Made from Metal

A great images in which mundane meets abstract to create a rather beautiful image of a rather ugly subject! The very slow shutter speed has rendered the background a lovely rich, soft blue, and these cool tones are retained in the foreground too. Lovely detail and textures visible in both the metal and stonework add interest to an otherwise minimalist shot. A good photographic eye has understood the potential here for such a great shot, and then very well executed. Great work, well done.

Through your use of an extreme wide angle lens, you have been able to cram an extraordinary amount of detail into this image, all to excellent effect with no obvious distortion in perspective. Great subject choice for this contest to, with metal glinting and catching the light throughout the frame. Technically spot on with sharp focus, and great composition, framing and contrasting tones. Love the limited colour palette of the rich bronzes and browns too. Well done.

This rather stylised image caught my eye as soon as I saw it, and it was always in my top three. Expertly photographed and processed, to produce a clean, abstract representation of the scene which stood before you. I love the lighting, which draws attention to the gentle curves, and the whole image has somehow combined a brutal, harsh, metallic object into a beautifully serene image. Colours are superb, which reinforce the metallic composition of the sculpture. Love it, great work, well done on your top three placing.

This was a late addition to my top ten, and it is a great image. It is a fine advert shot for a splendid British museum with its grand architecture, and in your image you have managed to capture such a vast amount of detail and information. This is a very realistic feeling HDR image, which has used the process to best effect by squeezing as much detail out of the scene as possible, rather than producing an over processed, blocky and garish image which some people seem to prefer. (I obviously prefer the more realistic look!). Love the colours you have captured too, with nicely contrasting warm and cooler hues. Well done on a super image.

This image has the real "wow" factor for me, and it gradually crept up the placings during my judging to reach the top spot. What I find especially commendable is your ability to have seen such great potential in what most passers by would consider an extremely ordinary scene of rail tracks, road markings and a fence. These have been brought to life by the superbly crisp, high contrast black and white conversion, plus the excellent composition and viewpoint, with the tracks vanishing into the far distance. I imagine there was a fair amount of post-processing to achieve this image, but that does not matter, as it shows your skill and photographic eye to realise the potential in the strong graphic lines and shapes. A well deserving winning image, congratulations.

This is a super example of how a mundane subject can be shown in a way which is full of interest and appealing to the eye. I could see an image like this printed large as a poster, and when on the wall there would always be something new for the eye to discover. What I really like is the subtle differences in the colours across the numerous metal parts, and you avoided any temptation to oversaturate the colours, which would have produced some garish results. Spot on subject choice for this contest too - metal filling the frame, to superb effect. Great work, well done.

This highly creative image stood out as being different, in a very pleasing way. The layering gives a very old feel to this image, and it looks as if it could have been photographed many decades ago. I am not familiar with the work of Idris Khan, so looked him up, and fully appreciate how you have been influenced by his artistic style to produce your great photographic image of a gigantic gas holder. As well as congratulating you on a great piece of work, can I also thank you for adding a little detail into your image description. It makes the job of judging contests far more interesting, informative and a learning experience for me if entrants bother to add a little location information, etc, instead of an easy, but uninspiring "untitled" with no details attached. Thank you, and well done.

Images in which the photographer has opted for a non-standard viewpoint, in this case from ground level, will often stand out as they are sufficiently different to draw the attention. This is a very cleverly composed image, with the tram tracks pulling the eye right into the shot. For me the other elements vital to the success of this image are the presence of the lamp post, and the inclusuon of the two figures, casually strolling by, emphasised by their dark forms against the light wall. Great black and white conversion with strong contrasts and a good range of tones. Super image, well done.