Landscape Photo Competition 2014 No 1 : Judges Critiques : Page

Just stunning. My first impression upon seeing this photograph was that the subject of ice on black sand wasn’t very original. Those famous Icelandic beaches are amongst the world’s most sought after locations after all, and many beautiful photographs have been taken there. I did though put it directly into the final selection basket because it is technically so beautiful. Later, during a very close inspection of all the final images, when the smallest of details can mean win or lose , the fantastic technical qualities of this photograph became so apparent. This is as good as they get. The composition is beautiful, balanced, peaceful and perfect. The exposure is filtered, whites and blacks cleverly respected, whilst the aperture and shutter speed have been beautifully balanced to create this amazingly real oceanic atmosphere. The aperture has brought sharpness all the way into the corners, the shutter speed has given a perfect dose of life-giving movement to the sea, the power of the waves still visible, the surf drawing important lines. I have mentioned the importance of neutral density grad filters in landscape photography in several of my critiques this round, (see critiques), and here we see the beautifully toned sky and the top bottom exposure balance which can be obtained with them. You have, after the perfect photo session, gone on to very subtly develop your photograph, maintaining the cool tones, adding that little punch, that slight vignette… Congratulations, this can be the only winner this round.

Beautiful simple scene. Once again a snowy scene is a favourite. It is a beautiful minimalist composition, perhaps your blacks are a little too strong.

It is a shame the first tree is not in focus. I love your idea and appreciate the difficulty of photography under such heavy snow. I’m not sure about the crop, a little more space at the bottom would have made viewing more comfortable and some of the dark areas look over dark. Try using layers in photoshop to get a nice even contrast.

Nice aurora borealis but the telephone wires really add nothing to this star filled scene. They could have been removed in post processing or better still avoided in the first place.

You have overdone things somewhat here though the composition is pretty good. The tree is perhaps a little close to the top. I like the idea and the high contrast suits this picture. The “cut-out” skyline doesn’t look good though and draws attention to the post manipulation. Did you enlarge to 100% to do your enhancing?

Mike this is too much city for a nature landscape competition. May i suggest you try the city competition?

Your composition is so powerful, all of those lead lines, and of course the distant silhouetted winter trees so nicely captured. Great stuff…

So is that the person taking the landscape photograph?

Fantastic play with the lines of the hedgerows and also the tractor tracks, well spotted, and of course this fleeting light which brings so much colour and contrast. Great photograph.

I have the impression that i have seen your work before, perhaps of Tuscany where a tree was digitally planted into an unusual scene? They make fun pictures and i imagine a series along those lines could be interesting. I do like the sand dunes though, and the fabulous light you have captured. The lines and shapes are striking and without the unfortunate tree this could have got further. What puzzles me is how you can take such a beautiful, sensitive and balanced photograph of the desert and then want to rather carelessly stick a tree in it.