Images of the Month

Each competition month one of our members selects a digital image to be designated as Image of the Month. They will be choosing one that has a particular appeal to them, not necessarily the image that received the highest score. Each month’s image is chosen by a different member.

Image of the Month - January 2026

“Striving for Obscurity”

Photographer: Norbert Kugele
Selected by: James Zeman

About my image.

About My Image: In the winter months, I often like to sit inside with my camera and watch for birds that land on a pine tree just outside our kitchen.  In this instance, the sun had just come out from behind some clouds when a red finch landed in the tree.  The late afternoon sun provided some striking backlighting.  The bird was mostly obscured by pine needles, but I had a chance to quickly take s step to my left and get a clear shot of its eye before the bird flew away.  I captured the shot using my Canon R7 with a Canon RF100-500 F4.5-7.1 L IS USM zoom lens at a focal length of 400mm, with an aperture of 6.3, shutter speed of 1/1000 sec and ISO 1600.  I processed the photo in Adobe Lightroom, where I adjusted light tones and did some denoising.  Because the denoising process often adds a little softness to the focus, I then moved the photo into the Topaz Sharpen tool to add a bit of compensating sharpness.

- Norbert

Why I liked the image.

I like this image for its elegant balance of color, light, and restraint. The photograph has a shallow depth of field to place the viewer’s attention precisely where it belongs—on the small songbird—while allowing the surrounding pine needles and branches to dissolve into a soft, luminous frame. Compositionally, the off-center placement of the subject and the diagonal flow of branches guide the eye naturally through the frame.

– James  

Previous Images of the Month