Identify which photos you appreciate the most, based on their aesthetics, technique and / or context. Enjoy!
Click on the images for more details, and adult and youth awards tabs for category winners and finalists. Caution: one of the grand title entries features a dead black rhino that is a victim of poaching. It is the first image that you will see following the link below:
The winning image certainly makes a statement. Eek.
The seahorse with the cotton swab gave me the comic relief that I needed. I also enjoyed the black and white and the youth photos, both being more optimistic.
Indeed, the black and white of the fences in the snow with the bird in between the broken slats was quite nice as well. Just the shock and awe of the initial image…
I’ve seen that winning image floating around and it really fills me with sadness. With luck it will move more people to help support protecting these animals from this kind of atrocity. 
@paperdigits I enjoyed Off piste as well.
Its settings were Canon 5D Mark III; 500mm f4 lens; 1.4x extender; 1/160 sec at f29; ISO 1000; Gitzo tripod. Does it make sense to use f29 here? I generally stay away from small apertures.
@patdavid It is especially cruel when it is already established as illegal and the species critically endangered, and people do it anyway. The wide angle and flash reminds me of taxidermy and museums.
Jesus that lens goes to f29? Or is that a computed value that has something to do with the extension tubes? (I’m showing my ignorance here!)
I think you answered your own question 
With no evidence, I also suspect that softness due to diffraction responds better to sharpening in post processing.
The Off piste photo works by flattening perspective whilst maintaining maximum depth of field. To achieve the flattening you need a tele lens (or cropping a monster sensor). With a tele lens your DOF gets thinner, and we’re talking 500mmx1.4. So f29 you go!
An even smaller aperture would have made the photo better imho. The fence closest to the camera is really quite blurry. If the image could have been sharp across the frame it would have seemed even more mazelike and abstract.
@nosle Now that you mention the narrower DOF, using smaller apertures makes a lot of sense. I guess the alternative would be to focus stack. I do not use telephotos myself, so it did not occur to me right away 
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