Christmas lights

I'm entirely taken by this photo. I love the premise, I love the framing, and I love the looks that you have just managed to capture on the children's faces.

But what could have improved the photo? I think that ensuring that the near-silhouettes of the children were sharp and letting the tree enjoy a degree of blur would have done it. After all, they are the real story here, not the tree, not really. That's providing the background, and the gorgeous lighting.

This is a very cute photo: the bauble is sweet, the bokeh forms a lovely pattern in the background, and the colour scheme works well. However, your snowman isn't quite sharp. Just a pinch more sharpness, and it would have made all the difference.

I noticed that your ISO was 100 and your shutter speed 1/20. You could quite easily have bumped up the ISO and thereby shortened the shutter speed to help improve the sharpness. The smidge of noise generated by the higher ISO would have helped to keep it from looking too clinical and perfect.

I came very close to placing this in my top ten. The bokeh is good and I love the specular highlights. The colours are gorgeous, too. What held me back from upgrading it was the photographer's reflection in the bauble! It seems terribly trivial, but it is the difference between an awesome photo and a very good one. If you could have found a way to alter your angles to conceal yourself, that would have been great. Or, you know what? Go a step further: play on the Christmas theme and go for Father Christmas or an elf taking the photo.

The moment that I saw this photo, I was drawn to it. There is something about the solitary, upside-down gift sparkling in reflection that is simultaneously melancholy and festive.

I am impressed by the balance in the exposure, with the lights glinting darkness. It would have been easy to either under – or over – expose this shot.

Could the focus have been improved? Perhaps. The appeal of the reflection is just that: it's a reflection. So its slightly shimmery, hazy effect is perfect for it. But maybe a little more sharpness in the brickwork to give it contrast would have strengthened the photo? Perhaps. But I love it as it is.

You have achieved a different take on a fairly common Christmassy photo, which is what impressed me about this. You have the bauble with the lights in the background, but to that you've added the snow and a couple muffled up against the cold, too. Framing the couple with the bauble and the tinsel works beautifully. It's a great festive photo.

What might have made it first place instead of second? While I wouldn't have wanted to see the couple in the background tack sharp, I've a nagging feeling that they could have benefited from a bit more sharpness, because of how they've been framed. Alternatively, cropping in closer to the bauble, and having the couple as they are in the background would've worked, too. It needs to go one way or another.

But still, well done!

I was immediately drawn to this photo because of its different take on the Christmas lights theme. It really is festive in feel and look (the red car, serendipitous, I know, but wonderful all the same), without being cloying or hackneyed.

What might have elevated from top ten to top three? A bit more sharpness. There is a little noise, to which I don't object; I will always take noise over blur, but I think sharper focus and, if the ISO had to go up, a bit of noise reduction would have made all the difference.

I love how you have captured the swooshing of the carousel and contrasted its motion against the static figures in the foreground. It really emphasises the dynamism of the scene. However, I don't think that it needed the selective colour. There is sufficient motion in the lights of the carousel to present a strong sense of movement without having to enhance it further with the selective colour. Black and white is a wonderfully strong medium, and I think that alone would have been enough.

There is so much to like about this photo: the lights in the background are lovely, the box and the ribbon are perfectly sharp, and the colours work great.

But you know what? It's almost too perfect. It's too close to being a product shot, even verging on being a still from a TV commercial. Undeniably it is a good photo and there is a lot to appreciate in it, but it's somewhat too clinical. It needs to be a little more... festive!

The illuminated buildings, the bursts of light, the reflection in the water: this photo has a lot going for it. However, it is sadly overshadowed by the not-so-festive looking building in the left of the frame. Yes, there are the prettily decorated trees in front of it, but that's not quite enough to balance its drab modernity against the older buildings on the right. It's a shame. I think that had you switched from landscape to portrait orientation, you might well have mitigated against this. Don't be afraid of vertically oriented landscape photos: they can really work.

I can see what you're trying to do here: zoom bursting is a great technique generally, and especially when deployed in conjunction with festive lights. However, you've not got it quite right here.

First, the entire scene is over-exposed and far too bright. This detracts from the twinkling-lights-feel that you associate with this type of photography and this time of year. It also exposes the background to scrutiny, and we don't really need to see the sideboard and pictures.

Second, you need to think more about your point of focus. Where do you want your audience to look? What's the subject? When you've established that, your photo should be about enhancing it for the viewer.

Don't lose heart though; it's just about practising some more!

Red lights against green foliage are so festive. Unfortunately, you've had a few problems with your sharpness and your exposure here, which is typical of taking photos in low light. Slow shutter speeds lead to camera shake and it's actually quite easy to over-expose these types of photos, especially when you're using auto mode. And, because I think you were using a mobile phone, being able to adjust your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to control these is almost impossible.

What I would suggest is to lock your exposure on the bright light, which will ensure that the rest of the scene is gorgeously dark and the light doesn't come over as too bright, and that you use a mini-tripod to enable you to hold your device steady. Also think about some more creative composition (off-centre your subject, for example), to produce a more compelling photo.