Landscapes #491

This creative portrait/landscape composite really works, and has grown on me more each time I've looked at it again. I think it's success lies in the way that the foliage and clouds forms a face of sorts within the silhouette. The low contrast rendering of the forest scene gives more emphasis to the silhouette, which benefits the shot.

My winning image in this New Joiners 'Landscape' contest, and whilst I'm undoubtedly drawn to this shot partly because I grew up near here, this shot earns it's winner's spot through a combination of technical skill, a well ordered composition that makes very good use of the fence, and of course the beautiful morning light, which is just reward for this photographer's early start to his day. Being willing to get out of bed whilst it's still dark is pretty much an essential character trait of successful landscape photographers!

A beautiful landscape, and the high contrast approach suits the shaded/sunlit sand dunes perfectly. That also sits well with the heavily gradiented darkening of the sky. This image could have been higher up my Top 10, but I find the framing of the image to be a real distraction, and combined with the coloured toning I find that this image has something of a dated feel. I'd like to see a version of the image without both, which may give what is a very solid shot a better chance to shine.

This is a nice idea, a lot of work has gone into realising that idea, and first impressions are very good with this image. The composition is innovative and I like the placing of the model near the top of the image, but there are a couple of things that I think could be worked on. The model looks quite heavily retouched, and I'm not sure that sits perfectly with the more natural rendering of the other elements, and the join of the beach with the wood has not been handled perfectly and could do with some more work.

There's a simplicity to this landscape shot that really appeals to me, and I'm also a huge fan of the square crop, which is extremely well suited to the scene. The layers of the landscape and sky look great, and the placing of the horizon gives just the right balance between the two.

A very 'straight' landscape shot, but what a cracker. Beautifully composed, gorgeous day, nice and sharp from fore to aft, foreground detail, naturalistic processing of the image, and a stunning and remote part of the world. Nothing to fault here.