Landscape Photo Competition 2014 No 1 : Judges Critiques : Page

I am not usually a fan of sunset shots as they rid a photograph of its detail and rely upon the very warm colour balance of the situation for their visual appeal. I do like however your very simple composition here where you have turned that lack of detail to your advantage with this quite stunning silhouette and the balance of light and dark making a striking minimalist picture. This is a very good example of compromise and artistic visualisation.

Here you have seized all the power and indeed the beauty of a breaking wave, you have captured the movement at the most perfect moment, it is quite stunning. The cropped format suits the picture well, the background rocks bringing a taste of a truly wild location. I like the applied blur on the foreground water, it brings us back into the wave, but i don’t like the effect brought on by the blur on the rocks which takes away the beautiful feel of the real.

This is perhaps a scene from the end of the world. Your environmental message is very strong and is enhanced by the grim light and black and white. Interesting, well thought out shot.

This is a beautiful photograph. The snowy weather has taken away any contrast making a lovely shot of white and greys. You have cleverly framed only part of this tree giving it a strong graphic presence with lots of detail in the shady areas thanks to the bad weather. Most folk would have walked past without seeing this composition. Well done.

This kind of pontoon shot is very difficult because it has been done so very often. You have done well with the very slow exposure, the cloud and water movement have added a dimension to the picture but the main cloud is a little distracting and brings a chaotic atmosphere to an otherwise very peaceful scene.

Your idea is fine. Beaches make good minimalist subjects and I think that was your aim. I like the slight rainbow but otherwise there isn’t much of interest to look at. The shapes of the beach, sea and sky aren’t powerful enough for this to stand up as a minimalist composition.

What an incredible place for this tree to cling on to life! An appealing photography subject which you have handled very well. The choice for black and white adds to the misty atmosphere and helps the tree’s rock really pop out. Nice.

Beautiful cool tones and lovely natural composition make this stand out amongst so many entries. Nice.

You have captured the beautiful tones of this scene . The low angled sunlight works beautifully bringing warmth and contrast. Nice composition too, well done.

Well why not? This is a very brave effort. Sometimes when there are lines in the scene a deliberate blurr from camera movement can exaggerate those lines making a beautiful impressionist style photograph. Here you don’t have those lines and so the result is very soft without being so soft we don’t know what the subject is. You have kept the lovely pastel colours of the sea, beach and sky. I suggest you continue experimenting.