Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

WILD mother nature spreads her wings in this incredible set of animal photos from this year’s Sony Photo Competition.

Mask: The “Chrysolophus pictus” (Binomial Name of the Animal) used its face cloak to hide the rather nervous feeling while seeing the crowd walk past by. It concealed its timidity and fear of being hurt inside under its overbearing appearance. Picture: Ya-Kuei Hsieh, 3rd place, Taiwan National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

1/17Mask: The “Chrysolophus pictus” (Binomial Name of the Animal) used its face cloak to hide the rather nervous feeling while seeing the crowd walk past by. It concealed its timidity and fear of being hurt inside under its overbearing appearance. Picture: Ya-Kuei Hsieh, 3rd place, Taiwan National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Gain and Lost in Split Second: In early summer in the I-Lan suburb area of Taiwan, I happened to see a beautiful kingfisher stand on dead wood waiting for the fish swimming below quietly. In the morning sun the beautiful kingfisher bird dove into the pond gently splashing in the water whilst I took this beautiful picture. Picture: Fu-Pin Ko, 2nd place, Taiwan National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

2/17Gain and Lost in Split Second: In early summer in the I-Lan suburb area of Taiwan, I happened to see a beautiful kingfisher stand on dead wood waiting for the fish swimming below quietly. In the morning sun the beautiful kingfisher bird dove into the pond gently splashing in the water whilst I took this beautiful picture. Picture: Fu-Pin Ko, 2nd place, Taiwan National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Male and female polar bears expressing their love . This scene was shot in captivity . The weather condition was bad with snow and wind. Picture: Lise Simoneau, 3rd Place, Canada National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

3/17Male and female polar bears expressing their love . This scene was shot in captivity . The weather condition was bad with snow and wind. Picture: Lise Simoneau, 3rd Place, Canada National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Pink Grasshopper: The colour of this grasshopper, in terms of percentage in normal Meadow Grasshoppers is less than 1%. Most grasshopper species in Ireland are greenish-brown in colour, but some have genetics that make them pink or purple-red. It is called erythrism, which is an unusual and little-understood genetic mutation caused by a recessive gene similar to that which affects albino animals. The combination of red hair and freckles in humans is thought to be a form of erythrism. These grasshoppers tend not to make it to adulthood in the wild as predators easily spot them. This image was taken in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Picture: Chris Connolly, Winner, Ireland, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

4/17Pink Grasshopper: The colour of this grasshopper, in terms of percentage in normal Meadow Grasshoppers is less than 1%. Most grasshopper species in Ireland are greenish-brown in colour, but some have genetics that make them pink or purple-red. It is called erythrism, which is an unusual and little-understood genetic mutation caused by a recessive gene similar to that which affects albino animals. The combination of red hair and freckles in humans is thought to be a form of erythrism. These grasshoppers tend not to make it to adulthood in the wild as predators easily spot them. This image was taken in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Picture: Chris Connolly, Winner, Ireland, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Friendship:Taken in an elephant camp named Pho Kyar. The boy is the son of the elephant trainer and he and the little mokey love each other.They came along with us when we took photos on the trip. Picture: Zaw Zaw Tun, 3rd place, Myanmar, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

5/17Friendship:Taken in an elephant camp named Pho Kyar. The boy is the son of the elephant trainer and he and the little mokey love each other.They came along with us when we took photos on the trip. Picture: Zaw Zaw Tun, 3rd place, Myanmar, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Crested Macaque: The Crested Macaque portrait is one of the favourite pictures I took during my trip. I walked along with an enormous macaque troop on Sulawesi and spent hours learning about their behaviour. At one moment the troop rested all around me. The babies played with each other while the adults checked if the surrounding area was safe. I noticed there was one male in the dark shade nearby. I was able to underexpose the shot so only his magical eyes are dominant. I was very happy with the result. Picture: Petr Bambousek, 3rd place, Czech Republic, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

6/17Crested Macaque: The Crested Macaque portrait is one of the favourite pictures I took during my trip. I walked along with an enormous macaque troop on Sulawesi and spent hours learning about their behaviour. At one moment the troop rested all around me. The babies played with each other while the adults checked if the surrounding area was safe. I noticed there was one male in the dark shade nearby. I was able to underexpose the shot so only his magical eyes are dominant. I was very happy with the result. Picture: Petr Bambousek, 3rd place, Czech Republic, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Fighting Bald Eagles: Shot on the Harrison River, British Columbia, Canada ( I was on the top of a river cruise boat with my camera in hand) Picture: George Ching-Yuen LO, Winner, Canada, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

7/17Fighting Bald Eagles: Shot on the Harrison River, British Columbia, Canada ( I was on the top of a river cruise boat with my camera in hand) Picture: George Ching-Yuen LO, Winner, Canada, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Cold: Due to low temperatures a freezing village boy stands next to anatural thermal hot water pool while his water buffalos are already enjoying the heat. Shot at Bitlis, East Anatolia, Turkey. Picture: Burak Senbak, Winner, Turkey National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

8/17Cold: Due to low temperatures a freezing village boy stands next to anatural thermal hot water pool while his water buffalos are already enjoying the heat. Shot at Bitlis, East Anatolia, Turkey. Picture: Burak Senbak, Winner, Turkey National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Ant Castaway: I shot this picture last Spring whilst I was preparing materials for a macro seminar. It is completely natural. Picture: Krasimir Matarov, 2nd place, Bulgaria, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

9/17Ant Castaway: I shot this picture last Spring whilst I was preparing materials for a macro seminar. It is completely natural. Picture: Krasimir Matarov, 2nd place, Bulgaria, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

MUST NOT PUBLISH BEFORE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY MARCH 21ST Simple Beauty: I am entranced by the beauty of ducks. They are so common we often just walk by, but if you stop and look their feathers are incredibly beautiful. The sun when it hits them just right makes them shimmer. This image was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on November 1st, 2014. When possible I try to take bird shots from unusual perspectives. If you can get above a bird and look down on them it quite changes what you see. Picture: Sandra Fiedler, 2nd place, Canada, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

10/17MUST NOT PUBLISH BEFORE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY MARCH 21ST Simple Beauty: I am entranced by the beauty of ducks. They are so common we often just walk by, but if you stop and look their feathers are incredibly beautiful. The sun when it hits them just right makes them shimmer. This image was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on November 1st, 2014. When possible I try to take bird shots from unusual perspectives. If you can get above a bird and look down on them it quite changes what you see. Picture: Sandra Fiedler, 2nd place, Canada, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

MUST NOT PUBLISH BEFORE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY MARCH 21ST Fly: How many times have I sat in front of the aquarium with the camera in my hand a couple pictures to make my shrimp, when suddenly a fly landed on the water surface. Now I had a new model that I could take pictures. With a macro lens 100 mm and an external flash I made some pictures and was curious if the fly also could start again from the water surface. She made some jumps whereby this picture was taken. Even after the second jump she was gone again. Picture: Uwe Hennig, 3rd place, Germany, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

11/17MUST NOT PUBLISH BEFORE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY MARCH 21ST Fly: How many times have I sat in front of the aquarium with the camera in my hand a couple pictures to make my shrimp, when suddenly a fly landed on the water surface. Now I had a new model that I could take pictures. With a macro lens 100 mm and an external flash I made some pictures and was curious if the fly also could start again from the water surface. She made some jumps whereby this picture was taken. Even after the second jump she was gone again. Picture: Uwe Hennig, 3rd place, Germany, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Strandwolf. We travelled to the great Namib desert on a dune expedition near Luderitz in Namibia. The guide had not see a brown hyena, or “Strandwolf” as it is locally known, for five years. My hopes was high though. We drove across vast beaches with water on the right and dunes on the left, when suddenly this brown hyena emerged from nowhere and ran in the opposite direction. We had about forty seconds to follow the hyena and photograph it before it disappeared in the dunes. Picture: Jaco Marx, Winner, South Africa National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

12/17Strandwolf. We travelled to the great Namib desert on a dune expedition near Luderitz in Namibia. The guide had not see a brown hyena, or “Strandwolf” as it is locally known, for five years. My hopes was high though. We drove across vast beaches with water on the right and dunes on the left, when suddenly this brown hyena emerged from nowhere and ran in the opposite direction. We had about forty seconds to follow the hyena and photograph it before it disappeared in the dunes. Picture: Jaco Marx, Winner, South Africa National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

Spread your wings: This photo is taken at the Vlasroot, Veldhoven. With the help of a falconer and a model I had previously worked with I was able to shoot the bird as I wanted. The bird is the Bengal Eagle Owl named Indy. The model has a bird’s nest on her head that I made especially for the shot. She was not afraid of the big owl which made it possible to deviate from the safe path and create this kind of photo. Picture: Lione Bakker, 3rd place, Malaysia, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

13/17Spread your wings: This photo is taken at the Vlasroot, Veldhoven. With the help of a falconer and a model I had previously worked with I was able to shoot the bird as I wanted. The bird is the Bengal Eagle Owl named Indy. The model has a bird’s nest on her head that I made especially for the shot. She was not afraid of the big owl which made it possible to deviate from the safe path and create this kind of photo. Picture: Lione Bakker, 3rd place, Malaysia, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards

14/17Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

15/17Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

16/17Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

17/17Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/photos/animals-from-the-sony-world-photo-competition-2015/image-gallery/c4ac22e395d340aebb953df3238731ae

Animals from the Sony World Photo Competition 2015

Photos show Cyclone Debbie’s full wrath