Landscapes with Wild Flowers

This is a very pleasing scene, captured in some late evening light after the sun has disappeared. The horizon has been placed centrally, but that works well here as there are equal amounts of interest in the land and the sky. The wild coastal flowers provide vital foreground interest, without which the shot would be pretty ordinary despite the lovely lighting. Great image, well done on your top ten placing.

An overall contest comment: There were quite a number of entries in this contest which showed fields of crops planted for cultivation, such as fields of rapeseed/ canola and sunflowers. These are not wild flowers as they have been planted for cultivation, so I have not included them in the judging.

On to the winning image: One of the things which lead me to place this beautiful image in top spot was your great capture of the light. You look to be shooting away from the setting sun, which has allowed the remaining light to fall onto the flowers to add some great tones and colour to the foreground, which both balances and contrasts with the colour in the sky. There is nothing dramatic in the scene, but everything blends and balances well, with the level of the distant mountain tops being matched on the left of the frame by the tree, which does not allow any part of the scene to over-dominate. Lovely landscape scene, congratulations on your winning image.

This is a great abstract landscape image, with the wonderfully contrasting colours of the bright green bush and the dense purple heather. The bush gives an obvious focal point, well positioned within the composition. You have managed to capture the scene with some beautiful lighting, which highlights the tops of the flowers and as a consequence of the resulting creation of shadow areas, gives a lovely texture to the image. Great work, well done on your top ten placing.

A lovely natural image, you have managed to capture the mist in a way which does not allow the scene to look gloomy or heavy. The scene has been classically composed with the field horizon and the church placed around the thirds. The white flowers filling the foreground provide interest and contribute to a beautiful landscape, with the added bonus of an attractive church in the mid-distance. Well captured image, hopefully making up for your disappointing sunrise earlier that morning! Well done on your top ten placing.

This image was a late entry to my top ten, but one I kept coming back to. I especially like the muted colours and the limited palette of grey and soft greens. I also like the depth which the image has, created by the presence of a clear bands of foreground, middle distance and background. The cotton grass flowers may not be the most colourful and showy, but their presence in the mid-ground is enough to lift the scene. Lovely natural image, well done on your top ten placing.

This image caught my attention from when I first saw it. The "rule books" would dissuade from placing the key subject centrally, but it is exactly that which attracted me to this image. I love the bright green of the spring leaves which you have captured , contrasting wonderfully with the bluebells. Being picky, I may have tried to correct the distortion to the trees on the left created by the extreme wide angle, but if any correction would have resulted in those trees being lost, it was maybe best to leave the distortion as it is. A beautiful scene, very well captured, leads me to dream of the spring! Congratulations on your second place finish.

Many landscapes containing fog and mist can create a sombre mood of gloom and heaviness. Here we have the opposite, and I really like the freshness and lightness that this image conveys. The diffused light has allowed the greens and purples to very softly contrast to contribute to the beauty of this moorland scene. A lovely image, well done on your top ten placing.

I like the naturalness of the landscape that you have captured in this image. The sky is not the most dramatic, but that does not matter as it means it is not allowed to dominate the shot. Instead we have a good balance to the composition between the ground and the sky, with everything well focused and nicely exposed.. The hills in the distance give a focal point to draw the eye into the scene. I had initially thought I would like to be there to savour the scene for myself, but having read your description of the boggy marsh underfoot, I think I will just enjoy your capture instead! Well done on your top ten placing.