Black and White

This atmospheric image has been handled extremely well, particularly as it was shot in conditions that can be tricky. Despite its bright highlights and dark shadows, giving a very wide range for the camera’s sensor to record, Ian has managed to capture detail in every part of the image. The verticals have been kept vertical, which helps the viewer appreciate the scale of the architecture. The perspective and lead-in lines take you through the image, but everything is brought together by the figure walking through the scene on the right. Silhouetted agains the bright fog and carrying a bag, they make me start to ask questions. Where are they going? Where have they been? What is in their bag? Why are they the only person in the image and where is everyone else? This small but perfect detail completes the image. Creating a narrative that make your viewer stop and ask questions always makes a picture all the more compelling and effective. –Gavin Prest, Guest Judge

This is a wonderfully atmospheric image reminiscent of classic photography from Life magazine. It feels like it could be 1950s Chicago. The solitary pedestrian, perfectly positioned, adds a much needed focal point. –Nigel Atherton, Editor

We see a lot of minimal images in this round – not surprisingly, as the black-and-white medium lends itself perfectly to this approach. This is a particularly good example, which makes bold use of empty space and cropping. The composition is spot on, with the stick-like figures placed perfectly in the frame. –Ailsa McWhinnie, Project Manager

In the same way as it can be tricky to make a successful wildlife image in black & white (see our 2nd-placed shot), converting a sports image to mono needs to be done for all the right reasons. This outstanding capture of a diver in action is a case in point. In colour, this image would lose everything that makes it so powerful – the tightness of the diver’s pose, the expression of concentration on her face and – above all – the sharpness and detail in every backlit droplet that’s spraying from her hair as she spins. Beautifully timed, beautifully executed, and beautifully converted.

Ask most landscape photographers what they aim to achieve with their pictures, and they’d probably say they want the viewer to feel part of the scene. This shot is a huge success on that front. It’s extremely easy to imagine standing alongside the photographer as this picture was taken, drinking in sheer majesty, depth and drama of the snow-covered mountainscape. Scale is provided, of course, by the line of climbers. Without them, there would be nowhere for the eye to settle. Finally, the range of tones is something Ansel Adams himself would be proud of.

So often, ultra-wideangle lenses can be used poorly or for the wrong reason, and compositions end up too ‘loose’. However, this criticism certainly can’t be levelled at Sirsendu’s eye-catching shot. By placing himself so close to the woman on the right, he has captured the dynamism in the lines of the sarees as they are dried. Our eye shoots straight to the smaller woman on the left, before travelling across to the figures who have been extremely well captured between the two pieces of fabric. A very atmospheric reportage shot.

This is the kind of action shot that appears very simple, but we expect it took a great many shots to achieve one where everything came together in the way it does here. The dancer’s leap appears almost effortless, and her releasing of the flour is perfectly timed. The directon of the light creates an almost three-dimensional effect and is very nicely handled indeed. Converting to black & white allows the viewer to appreciate the overall shape and tone.

This is a great photo, and has been well blended in Photoshop using two separate elements – the main scene and the silhouetted bird.. Both sit extremely well within the white rectangle on the wall behind – a frame within a frame. The image could almost be timeless were it not for his smartphone. The textures and tones of the background and the cobbled street create a perfect backdrop for the fleeting drama being played out in front of the camera. –Nigel Atherton, Editor

When shooting storm images, it can be easy to get carried away by the sheer drama, forgetting that composition is as important as ever. Here, June has managed not to get overexcited by the epic wave, and compose with the lighthouse in just the right part of the frame to provide balance, stillness and scale. This makes the fury of the wave itself all the more dramatic and terrifying. The way it streams into the frame from the right makes it appear to be attacking the lighthouse – which, in many ways, it is!