Where's Dinner

Sometimes the photographer simply had so much more background knowledge about an image, and I think that is the case here. If you hadn't told that the bird was eyeing a bug, I would have thought you just shot it while it was moving it's head from one place to the other. That said, even if it was clear that it was searching for bugs, I honestly don't think this is a strong enough shot to enter in a competition. You have to realize that there will be often hundreds, if not thousands of bird shots entered, and yours really has to stand out to make it to the next round. Just look at the shots posted on NPN for the last month, and pretend that's what you have to compete with - would you pick this shot?

The one thing that I learned in art school that I value more than anything I ever learned there, is the ability to disconnect from your own work, and look at it as if it were someone else's creation. The moment you're able to do that, you'll be throwing much of your shots into the bin, but at least going through your images and making selections will be a lot easier.

That said, it's always good to enter competitions, as it is the perfect test case to see if you're images stand out from the rest. And you learn a lot more from not winning prizes than from actually winning them.

Hope that helps.

Andrew,

I find the pose interesting. I like that you got light in the eye despite what appeats to be low light. The head and bill look sharp and in focus at this size but I think you needed more dof.