Opulent Interiors

Another beautiful image with great light, rich colours and a keen eye for composition. For all it's opulence and luxury this room has a really cosy feel and I can quite imagine curling up in yonder bed with a hot water bottle for a good nights sleep.

As with my first placed image I wish that the fire in the grate was lit and that the view was slightly wider to include more of the room to the left. Once again though such niggles in no way detract from a superb photograph so congratulations on second place.

This is the only one of my top ten images to show a public space rather than a room in a private property. What the space lacks in ancestral paintings and lavish soft furnishings it more than makes up for in the scale and grandeur of it's architecture. Maybe not sumptuous and maybe not luxurious but it certainly speaks of ostentation, wealth and fine living.

The photographer has chosen a viewpoint which captures the full magnificence of the architecture and which provides a most pleasing near perfect symmetry and all in all this is a beautiful image and well deserving of a top ten placing.

From a technical viewpoint this photograph is not perfect. Maybe a touch noisy, maybe a little wonky, a touch of flare here and there and an irritating half figure on the far right. Understandable though in environments such as these where there is usually low light and a stream of visitors causing the photographer to push up the ISO and take rushed hand held shots.

My, what a beautiful interior though and the photographer has chosen a viewpoint which really does capture the opulence of the room. I'd be tempted to increase the contrast a little and bump up the colour saturation to make the image really pop but either way this is a lovely image of a lovely room so well done on your top ten placing.

I asked you to show me opulent interiors which were extravagant, luxurious and spoke of wealth and fine living. Well this, my winning entry delivers on every count and is presented in a photograph of enormous quality.

Put to one side your iPhones and iPads and view this image on a monitor of sufficient size and quality to do it justice and like me you will be astounded. The choice of panoramic format is perfect for a room of this magnitude and the quality of light, saturation of colours and sharpness of detail is top notch.

I could maybe wish that there was a fire in the grate and that the middle door was open to reveal a hint of the room beyond but this nit-picking in no way detracts from a truly worthy winning entry.

Congratulations on first place.

What an amazing room and not at all what I had in mind when asking for pictures of opulent interiors. Where are the old ancestral paintings, the rich and lavish soft furnishings, dining tables the size of football pitches and the classical architecture?

What we do have though is a room with great impact which speaks clearly of wealth and fine living although set in an alternate and much more contemporary opulence than all other entries in this competition.

This image grows on me every time that I look at it and has a well deserved top ten placing.

I love these old rooms crammed with paintings, there's just so much to look at and to hold the eye. I also like the open doors which tease of other equally sumptuous rooms beyond.

The HDR processing is quite heavy and may not be to everyone's taste but I really do think that it works in the context of this room accentuating as it does the richness of the colours.

Yes, I really do like this image and congratulations on your top ten placing.

For a room of this size and magnificence there is a striking lack of richness and opulence to the decor and furnishings. There’s a subtlety to this room, delicate not gaudy that speaks of grandeur past rather than grandeur present.

The chosen point of view highlights the near symmetry of the room and I love the cabinets of curiosities and dead stuffed things on each side. The HDR processing has been handled with subtlety complementing the room rather than detracting from it and the open doors are a nice touch in leading the eye through the image and hinting at further rooms beyond.

I assume that a snooker table lies beneath the pink cover and I’m just imaging this image with that cover removed, the table on display and the coloured balls all set for a frame. Now that would be a joy to behold.