Low Light

This month’s winner was chosen because of its incredibly creative take on the low-light theme, and the planning required to capture such an uncommon weather event. The light trails lead the eye along the curvature of the road and into the cloud inversion, where they create a subtle curve in the haze. This image wouldn’t look out of place on an album cover. A fantastic effort.

This period portrait was captured in Rome’s historical Soratte Bunker. We love how the dirty windscreen has been used to create a frame within a frame. The reds lights add mood, while the subject – wistfully gazing out of the frame –creates tension.

This rather daring environmental portrait works because of the extremely compelling subject and perfectly frozen and exposed flames. The wide angle used has allowed for plenty of context, too. A fantastic low light image. Don’t try this at home folks!

This mesmerising abstract was created using a light wand and a slow 30-second shutter speed to ‘light paint’ flowing ribbons of light. The effect looks a lot like a musical stave. We like how the light flows in and around the tree trunk silhouettes, creating a sense of depth.

It’s certainly not easy light painting an orb, especially one as perfectly spherical as this example. To then position the orb directly in the centre of a bandstand is a very impressive feat indeed. A great creative low light image.

Fans of the hit BBC series will enjoy this cinematic group portrait inspired by Tommy Shelby and co, complete with moody backlighting and factory smoke. The models aren't just dressed convincingly, their poses also look natural and not forced. A great image!

This compelling low light still life image was lit using a very effective light painting technique. A torch was used to brush over the subject and carefully pick out details during a long 30 second exposure. A great, moody still life.

Exposing a single image for the spinning wire wool, the illuminated castle and a starry night sky is a serious achievement. We really like this technical and creative effort, it’s certainly deserved of a place on our low light shortlist.

This image of New York was taken from Old Pier 1, which is a popular photography hotspot for capturing the Manhattan skyline. It’s easy to see why. The derelict stilts offer fantastic foreground interest, surrounded by colourful reflections from the city lights.

The Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten is known for being one of the best places to photograph the Northern Lights, thanks to its high frequency of auroras and stunning landscapes, which make great foreground interest. This image has captured a sky-spreading aurora, amplified by its reflection in the lake, with additional interest provided by stunning mountains.

We love this creative method of conveying motion in a still image. Six shots were combined in Photoshop to create an offset effect surrounding the tack sharp tram. The city lights and reflections help to emphasise the effect. A great image!

This much photographed view of Big Ben and Westminster Bridge has been elevated slightly by shooting it at night, thanks to the city lights, helping to draw the eye even faster towards London’s famous clock tower in the distance. A great image!

Capturing a Milky Way core as crisply and defined as this is extremely difficult and pinpoint planning would have been required to capture it over such a compelling landmark. A star tracker was used to accommodate the long 116-second exposure, without blurring the stars. This is actually a panorama, with the sky combining 12 portrait-orientation images and seven landscape-orientation images used to create the foreground.

The tight crop of this image of Matera, Italy, is crucial. It creates a tessellation like effect, as if the city scene continues indefinitely. The lights have also been perfectly exposed, with some causing attractive sun burst effects. A great image!