Gardens

It's surprisingly difficult to get a good scenic shot of a garden: shoot too close in and you lose the overall structure and get a mass of plants and flowers, but pull back too far and you lose all that appealing detail. This photographer has picked out two strong foreground elements, the rock and the lantern, and shot from a position where the waterfall, blurred by a slow shutter speed, and the light falling across the water, join to form a strong diagonal from top-right to bottom-left. A full range of tones from black to white, with a deliciously rich palette of greens in between, make this a really satisfying photo.

This contest brought in a lot of gorgeous photos of things in and around gardens, but what the judges loved about this one is that it can only be an image of the act of gardening. The trays, the watering can, the muddy gloves, the flowers... it simply can't be anything else. The shot has clearly been carefully composed, as you wouldn't get those flowers growing alongside each other in that way. The way they lean draws your eye in to the tools, and while the tools occupy the centre of the frame, the way they're all at odd angles gives the whole scene a natural, just-thrown-together feel. And, of course, all the crucial elements are beautifully sharp.

Often with panoramas all the interest is at the very back of the scene - a mountain range, say, or a cityscape. This panoramic shot of a garden is much more dynamic. The closest hedge sweeps through the frame, drawing the eye up and down and cradling the most interesting elements of the picture, the topiary balls and half-hidden house, within its curves. The path is visible at either side of the frame, but rather than looking like wasted space it reinforces the idea that what matters is over the hedge. Careful exposure has ensured the sequence of shots has stitched together flawlessly.

What sets this photo of a robin apart from the other shots of birds, insects and butterflies in this contest? Context. A garden is an artificial environment created by humans, and the fact that the robin is sitting on a spade handle makes it clear that the bird is in a garden. Had it been on a branch, it could have been taken in a countryside setting. Despite the gorgeous use of depth of field to ensure just three things in the shot are sharp (bird, spade handle, plant), you know exactly what this picture is about.

If the picture of the robin on a spade handle works because the robin gives the spade a context, this one works because the snail gives the plant a context. We received many gorgeous close-up shots of flowers and leaves of all sorts for this competition, but often there was little to tell you where the flower was - in a vase? Against a piece of paper? While the background here doesn't help, as there's no real indication of other plants apart from a general green tone, the snail hints that this is outdoors. On top of that, this is simply a beautiful art shot: the colours and bokeh, and the way the light falls across the leaves and snail shell, are all gorgeous.