcase their best images taken within the previous calendar year. Anything goes as long as the main subject is a bird.

February 2025 – Flight. Little explanation required here. As long as the bird is in free space then we’ll class it as ‘Flight’

March 2025 – Reflections. We want to see some sort of a reflection in the image. Since we are part of a birding organisation, I expect the main subject to be a bird, so the reflection could be of the bird or part thereof, or it could be a reflection captured in the bird’s eye. You could just take a photo of the bird’s reflection and not include the bird but that is up to you.

April 2025 – Together. All we are looking for here is more than one bird in the image. If you can convey a story with the image it would score you extra brownie points from the host of the evening.

May 2025 – Honeyeaters. I don’t think we need to explain this one too much. As long as the species in the image is primarily known to partake of nectar it will be fine.

June 2025 – Silhouettes. We are not interested in how you achieved the image as long as the bird is silhouetted. The only previsao here is that the bird is able to be identified by the average birder. Please, no contorted birds where only a person present at the time the photo was taken would be able to identify it.

July 2025 – Small and Fast. This theme is pretty-well open to interpretation, but let us just say try and pick a small bird that fits the fast part of the theme.

August 2025 – Monochrome. This theme was specifically selected for a select member of the group that loves B&W. However, monochrome doesn’t mean specifically  black and white. If you are unsure how to go about this one, just look up a dictionary and that will guide you.

Remember that the images need to have been captured within the 12 months preceding the month in which they are shown.

Please keep your total number of images to 20 so that we have plenty of time to show everyone’s.