Andere Tiere - Platz 2 - Battle of Giants

Description: I’m just more and more mesmerized by all the different stunning reflections, which occur on water surfaces. When lovely skies and a gentle movement of the water unit, the reflections can occure in lots of different stunning appearances. And I'm also totally fascinated by the beauty and adorable behaviour of dancing Demoiselles. And since I'm a fan of habitat images, I knew I will have to go for a shot showing all these elements. The refelections of the sky and the insects, the animal's beauty and behaviour and its habitat of reed. In the end I had to capture thousands of pictures to end up with just a few proper ones. Location: Wetlands of Upper Austria, Austria Bait: No Species: Beautiful Demoiselle Special (scientific) interest: Near Threatened on the Red List in Austria. Beside the Banded Demoiselle, the Beautiful Demoiselle is the only Central Eurpean Demoiselle species. Tech beside EXIFs: None

Gebänderte Prachtlibelle (calopteryx splendens), streiten sich bei Paarung, Kerkini-See, Mazedonien, Griechenland

Insekten & Spinnentiere - Highlight - Blattspinne

Paralysed by a parasitic wasp, this caterpillar is doomed to become live food for a new generation. In this case a Noctuid caterpillar became the victim of a chalcid wasp whose eggs are yet to hatch.

When I’m working in my home office I have a nice view into my garden and the forest behind. I never recognized this lonesome oak and a couple of birches before but on this day it was different. We had a really heavy wind and the trees were pushed left and right. During a conference call I got the idea, that I could take a long time exposure from this group in front of my house and this should generate a storm painting. During a short break I quickly picked up my equipment, brought it to the sleeping room and opened the windows and installed the tripod and my camera. I connected my mobile phone with the camera and took multiple pictures in the next hour. Finally I got the picture I were searching for. There is this one special oak but also the birches next to it which were constantly deformed by the storm and with the long exposure time it ended up like a painting. The only disadvantage of this exercise was, that the storm also brought in a lot of dirt into our sleeping room and my wife was not happy about it. Shit happens – isn’t it ? Picture taken: Schrems, lower Austria (NÖ), Austria Wenn ich in meinem Homeoffice arbeite dann habe ich einen sehr schönen Blick in meinen Garten und den dahinter liegenden Wald. Ich hatte noch nie die einsame Eiche und die zahlreichen Birken daneben wahrgenommen, aber an diesem Tag war es anders. Wir hatten einen gewaltigen Wind und die Bäume wurden nur so von links nach rechts geworfen. Während einer Telefonkonferenz hatte ich dann die Idee, dass ich eine Langzeitbelichtung von dieser Gruppe machen könnte und das sollte ein Sturmgemälde ergeben. In einer kurzen Pause habe ich dann schnell meine Ausrüstung geholt und im Schlafzimmer bei offenen Fenster konnte ich dann mein Stativ samt Kamera aufbauen. Ich habe dann noch eine mobile Verbindung aufgebaut und von Zeit zu Zeit konnte ich dann in den nächsten Stunden eine Aufnahme durchführen. Am Ende hatte ich dann das Bild, welche ich erreichen wollte. Da war die eine spezielle Eiche mit der Birkengruppe, die ständig vom Wind zerzaust wurde und durch die Langzeitbelichtung ergab sich der Eindruck eines Gemäldes. Der einzige Nachteil dieser Aktion war, dass der Sturm auch viel Schmutz im Schlafzimmer hinterlassen hatte und meine Frau nicht wirklich begeistert war. NaJa, kann ja mal vorkommen – oder ? Bild aufgenommen: Schrems, NÖ, Österreich

The long exposure of one second, results in tracks, created by the bright white wings of the red-crowned cranes against the dark background.

Komposition & Form - Platz 3 - gepunktet

2019 I were on rehabilitation in Bad Ischl and during weekends or also sometimes on afternoons I had a chance to walk around and identify nice places nearby rehabilitation center. I discovered a very nice place named Rettenbachalm, which was an amazing place and I could visit it for multiple times. During a walk in the morning I saw a huge frozen puddle with stones in it. This reminded me on an austian artist named hundredwater (Hundertwasser) – he said: Die gerade Linie ist gottlos und unmoralisch. (I try to translate: The straight line is godless and immoral). But in reality, what ever you review in the nature and even if it looks straight from far away – if you go in details – nothing is really straight. Picture taken: Rettenbachalm, Bad Ischl, Austria Ich war 2019 auf REHA in Bad Ischl and während der Wochenenden bzw. manchmal auch am Nachmittag konnte ich eine kleine Wanderung in der Umgebung des REHA Zentrums machen und so sehr schöne nette Plätze finden. Eines Tages fand ich die wunderschöne Rettenbachalm und konnte diesen großartigen Platz einige Male besuchen. Bei einem Spaziergang entdeckte ich eine große gefrorene Pfütze mit Steinen, diese haben mich an einen Spruch vom österreichischen Künstler Hundertwasser erinnerte. Er sagte: Die gerade Linie ist gottlos und unmoralisch. Und in Wirklichkeit, wenn man die Dinge in der Natur betrachtet, so scheint manches Gerade von der Ferne zu sein, aber wenn man ins Detail geht, dann sieht man, dass nichts wirklich gerade ist. Bild Aufgenommen: Rettenbachalm, Bad Ischl, Österreich

Eisstrukturen am Boden

Abstrakte Luftaufnahme eines Geothermalfeldes auf Island.

The coastal zones in the Adriatic sea can be easily distinguished by it's colour from above. With the forest bordering the rocky shore, this zone is a great example of edge effect where biodiversity is the highest.

Bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) with Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) in autumn, Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana, USA

Description: A Pilewort growing pretty close to the water of a tiny stream, while the harsh sun at noon pierces through the fresh foliage. An absolutely mesmerizing scene and a great example of nature's grace, magic and beauty. As all my images this one was also taken without the use of any artificial light, flash or special technique. For me it's important to work with the natural light, because in my opinion it's also part of the natural scenery I would like to capture in an authentic way. So the image is just a simple handheld shot. Location: Mühlviertel, Upper Austria, Austria Bait: - Species: Pilewort Special (scientific) interest: Don't think so. Tech beside EXIFs: None

focus stacking

Title: Denial Description: When I'm out shooting one of my favorite subjects, the Alpine Ibexes, I'm mostly looking for compositions which also show the impressive habitat of these beautiful mammals. So the main challenge is to spot the animals soon enough so that I can place myself in time for a proper view. That day I experienced some of the best bad weather conditions during my last trip to these mountains and I could manage to capture this ibex where I wanted it. Right infront of the glacier lake facing the heavy clouds. Location: High Tauern National Park, Carinthia, Austria Bait: No Species: Alpine Ibex Special (scientific) interest: Alpine ibexes have almost been extinct in Europe by the beginning of the 19th century. Only about 100 individuals survived in Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park. In 1924 the rewilding of these mammals in Austria started. Now there are about 4.000 alpine ibexes in Austria, most of them in the areas of the High Tauern National Park. Tech beside EXIFs: None

This Romanian brown bear was caught by my camera trap as it looked around the tree. Together with the authorised ranger, I positioned intestines of roe deer, which I found dead next to a road, for luring.

A young Roe Deer following its mother through the wetland waters. I really like how the rising sun set parts of the mist in the forest on fire. Upper Austria.

Schwarz-Weiss - Platz 2 - Direkt im Blick

tosende Wassermassen des Dettifoss

Workshop mit Christoph Ruisz

Vögel - Highlight - Eisvogel

Sonderkategorie - Platz 3 - Terciopelo