There was no theme and the fact that both winners are animal shots is purely coincidental.
As usual, you can click on any image to view it larger (it will open in a separate/new window).
The first winner is of a Nile Monitor Lizard and was sent in by Dawn LeBlanc:
Location: Honolulu ZooEquipment Used: Canon Mark II , Canon 7-200mm f/2.8 L Lens, 195mm @ 1/60th sec, ISO 400 @ f8
Post Production: Minimal post-processing was done with Lightroom and Photoshop CS3-a bit of sharpening as well as use of multiple curves layers to lighten the interior of the shot while darkening the exterior to throw the light more on the lizard and less on the background
Says Dawn: "This is an image of a Nile Monitor shot thru glass at the Honolulu Zoo in Jan. 2008 during a recent holiday. It was a bit of a tricky shot due to the low light, reflections on the glass, kids jumping all around me, not to mention the millions of little tiny fingerprints."
You can visit Dawn here.
And winner number two is a squirrel from Pete Nicholls
Location: Pete's Backyard
Equipment Used: Minolta DiMage 7i (though Pete is quick to point out that he now shoots with a Canon 20D)
Post Production: post-processing was done in Photoshop CS3, separated the subject from the background using selection tools, then transformed the background to make the subject look 3d.
Says Pete: "This is one of my favorite images. It was taken in my backyard in 2003 at about 8 ft from behind a sheet of plywood with a lens hole cut in it."
Pete makes his home on the web here.
Both of this months winners will be receiving copy of the eBook "Photographer's Legal Guide" by Photo attorney Carolyn Wright.
Carolyn has a great blog, dedicated solely to photography and the law and you should have it as one of your favorites.
Here is a review I did of Carolyn's book "Photographer's Legal Guide", much like her blog, her book is a must read and is an important resource to all photographers!
And thanks goes out to Carolyn for providing such a great prize for this months winners.
