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The "Monochrome" competition was held in July-August 2026. Members could submit up to two of their best images.

The results of member voting for the top five images in each category are listed here. This competition received good support from our members, with 135 images entered across the 3 competition levels by 74 photographers. The Winner is the image which received the most votes; and we also show the next four (or more in case of a tie) highest placed images, rating them as Highly Commended if they received at least 90% of the votes for the winning image, and Commended for scores less than that.

Advanced Level – Monochrome

This category attracted 50 entries, from 26 photographers. 51 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Little Egret, by Cherilyn Corker (Image ID 75684)
• Commended - Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, by Bruce Ward-Smith (Image ID 75337)
• Commended - Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, by Paul Jarvis (Image ID 75282)
• Commended - Torresian Crow, by Natalie Murray (Image ID 75610)
• Commended - Radjah Shelduck, by Tim Van Leeuwen (Image ID 75427)
• Commended - Wandering Albatross, by Jacob Crisp (Image ID 75431)

Intermediate Level – Monochrome

This category attracted 61 entries, from 34 photographers. 52 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Black Swan, by Stephen Risson (Image ID 75530)
• Commended - Pied Stilt, by Gunther Frensch (Image ID 75569)
• Commended - Osprey, by Louie Owen (Image ID 75457)
• Commended - Australian White Ibis, by Reeni Martinez (Image ID 75355)
• Commended - Emu, by Glenda Gore (Image ID 75683)

Entry Level – Monochrome

This category attracted 24 entries, from 14 photographers. 45 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Great Egret, by Lewis McMillan (Image ID 75345)
• Commended - Noisy Miner, by Aravind Jayaraman (Image ID 75686)
• Commended - Little Corella, by Terrina Bailey (Image ID 75599)
• Commended - Laughing Kookaburra, by Daniela Fontana (Image ID 75455)
• Commended - Olive-backed Sunbird, by Lynne (Image ID 75576)

Our Mystery Reviewers have completed their assessments of the images in each level of the Monochrome competition; their ratings are as follows:

Advanced Level

• Winner: Yellow-billed Spoonbill by Bruce Millar (Image ID 75607)
• Highly commended: Pied Stilt ID by Tim Van Leeuwen (Image ID 75429)
• Highly commended: Silver Gull by Craig Lakey (Image ID 75291)
• Highly Commended: Brown Honeyeater by Mary Wheeler (Image ID 75606)
• Commended: Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo by Paul Jarvis (Image ID 75282)
• Commended: Radjah Shelduck by Tim Van Leeuwen (Image ID 75427)
• Commended: Black Swan by Stephen Garth (Image ID 75443)
• Commended: Pacific Black Duck by Con Duyvestyn (Image ID 75451)
• Commended: Great Crested Grebe by Chinh Nguyen (Image ID 75559)
• Commended: Australasian Grebe by Bruce Millar (Image ID 75609)
• Special Mention: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo by Glenn Pure (Image ID 75505)
• Special Mention: Little Tern by Yolande Cozijn (Image ID 75560)
• Special Mention: Little Egret by Cherilyn Corker (Image ID 75684)

Intermediate Level

• Winner: Pied Stilt by Gunther Frensch (Image ID 75569)
• Highly Commended: Black Swan by Stephen Risson (Image ID 75530)
• Highly Commended: Australian White Ibis by Reeni Martinez (Image ID 75355)
• Highly Commended: Australian Pelican by Paul Jensen (Image ID 75528)
• Highly Commended: Great Egret by Maggie Roberts Duffy (Image ID 75271)
• Highly Commended: Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Image ID 75676)
• Commended: Little Black Cormorant by James Scandol (Image ID 75636)
• Commended: Great Egret, Little Egret by Georgina Barbour (Image ID 75629)
• Commended: Brown Falcon by Julie Mills (Image ID 75406)
• Special Mention: Sulphur Crested Cockatoo by Mark Fleming (Image ID 75588)
• Special Mention: Shy Albatross by Helen Greenwood (Image ID 755479)
• Special Mention: Australasian Darter by Doug Wilson (Image ID 75428)
• Special Mention: Carnaby's Black Cockatoo by Philip Karstadt (Image ID 75612)

Entry Level

• Winner: Laughing Kookaburra by Daniela Fontana (Image ID 75687)
• Highly Commended: Noisy Miner by Aravind Jayaraman (Image ID 75345)
• Commended: Australasian Darter by Tracey Marsden (Image ID 75365)
• Special Mention: Tawny Frogmouth by Tulsi Aravind (Image ID 75454)
• Special Mention: Olive-backed Sunbird by Lynne (Image ID 75573)

The Mystery Reviewer Critiques are available in the Resources - Mystery Reviewer Critiques page.  These articles are member-only content.

For those who missed it or would like to view it again, our recent "What Our Moderators Are Looking For" Zoom event on 12^th August is now available.

It can be found at Resources -> Our Zoom Presentations

This is members only - you must be logged in to access this video.

Rob's presentation was about 40 minutes long, and was followed by a Q&A session of about 20 minutes, with valuable contributions by two other moderators, Glenn Pure and Graham Cam.

Graham Cam, one of our very experienced moderators and a regular mentor to those members submitting photos to our galleries, has drawn the following to our attention: 

"Many of our BLP members use Adobe Lightroom Classic to render and apply post-processing edits.  As a Lightroom educator I have produced training videos for our members, but I have discontinued producing these videos as they are extremely time consuming.  There are many options on the internet to enhance your Lightroom skills, many of which require a one-off purchase or a subscription.  Here is a link to a free training video produced by Steve Perry, Backcountry Gallery, on how to use Lightroom masks for bird and wildlife photography.  This 53-minute video is just brilliant and deserves watching until you become proficient."

Watch the video: https://backcountrygallery.com/lightroom-masking-masterclass/

As advised in an email to all members on 19th April, the 2026 Annual General Meeting of BirdLife Photography will be held on Tuesday 19th May 2026, as a Zoom meeting.  Details of the Zoom link were given in that email.  The President's and Treasurer's reports are now available to members, and can be accessed either through the Resources --> Libraries & Documents --> Member Information page, or from the AGM Documents item in the Members Pages menu at the bottom of every page on the website.  You must be logged in to see either of these links.