Amateur Photographer of the Year

Here are the top ten images uploaded to Photocrowd from Round Seven, Animal Kingdom, with comments by the AP team and our guest judge

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Round Seven Animal Kingdom

Entries into the Animal Kingdom round never fail to impress. The sheer variety, imagination, skill and technique on display from the entrants – not to mention the tenacity – is a joy to judge. But it makes it extremely difficult, too, as it's also an extremely subjective genre, and one judge's winning image could easily end up being another's commended. Some might like a closeup, with pin-sharp detail revealing secrets about an animal's fur or a bird's feathers, while another will be drawn to a wider view that places the creature in context – almost combining landscape and wildlife in one frame. It's a round that always gets the judges talking – and we hope you enjoy our top ten choices.

1 Sara Williams, UK

Horses of Rhossili Bay 100pts

Sony RX10 IV, 24-600mm equiv at 115mm, 1/1000sec at f/4.5, ISO 100 A joyfully dynamic winning image from Sara, who has done a great job of capturing the rolling horse at just the right moment, with all four feathered legs in the air. The apparent disdain of its companion is highly amusing, and the contrast between the two couldn't be more stark. She has made the most of the gorgeous light and clouds, and also given enough context to tell us something about the landscape in which the horses live. This is the sort of subject that could become a wonderful long-term project.

2 Isobel Davis, UK

Got your tail 90pts Nikon 29, 70-200mm at 200mm, 1/1000sec at f/2.8, ISO 1000