Minimalist landscapes

Alan’s winning shots is this beautiful sunset at the Manhattan Beach Pier in Los Angeles. Keeping the composition minimal has paid dividends, letting the gentle pastoral colours speak for themselves. The pier also does a brilliant job of acting as a lead-in line to draw the viewer’s eye into the middle of the shot. We also love his use of a 10-stop Neutral Density filter which enabled a shutter speed of two minutes, which does a wonderful job of blending those sunset tones together and gives Alan’s shot a painterly quality.

Sumithraj has pulled off a brilliantly simple concept which is equally effective and minimal. His shutter speed is just right for creating a little motion in the wind turbine’s blades and he’s manage to catch them at a point where they’re not clashing with the tower part which makes for a very pleasing visual. It’s a beautifully sunny shot and the colours really sing loudly, though we’d be tempted to clone out the clouds on the left which look a little scrappy and would help it look less cluttered and more minimal.

The jetty in David’s shot adds a fantastic sense of symmetry to his landscape. His two second exposure has done a great job at smoothing out the water, though we’d have liked to have seen a little more motion in the clouds. If we were being picky then the post in the middle of the pier is a little obstructive and awkward so we’d be tempted to clone it out - minor niggles aside it’s a lovely sunny and minimal landscape shot.

Cynthia’s caught a stellar landscape here packed full of fantastic autumnal colours at Piburger See lake in Austria. Her framing works brilliantly well, using the glassy sheen of the lake to create a mirror image and give us twice as much of this fantastic vibrant scene. A slightly wider composition would provide some room in the sky around the mountains in the top (and bottom) part of the frame to help it breathe, but this is a minor point on an otherwise breathtaking landscape. Great job!

Candia’s captured an impressive shot here of the mountain ridges gently receding and getting lighter in colour as they go off into the distance. I suspect this was taken in the blue hour to capture these wonderful cooler blues, purples and pinks and this vibrancy works remarkably well. There’s no clear focal point, however this shot doesn’t really need one: the interesting shapes along the mountain ridges and intense colours are certainly eye-catching enough alone.

Jay’s decision to zoom in tightly on this section of a jetty and have it zig-zag horizontally through the frame has made for a really interesting composition. He tells us, “It was a grey image taken on a grey day in Windermere, Lake District” and so it makes total sense to convert this shot to black and white. We also like the use of a Neutral Density filter which allowed him to shoot a long exposure to blur the surrounding water which makes for a really simple and clean backdrop.

Groynes are a brilliant way of leading the eye into a seascape as they’re essentially ready-to-go lead-in lines. Kathy’s chosen an interesting one for her shot which zigs and zags through the frame guiding the viewer’s eye towards the horizon. The black and white conversion gives her shot a classic, timeless quality and the use of a four minute exposure has done a great job of blurring the water and also creating some dynamic streaky clouds in the sky in the top third of the shot.

A lone tree in a field is a classic for minimalist landscapes, but Richard’s shot of this tree in Hathersage, Derbyshire caught our eye in particular. The composition places the focal point about a third of the way in from the top and left edges of the frame, giving it plenty of room to breathe, and his tweaks to the colours in editing has given it a warming quality that draws you in, though we’d hem it back on this effect in the sky as it’s a touch overpowering.

Guy’s image of the three fishermen in a boat is a fantastic example of how negative space can be used in landscapes to add a sense of scale and atmosphere. It looks like a moody and misty day, so the silhouette of the men in the boat and faint outline of their cast rods works brilliantly well, helping them stand out as the clear focal point in this incredibly minimal and bleak composition. Great effort!

Awesome idea! Love the intentional camera movement in this image, it's fast enough that we can still work out what's happening but slow enough to give the shot an abstract quality and blur some of the shapes and sunrise colours together in this beach scene. Eye-catching indeed!

Inge has captured a wonderful forest landscape here. It looks to me like some sort of double exposure or editing manipulation which has given the shot an attractive painterly quality. It's a dark, moody and magical scene - great work!

John's captured an impressive wildlife shot but sadly it's not a minimalist landscape so unfortunately doesn't fit the brief on this occasion. Lovely composition, colours and subject matter otherwise. Keep up the great work and look forward to seeing more from you in future competitions.

Dibakar certainly has an eye for a great image. We love how he's used a long focal length to zoom in, compress the perspective and create the tight framing around his silhouetted figure which is a great focal point. There's some really interesting shapes and lead-in lines throughout the scene too as well as a whole range of golden colours from the low sun setting in the distance. This type of shot is easy to overexpose so props to Dibakar for retaining his highlights and coming away with this top shot. Great work!

Lovely sunset in the sky here and the reflection in the lake works really. The silhouettes of the trees works well, though still seems to be lacking a definitive focal point such as bird on one of the branches. The photographer has done an expert job at perfecting the exposure as the tones are all in tact and it's all too easy to overexpose this type of image and lose detail.