Black and White Landscapes

While the legendary conical shape of Iceland's Kirkjufell mountain is one of the region's most photographed landscape spots, Joana has done a superb job at making her composition unique by including some brilliant details in the icy foreground. The mono conversion works brilliantly well too, expertly dodging and burning the textures for added impact. Great job!

Richard's captured a fantastic street scene in Oslo which has some brilliant depth to it, from the lone figure in the foreground which adds scale and a focal point, to the interesting buildings and sky in the background. Great job!

Marco has taken a sublime shot of the Giau mountain pass in the Dolomites. The winding road does a fantastic job of anchoring the bottom portion of the frame and adding a lead-in line to the foreground. His choice of a 78 second long exposure has injected some amazing movement to the clouds in this picture which have some interesting definition and are partially obscuring the mountains.

This atmospheric stormy shot from Anghelos is perfectly suited to a black and white conversion. The deep shadows and moody sky contrast beautifully with the flash of lightning strikes that cut through and pull the viewer in. Using the shore line and railing to guide the eye in also adds to the magnetism of his seascape. Top job!

June's wonderful photo shows how important it is to wait for the right light. A few glorious rays of sunshine breaking through the heavy cloud has illuminated and spot lit some lovely details in this landscape, transforming this beautiful Norwegian scene from a dull grey wash into an impacting scene full of contrast.

Gerry's image of this much photographed tree in Llyn Padarn, North Wales stood out to us because of the quirky low angle and shallow depth of field which has knocked the foreground out of focus. The low angle also helps the tree branches stand out against the moody clouds in the sky for extra contrast. Great job!

Jay's image is of this much loved Scottish photo spot in Glencoe is technically spot-on. His composition is wonderful, making sure to include the scudding waterfalls in the foreground, lone tree in the mid-ground and landmark mountain in the background too. His use of a slow shutter speed has worked marvellously to inject a bit of motion, while the black and white treatment does an excellent job at ramping up the moody atmosphere.

The slick glossy rocks in Deborah's image make for interesting foreground, adding some brilliant textures and reflections as well as leading the eye to the silhouetted Dunstanburgh castle on the horizon. This high contrast scene is perfect for a black and white treatment - great job!

Sandra's taken a fantastic black and white landscape shot of Budakirkja Church on the Snaefellsnes peninsula using a wide angle to include loads of the brilliant Icelandic scenery. The white door, window frames and snow capped mountains really stand out in mono and pull the viewer's eye in - great job!

Richard's graphic architectural shot from Valencia is absolutely packed with detail and contrast. The symmetrical reflection works amazingly well and the highly detailed scene is perfectly suited to a black and white conversion where the contrast can be ramped up to eleven - great job!

Sarah's captured some beautiful rays of light coming through the forest canopy in her woodland landscape. It works brilliantly well in the square format and with the black and white treatment that helps the rays of light stand out. What's more impressive is Sarah took this shot on a Canon PowerShot G10, which just goes to show you don't need the most expensive camera to take a great photo!

Hugh's found an interesting viewpoint of the photogenic Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland, usually photographed from across Loch Long for the reflections. Hugh's closer composition however works well as he's incorporated the walkway to use it as lead-in lines to guide the eye in. His HDR processing is also done tastefully and suits the mono toning too, emphasising the detail in the clouds and stunning architecture.

Madison's clearly got a great eye for a good photo as this row of five houses look rather striking, especially with the dramatic sky above. She's masterfully composed her image, placing the houses at the bottom of the frame and allowing the abstract shapes of the clouds to fill the frame and pull the viewer's eye in. Contrast has been strengthened too with her black and white conversion, which gives it a fantastic graphic quality.

Peter’s taken a cracking shot of these mammoth skyscrapers in London and has positioned his camera on a railing along the river Thames to help guide the eye in towards them. His black and white adjustment works wonderfully well in this high contrast scene and he's added a slight hint of blue for a cool cyanotype look. Great job!

Mark's mono shot is minimalistic and his bleak overcast conditions are perfectly suited to a black and white conversion, allowing the contrast, shape and form to really shine through. Our only slight issue is the central composition that would possibly work better with the horizon placed a third of the way in from the top edge, but this is a small niggle on an otherwise fantastic moody mono landscape. Great job!