Forest and Woodlands

An outstanding quality image throughout with great sharpness and control over the light conditions. You captured the calm mood of the woodland with a lovely sense of balance. Beautiful, very gently processed colour tones with soft light and slightly hazy background makes the forest look and feel a very atmospheric, inviting and peaceful place to be in. There’s nothing scary or mysterious here, just pure harmony of nature that comes strongly through the image. I find this photo very relaxing and aesthetically appealing...it’s almost like a painting!

Excellent work and congratulations for being my winner!

This image perfectly captures the magic of winter, with a fantasy quality to it. It looks rather cinematic, or perhaps straight from a fairy tale. You can literally feel the cold, crispy, fresh air when looking at the picture. The blue gradient descending leads your eyes deeply into the fading woods. It’s a fantastic evocative image, which allows your imagination to wander.

Thanks for entering this wonderful scene in the contest and very well done for placing in my top ten!

The excellent composition, lovely warm green tones and bright light settling on the mossy floor made this picture really stand out of the over 1800 entries in the contest! But what I found the most striking is the story you’ve managed to capture here! The roots of the old tree in the corner almost look like a human hand grabbing and embracing the earth. It’s the story about beautiful strong connection between living trees and their ever nourishing and supportive Mother Earth. The young, fragile yet very healthy looking tree behind adds to the story of circle of life of the forest. I really appreciate what you saw and the way you illustrate it in your image.

Fantastic work and congratulations for being my runner up in this challenge!

This is a very gentle image with a beautiful story about the lifecycle of the forest. I really like the title of this photo in which you’re giving human qualities to the trees. The main focus on the young tree adds much hope and freshness to this otherwise rather nostalgic looking scene.

Great work and congratulations for entering my top ten in this challenge!

Brilliant art work! For me this is a wonderful example of how we can use a woodland scene to create a very evocative and aesthetically pleasing abstract photograph. You illustrated the chaotic and rather dramatic nature of the woods in the autumn in a beautiful way. I love the warm earthy colours tones. The white birch contrasting with much darker brown branches in the first plane add a great depth and dynamic to the image. I also like that you saturated and brightened some of the orange leaves. By doing that you created some additional texture to the photo making it look like an oil painting.

Impressive work! Well done and congratulations for a well deserved place in my top ten in this contest!

This photo is all about mood. I love how well you managed to use the great potential of the weather conditions to create such an atmospheric and melancholic feel to the image. The tree almost seems to be shivering on this cold day....with the fog limiting our vision it’s left to our imagination to wonder what else might be there. Warm tones to the foliage on the floor nicely balance the blue tinted light making the picture pleasing to the eye. Finally I really like the low contrast and faded colour processing as it makes the whole scene feel so very silent!

Excellent work and big congratulations!

I love that the image is so flat - it really works here as it matches the very quiet nature of the scene. There’s a sense of sadness to it which the processing perfectly captures - the desaturated colours, low contrast, cool light and retained detail. I appreciate that it is a rather unusual interpretation of a woodland scene, but that is what makes it special. In this case less is more.

Very well done and congratulations on placing in my top ten!

I really enjoy this image and the soft, dreamy feel of the landscape which you achieved perfectly by applying warm tones to the cold winter scenery. Composing the image with the path leading to the distance, yet not seeing much of where it leads adds to the curiosity.

If I had one hint I would change here, it’s slightly reducing the ‘strength’ of the sun, or possibly blending it more into the sky to make it a bit less prominent part of the image. My eyes get drawn there because it’s so bright, but when I somewhat cover the sun with my hand, my attention immediately is more focused on the forest which is such a beautiful scene to contemplate.

Thank you so much for entering this photo to the contest. Superb work! Congratulations!