“It was a weekend in May, and normally the butterflies are very active here at that time of year,” explains Robinson, a Trophy Club, Texas, resident. “Butterflies are my favorite subject to photograph, so my husband and I headed out to the park.” It was an overcast day, however, and butterflies prefer the bright sun, so Robinson wasn’t having much luck finding willing wildlife to document.

Then she saw a patch of beautiful wildflowers. “I figured even if there were no butterflies, I’d at least shoot the flowers,” Robinson laughs. “When I started shooting, I saw a hoverfly flitting around near the flowers. People often mistake this insect for a bee, but it’s actually much smaller than the average bee. It’s a very photogenic insect, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the color contrast and detail of the hoverfly against the wildflower.”

It was this stunning color contrast, among other factors, that caught the eye of contest judge Jackie Bailey Labovitz (www.baileylabovitz.com), a former art curator and current photographer from the Washington, D.C., area whose most recent mission is to help preserve and celebrate local wildlife through photography. Bailey Labovitz had several criteria she used in helping her winnow the contest entries down to Robinson’s winning image.

“The first thing I looked for, of course, was the focus and whether the images were tack-sharp,” explains Bailey Labovtiz. “The next thing I looked at was the basic composition of the picture. After those two critical elements, I began to look at more subtle things like the subject matter, how simple or complex the image was, and whether the background was out of focus.”

Bailey Labovitz finally narrowed it down to about five images (“it was so hard, I was going back and forth, back and forth among those images”), but it was Robinson’s wildlife photo that finally emerged as the victor. “Her image was absolutely tack-sharp, and she totally nailed the selective depth-of-field—this is difficult to do to begin with, let alone with a moving subject,” says Bailey Labovitz. “You can stabilize a flower, but a bug or other moving creature is much more difficult to stabilize.”

Bailey Labovitz was also impressed at how Robinson was able to make the varied hues and patterns of the two subjects (hoverfly and flower) work together. “Both subjects had very complex, conflicting patterns and colors that can be quite difficult to pull off as a beautiful image,” she explains. “The image had horizontal, vertical, geometric, and organic patterns all together. But the the purple and green of the flower didn’t overpower the yellow and black bug; instead, those colors really complemented the insect. Plus, Robinson shot the subjects on a diagonal, which always creates a more dramatic, dynamic composition."

Robinson used the Tamron 180mm lens to help her achieve that beautiful depth-of-field. “When I photograph butterflies or other insects, I want to have the subject sharp and clear, showing off the detail on the insect, with a nice blurred background so I don’t get any distractions,” she says. “Plus, when I’m shooting insects, they’re often shy and skittish, so I want to have that longer working distance. The 180mm lens works really well for those purposes.”

The Backyard Wildlife contest, the second of four in Tamron’s 2010 contest series, ran from April 1 through June 30. Contest competitors, who could use any camera equipment, were asked to submit photographic portraits of local indigenous wildlife found in their own backyards, hometown parks, or other urban or rural neighborhood areas—in other words, no zoo or aquarium creatures allowed.

The contest was unique, however, in that Tamron pledged to do its part to help support wildlife conservation by donating 25 cents per contest entry to the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org), an organization admired and supported by Bailey Labovitz. The contest raised a total of $500.00 for the conservation group.

Bailey Labovitz’s love of nature and all things ecological also helped influence her final decision in the contest. “I was very conscious that this contest was supposed to be about shooting wildlife in your own backyard and neighborhood—whatever image I chose needed to reflect that,” she says. “Then when I saw the winning image, I started thinking about bugs, and bees in particular: Without bees, for instance, we wouldn’t have backyards and parks in the form that we do. As a photographer, it was great to take a closer look and see how other people are photographing wildlife.”

“I do backyard photography myself, so I have a great interest in getting people to start at home, right in their own backyards, to appreciate nature—particularly children,” she continues. “I want to pique their interest at a young age so that they become interested in their environment and how everything all works together. If they do that, hopefully it will expand to other areas of their lives.”

As the contest winner, Robinson was able to choose her prize from the following Tamron lenses: the SP AF60mm F2 Di-II 1:1 Macro; SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di-II; SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 Di-II VC; or AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC. Robinson decided on the AF18-270mm VC lens. For more of Robinson’s photos, go to www.photosbyleena.com.