Homemade

There have been quite a few entries in this competition which have shown close ups of hands in the process of making things. I think this one has been the most successful and is a stunning image.

I like the way that the composition is almost perfectly symmetrical but with the hands just slightly offset. The riotous combination of strong colours work so well together and the lighting, although soft, enhances the detail in the hands and the fabrics beautifully.

Very good work.

A simple yet eye catching photograph that has the appearance of having just been snapped casually on a phone and then had an effects filter applied. I like the intense, slightly unreal colours which when combined with the very shallow depth of field really make the butterfly so bold in the image. It's difficult to see what's happening in the background but there's certainly enough to set the scene as some sort of studio or workshop. A very nice shot.

As soon as I cast eyes on this image of two cheeky children playing on the kitchen work surface/in the snow I knew it was a very strong contender. I can see that a lot of thought, planning and skill has gone into the production and I think that the end result is terrific. The angle that the two children have been photographed from looks exactly the same as the angle of the background and the composite with shadows looks very natural. I particularly like the finishing touch of the out-of-focus snowflakes which completes the Winter scene. A lovely photograph for the children to have when they're grown up.

Initially I was in two minds about this shot, thinking that there wasn't enough detail in the shadow areas. I kept coming back to it though and actually I quite like the fact that there are just hints of what's going on in the rest of this very old fashioned kitchen with glimpses of jars and bottles appearing out of the gloom.

The lighting reminds me of at a painting by a Dutch master and I feel that each time I look at this image I see something extra that I haven't noticed before. A very good effort.

A beautiful subtle composition and a worthy winner of this competition. It just goes to show how effective a simple idea can be when executed with such skill. I particularly like the muted tones and limited colour palette.

The simple bold curves and very shallow depth of field further enhance this dramatic image which would look great as a large print hanging on the wall of a modern room and you could ring the changes by hanging it upside down occasionally – it works just as well any way up!

Very well visualised and executed.

This is a beautifully lit shot of hands and I was tempted to place it in the top 10 images. The thing that just lowered its rating in my opinion was that I wasn't sure what was happening here. I thought initially, as it's called "The Jeweller" that he might be taking a precious stone out of the box with his tweezers. Then I thought that maybe the box is what he's making and he's adding decoration. If we could only get a bit more of an idea of what the homemade thing was it would have fit the brief better. I do also like the way that the texture and colour of the wooden table is similar to the hands.

Many of the photographs in this competition didn't work because the entrants seemed to think that the subject matter was more important than the way it was photographed. Remember that this has been a photographic competition and the hand made item could have been very simple as long as it was photographed well. This is a classic example of a beautiful item beautifully composed and lit. The lighting picks out all the detail and colours in the mask really well and the vignetting further enhances the drama of the shot - excellent work.

The thing that immediately caught my eye and appealed to me about this shot was the way that the out-of-focus illuminated sign in the background mimicked the pearly buttons on the subject's coat and picked up on the yellow of the daffodil in his cap. Not sure if it was intentional but it certainly adds to the photo.

The focus on the face may not be pin sharp but shooting at f1.8 really separates him from the background and produces a lovely bokeh effect.

You've done a good job here. Often people forget that an unusual angle can really enhance a photograph and add lots of drama. It would have been a completely different shot taken from eye level and with all the distractions of the background at the festival.

What doesn't work so well is the lighting. In exposing for the front of the man much of the sky and the right side of the clothing is over exposed. This is a classic case of needing some fill in flash which then would have balanced foreground and background .

I seem to have chosen quite a few shallow focus shots in my reviews for this competition. Well here's another one that works very well. I do like the composition in this shot with the jar off to one side with lots of background above and to the right. I don't really know what's going on in the background but the shapes counterbalance the strong form of the jar and the colours all work beautifully together. The final element which adds to the shot is the unusually strong shaped leaf at the front.

I liked this shot of the Indian lady sitting on the pavement with her bowl of grains. It's always a surprise how colourful things look even in what is obviously a poor area.

The one major thing that I think would have improved this photograph is to have cropped it a bit tighter. Cropping the right hand side up to the edge of the door frame and then taking a little bit off the base helps a lot. The lady then becomes much more prominent in the image. I know it's subjective but it's always worth trying a few different crops before a decision is made and don't be afraid of cropping boldly!