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Nice photo Den. I think it's a caterpillar of the Drinker Moth - Euthrix potatoria

Funnily enough I showed it to the missus & she said the same thing. I see what you're saying, the coot just looks like it's in front of the frame the way I've done it, Doh. I've had a couple more goes.

Many thanks for posting this excellent tutorial Steve The frames have certainly made some great images look even better, I love the pike & carp ones. My effort.

My mousemat turned up yesterday. Like those above have already said, I'm very impressed with the quality, plus I'm made up that one of my photos has actually won a prize. Here it is being put to good use. Thanks very much to Patrick & Printbiz.

Nice shots Cammy! Looks like your day was way more enjoyable than going to work. I think the only angle I've seen Sheffield from before is from driving on some elevated motorway through the place? Donkeys years ago though so I could be mistaken. As for Robin Hood, he got about a bit didn't he, theres a Robin Hood's cave/rock/wood etc everywhere you go, plus these days there are more & more of his merry men. Someone asked for Church photos, I walked past this one today alongside the canal bank, could've done with a bit of sunshine to light it up, but otherwise I thought what a nice location for a church, also, if you walk 100 yards down the bank t'other way there's a terrific view from under the canal bridge.

Well done to all those who've entered. As Ollie & HB have mentioned there aren't so many entries this time, but there are some quality shots for n4lly to choose from. I was expecting a few fishing shots to be entered for this challenge. As for me, I had hoped to get a shot of the Tour of Britain bike race when stage 2 visited town - but as posted elsewhere I missed out due to work. Other than that I've just not come across any sports events & the recent crappy weather hasn't helped so I missed out. Must try harder to get a bridge shot.

Well done on your new aquisition Phil. I'm sure you'll have many hours of fun. Looking forward to seeing some of your shots taken with it.

Oh no, you've not ordered a Kodak have you, I hope it's not one of those Easyshare ones - & if it is I hope it's not the P880. OK, only kidding, I've never heard of it John - but it reviews OK HERE - Kodak P880 Hope it turns up sharpish & look forward to seeing your photos.

Thanks for that Jaybee, I've never tried using Noise removal, so will definitely be giving this a try - Cheers.

Blackpool hosted the start of the 2nd stage of this cycle race yesterday. I was pinning all my hopes of getting a few shots for the Sports photo challenge on it - but it finished up that work took me out of town & I missed it, which leaves me struggling to get anything for the comp. I can't give you any tips Den, but below is a link to the Tour of Britain websites' gallery, which may give you a few ideas. I have to say that the shots on there are fairly uninspiring & do little to give a sense of speed or the exertion the cyclists are putting into it - although the one with the girls on the podium is quite nice. Tour of Britain

All superb shots, but to me 3 & 4 really stand out. I can't stop having another look at No. 3 - I love the way the straight lines in the corn field draw your eye into the photo, outstanding . I'd be happy if I could take shots a 1/10th as good as those.

Judy, I very much doubt that you have, or are capable of, offending anybody (& that is meant in the nicest possible way). I thought this line from the last paragraph of your previous post sums things up nicely. Well said Judy.

Judy, what a fabulous old church, although the bell tower looks to be at a very precarious angle , I hope it doesn't get too windy around there. Dans church is very quaint, although it looks almost overgrown around it. I've just checked out your link Dan, 38ft x 15ft, , that is one small church.

Just been to check it out, what a stonker! I bet your heart was in your mouth when you saw that at the net. I've never caught a barbel, one of my regrets from my fishing days.

Lucky bugger. I rarely see them & when I do it's normally just a blue flash as they're flying away.

Well done Peter, a nicely captured shot. Also congrats re the double figure Barbel, got any shots of it to share?? Regards Cliff

By heck, I’m wishing I’d entered a photo of a cat amongst some pigeons. 1st up well done to Peter winning the comp . I hope that the gloss hasn't been taken off your win by the subsequent debate, but fear it probably has. I have to say I was very surprised, stunned even, to discover Jaybees’ Kingfisher didn’t make the final three. I’d already made my mind up that’s where my vote was going & thought it would run out an easy winner, shows what I know. For my money it was exceptional, only slightly marred by being shot in poor light at high ISO, although that just makes the shot all the more difficult to get & IMHO this didn’t detract from it being one of the best photos I’ve seen entered in any of the Anglers net comps to date. It would seem my view on this was shared by some Newt wrote: & Tuberlellebell wrote: But not by others Poledark wrote: Den, do you really see Kingfishers in this pose, with a fish staring down it’s throat at its imminent fate, so frequently that you consider this shot nothing special, if so please can I come out fishing with you sometime? I agree that choosing the 3 finalists is a totally subjective process, but, as suggested by one or two above, a few words detailing why the final three were selected could maybe prove helpful, as Newt says, “but I would like it mostly because I'd love to improve my 'eye' and details on why a particular photo appealed to the judge”. Whilst this hasn’t been a requirement of the challenges hitherto, didn’t the judges of the first few challenges do this anyway & it seems to have subsequently fallen by the wayside? It’s a shame Finepix is away at the moment, I feel slightly awkward this is being discussed in her absence & I’m sure if she were here she would give us an insight into why she picked her 3 finalists. It’s interesting that something has occurred to make Mr W stop entering the comps(& maybe others that we don't know about??) & it would be useful if you could outline, maybe tactfully, why that is? Steve Randles wrote: I agree that the clematis, good shot that it is, didn’t seem to fit the Wildlife & Nature criteria. Jaybee thinks likewise about the Goldfinch shot I entered, I can’t agree with that. I know it’s frowned upon in the world of wildlife photography to photo a bird at a feeder, but nonetheless, it’s still a wild bird & as such meets the criteria, might not be everybody’s cup of tea mind. peter mccue wrote: I don’t think this would work Peter, the last comp had 18 entries & 38 votes were cast. I think you could finish up with several photos all getting 2 or 3 votes & having something like a 5 way tie – I don’t think that would’ve happened in this comp though. I agree with TB & Peter that this isn’t a dedicated photography website & we shouldn’t worry too much about photos being technically brilliant as this could exclude those with less experience or basic equipment - and - at the end of the day it’s just for fun (plus mousemat & coaster – allegedly ). I think it's useful that Jaybee has brought the subject up which at least has made us stop & consider if there are ways to improve the competitions, judging & voting process in future. That's not saying it's not fine as it is & this comp has just seen widely contrasting & strong views on the shots entered? Jaybee wrote: If you are shot at dawn, any chance I can have your camera & lenses? How about you share yesterdays squirrel pics with us Jaybee? Regards Cliff

A cracking series of shots Steve , the one you've entered in the comp is a stunner. Whereabouts were they taken?

Hey Bob, I've just tried lightening your photo up so we can get a proper look at your Sunbird - I hope you don't mind. I can't do much with it because of the reduced file size used for posting on here & the image has become quite noisy, but I'll gladly have a go at the original for you if you want, here goes: -

TB, my dslr has dust or maybe sand on the sensor, until recently it's been mainly just one spot towards the top right of the image & has usually been easy to edit it out using the spot healing tool or clone stamp, but recently it seems to have moved nearer the centre of the image, which is a pain, plus I've got a few smaller specks of dust showing up elsewhere. I'm now at the stage where I'm going to try & clean the sensor, probably initially with one of the compressed air kits to try & blow it off. Can anyone recommend the best/safest method of removing dust from the sensor?

Pure luck, my main strategy is to click away indiscriminately & hope when I get home & upload the images at least one is in focus. In seriousness, Jaybee's images, help & advice have been an inspiration to me. Although everytime I feel like my images are getting close to the quality of his he pulls a Kingfisher out of the hat to spur me on further. Thanks very much all for your kind words, which are appreciated all the more coming from quality photographers such as yourselves.

I managed during my lunchbreak to get a few in flight shots of Common Hawker dragonflies today, I had to follow them around until they hovered in one place for a few seconds, then manually focus on them & try & get a shot before they had moved on again. Here's a couple of shots.

Hey TB, I've was at the cliffs shown in the 1st one just a couple of months ago, I took this from the other side.

A terrific set of photos jaybee It almost makes me see these annoying little whiny things in a different light, almost.

I see me & Peter are currently neck & neck in the poll [insert biting nails smiley here] - Good luck in the voting Peter & also to NurseJudy. Well done to all those who entered, I was surprised my Curlew made the final three ahead of Jaybees Kingfisher, which to me is really something special & would've got my vote with no hesitation. I suppose we all look at things differently though, I note Dan's also listed his top 3 & again the kingfisher's not in there either, so like I say, we all have our own particular favourites. Unlucky Jaybee, that would've looked good on a mousemat. BTW Steve - are the fine people at Printbiz still sponsoring this comp & sending the winner their photo on a mousemat & coaster?