New Joiners - Landscapes #726

An impressive cityscape, and the heavy, dramatic cloud provides a wonderful frame for the scene. The wet sand and reflections add interest and depth, and the twinkling city lights adds to the twilight mood. That band of light on the horizon really helps to highlight and shape the skyline.

Shots like this help illustrate just how far smartphone's have progressed. Previous generations of camera phones would struggle badly in low light conditions like this, but this is a beautifully clean, vibrant and sharp image. I love the cool blue twilight tones, the symmetry, and space. A well captured and atmospheric landscape.

What incredible scenery. This is a superb viewpoint and a well-composed shot, with the foreground rocks providing an entry point to the rugged peaks beyond. I might be tempted to do a quick edit to this iPhone shot, increasing contrast slightly to produce a more punchy result.

Mist has the ability to add mystery and mood to landscape photos - when the conditions are calm, cool, and still, it is always worth setting your alarm early and heading out with your camera. The mirror-like reflections produce a great sense of symmetry, and the letterbox aspect ratio suits this scene perfectly.

What a fabulous and colourful sky, with the calm, reflective water doubling its influence on the scene. The silhouetted dead trees add interest to the foreground, but the trunk touching the right hand edge of the frame is distracting to my eye and needs a little more breathing space.

I love the light-play in this landscape, with light and shade adding contrast and depth to this scene. For me, the foreground trees are a little too dark, though - I would increase shadow detail in this area to make the trees less dark and inky.

Another thoughtfully composed shot, with the photographer using the little puddle (and crevices in the foreground rock) to add interest and depth to the frame. The light is soft, warm and attractive. The rock closest to the camera is slightly out of focus, though - a greater depth of field (or focus stacking) would have helped render the landscape sharply from front-to-back.

This is a lovely wintry scene with frost clinging to the fields, trees, and hedgerows. The light is soft and atmospheric and the gateway provides an entry point. I just think that - with a bit more time and thought - the photographer could have found a slightly better viewpoint. As it is, the roadsigns are hugely distracting and undermine the scene's natural beauty.

I'm always drawn to clean, concise, compositions - and so the simplicity of this shot appeals to me. The reflections are tranquil, and the setting sun adds interest and a focal point. The colours are a little over saturated for my taste, though, and I would clone out the car on the far right, as it is a little distracting.

What a dramatic viewpoint - well done to the photographer for getting up early to capture the best light and drama. This image of the Quiraing in Skye is nicely framed, but oversaturated in my opinion. The colours are a bit electric and you can also see signs of posterization across the sky. Personally, I would have excluded the sun from the composition to avoid the sky burning out.

This is one of those shots that doesn't necessarily have a great deal of instant impact, but the more you look at it, the more you appreciate the scene. The conditions are atmospheric with the light, misty background helping draw the viewer's eye through the shot. The branches and foliage frame the little footpath beautifully.

This is an interesting scene, with the lush, green foreground giving way to the stark desert beyond. But the foreground isn't sharp enough unfortunately, with the combination of longer focal length and large aperture not providing sufficient depth of field. The scene could also do with a key point of interest to anchor the composition.

This is a nicely composed shot with the flowering heather providing foreground interest and inviting the eye into the frame to explore the dramatic, Scottish coastline. Looking toward the distant horizon, I'm not sure it is quite level, so I would check this. But the thing that ultimately lets this image down is the flat light. Although the photographer has done everything within their control well, the dull conditions just take the edge off the shot - the joys of shooting in Scottish weather!

What a lovely, wintry scene and the low viewpoint really helps place emphasis on the mirror-like reflections. I'm wondering if the photographer used a polariser in this instance, as the blue sky is saturated and punchy. The foreground rock is well positioned and provides an anchor for the composition, but it is not sharp unfortunately. A larger depth of field would have corrected this.