Cloudscapes

Judging this contest was tough and the standard of entries was high but I could not make my Top Ten selection without this image. Again, it's all about the clouds and the simple line of the balustrade and the lone figure both accentuate the drama of the clouds above. Even the curve of the lamp post creates a visual tension and draws us in. The more time we spend holding our cameras, the more we do things instinctively without consciously thinking about the compositional elements but, for me, they are all at work here. Right on brief and more than certain of its place in my Super Top Ten.

There is surely no doubt that this is an aerial cloudscape and that fits with the brief perfectly. There were a good number submitted but this is my choice from that 'sub-category' and that's not me being lukewarm. These are difficult compositions. The clouds have to 'be doing something' for the image to work. Just pointing a lens out of an aircraft window doesn't work. There has to be something there to photograph. This worked for me. I really like the definition and volume of the clouds in the foreground and the roiling suggestions of Cirrus beginnings in the upper frame. The blue of the sky is not overstated and, for me, the image works as a whole because the focal point of those clouds in the foreground grab the attention. Nice work ...

It's all about the clouds ... and the sky and the breaking light and the folds in the hill and the divergent lines in the foreground and the balance of colour ... in my opinon. all of these elements combine to make up this cloudscape and the image does not work without the clouds. For me, it really is as deceptively simple as that ... right eye, right place, right time, right lens, right landscape, right sky, right light. When you start to break it down, the elements of simplicity are really complicated and I love the complicated simplicity of this shot ... The composition confidently speaks for itself. A top three winner for me ...

I was really taken by this image from my first sight of it. It is most certainly a cloudscape and I loved the graphic strength of the image. The composition kept popping in and out of my top ten but, as a I narrowed the field down, I had to start making some tough critical judgements. Of course, these things are highly subjective but I would love to see this image without the out of scale and dominating wind turbine which, for me, isn't convincing enough. I would have been more than satisfied if I had been able to take this shot and process it just as it came out of the camera. The landscape and the cloudscape work together, the light and the colours are great and the path provides a perfect off-centre line into the heart of the clouds. Certainly my leading commendation ... I wish it could have been more but it was a tough contest.

There is such a wonderful expansiveness about this composition. We often forget that cloudscapes make our day. It's not the boring unbroken expanses of clear blue sky [wonderful as they are] that make great photographic images. The clouds matter in this picture and they are the focal point of this image and that's right on brief. My criticisms? I would take out the logo because fair contests deserve anonymity and if this wonderful capture was simply about the clouds (i.e. the focal point directed by the gull and the path) then I would have cropped out some of the foreground - but that's specific to this brief rather than a broader aesthetic judgement about the photograph. I loved the vibrancy of this image. It lives ... and that's why it makes my leading Ten ...

In my brief I said very clearly that the key point of this contest is that the clouds should be the focal point of the image and the reason for the image ... This is my first contest as a judge and I kept changing my mind about the placings. Permutate any one from the top ten but this image makes my Top Three despite my longstanding prejudices about logos [contests should be anonymous] and my OCD irritant with the distraction of the figures at the base of the image and, once again, the second irritant of the logo interfering with the interesting detail bottom right .. Is that faint praise? On the contrary, I love this image. The clouds are its reason for being and the phased reflection of the cloudscape through to the diagonal slant of the sands makes this perfect for me. I really loved this composition. Perfectly constructed except for my opening quibbles and, at the end of a picky day, that was the difference between my Top Three. I really was splitting hairs ... I just wish I could have taken this shot. Green with envy ... Yep, I loved it - just in case that wasn't clear. Hole in one ..

I really love this shot. It was never outside of my Top Ten from the moment it was posted. I'm sure that most of us would have given our eye teeth to have simply been there in Tanzania and, added bonus, to then be presented with the opportunity to capture such a great image. You have nailed the drama of the moment and the sense of place. but I had to keep reminding myself of my brief and I guess it may seem pedantic but, for me, the focal point is the heart of the approaching storm rather than the clouds themselves which, in the overall context of the composition, are probably no more or less important than the foreground landscape. So, based on the purely technical and nit picking question as to whether this great image is or is not a classic cloudscape - as defined in my brief - I had to go with my brief and, for that reason alone, it made my Top Ten rather than my Top Three ... but I loved the shot. Or maybe I said that already - if not often enough.

Sometimes we have those memorable days when we look up and think 'what a fabulous sky' and we just want to reach for our cameras. That's what this image did for me. It is a classic cloudscape. There were some really great shots entered for this competition but I just had to flag this one up. It did not make my Top Ten but, for me, it certainly deserves a Commendation Plus although ... just my thought ... it could have been so much more in colour. For me, that sky and sea just pleads for blue ... but I do see what it could be and what it is right now - and I just love the Big Sky shout in the shot. Thanks for sharing ...

There were a number of sunsets submitted for this contest but, in judging the entries, I had to ask myself if the images were really about the cloudscapes or more to do with the foreground landscapes or the [sometimes overwrought and impossibly coloured] sunset skies. I accept that the majority of people on Photocrowd really love high drama images of sunsets so I'm simply declaring my personal taste up front here ... That said, I could not let this image pass me by. I love the Turner-esque quality of the colours and the muted tones of the sea and the understated reflections of the clouds. Is this a 'pure' cloudscape? No it is not. It is also a seascape but the composition knits together and the sum of the parts make it 'all about the clouds' which, for me, is bang on brief. A great image that draws you in if you take the time to contemplate it. It's worth taking that moment of time to look. Excellent work!