Andy Bright

Hedge Accentor/Hedge Sparrow/Dunnock
This guy is already on the lookout for a female partner....or half a dozen! A real feathered Casanova.
Nikon 990/Swarovski AT80HD.

Why We Chose It:
This is the second time that Andy Bright?s image has featured in Pictures of the Month and while we would really like to feature as many members? work as we can, we just could not resist this image of the hedge sparrow. As with all of Andy?s images the focus is spot on pardon the pun given that this was taken with a spotting scope. In addition to being a razor sharp shot, we also liked it because of the composition. The plus points on the composition are: the diagonal line of the twig; the position of the bird on the left hand thirds line; the position of the head on the horizontal (upper) thirds line; and the fact that the whole body of the bird is visible (not hidden by the twig at all). I also like the way the bird is looking back over its shoulder in a relatively unusual pose with a catch light in the eye - overall a real stunner.

Richard Moore

Rock Formation
Gaints Causeway, The different shape rocks and a constant change in weather mean you can spend hours there.

Why We Chose It:
We do not have many monochrome shots and even fewer monochrome landscape shots which is a shame, because they can be very evocative. We liked the exposure on this shot although some of the detail has been lost in the waves (which may be the scan rather than the original) but this is offset by plenty of detail in the rocks and the sky. The main subject is the shape and texture of the rocks in the foreground and there is plenty of interest here. We also liked the strong diagonal line of the main subject counter-balanced by the rocks in the upper right hand quadrant. A well composed and executed landscape.

John Powell

Tornado RIAT 2001
Nikon F80, Nikon 70-300mmED @300mm,
500 @f5.6 + .05, Kodak Extracolour 100,
Dev Colab..

Why We Chose It:
John indicates that this shot has been cropped it would have been a mighty impressive feat of positioning to have such a tightly framed shot if it had not been cropped. In my view this does not detract from the quality of this image rather it enhances it. We liked the fact that the Tornado is sharp, but it is still clearly flying because of the ?burning? engines. The fact that the ?plane is moving away from the camera would have made this a difficult shot, and in some circumstances may have led to quite a boring shot, but the angle of the plane in this picture adds to the dynamism and makes the ?rear-view? work.