Fireworks

This visually striking capture clearly owes its success to the photographer's technical skills.

Whereas the captivating shapes and colours of the fireworks are indeed the star of the show here, this image has the impact it has thanks to the photographer's choice of including in the frame the crowd looking up at them.

Thanks to a well-timed long exposure, in fact, there's pleasing light highlighting the people's silhouettes that defines them against the dark sky. This adds priceless context and interest to the firework scene.

This image champions the use of long shutter speed. It allows the fireworks to create colourful light shapes against the night sky, like an abstract painting, adding much more colour to the image that there would have otherwise been.

This is well-composed, well-thought out and a thoroughly exciting image to look at. Well done!

The close crop and long shutter speed turn a firework image into an abstract work of art resembling Neurons under the microscope.

It's dynamic, it's exciting, it's different.

There are thin light trails, fading from gold to blue, bright hot spots, and golden spark-like speckles. It's varied and interesting, the juxtaposition of the bright colours against the black sky very pleasing to the eye.

What excites me the most about judging these contests is coming across images that push the boundaries and photographers who see the ordinary in such a creative way they can turn it into extraordinary. With this image I found just that.

This image, with its balanced exposure, creative use of settings and pleasing definition, immediately shows good skill from the photographer's part.

The long exposure is a great choice. It beautifully captures both the city lights and their moody haze as well as the firework in all its glory, maximising the visual impact of the shot.

The contrast between the city's cold blues and the warm gold of the firework is pleasing and interesting to look at.

I wish the composition had allowed a little more space at the top of the frame for the firework to fill, but even so this is a very successful capture that deserves its place in the top 10. Well done!