Red, White and Blue

Congratulations for this very well observed image! When judging this contest I saw enough photos of the stars and stripes to last me a lifetime but this one stood out from the crowd due to the excellent composition. The tight framing, concentrating on the flag, was a very good decision in my opinion. There is only a small amount of the rigging and a tiny piece of the last in the frame but that is already enough to allow the viewer to form a clear picture of the surrounding environment. In this way the picture extends beyong the edges of the frame and is immersive for the viewer. I believe that many would have tried to capture a wider view in the same situation, leading to a less impactful result. Well done.

Congratulations for this photograph! I particularly appreciate this kind of image because it relies very heavily on the observational and compositional skills of the photographer rather than letting a spectacular subject do most of the work. The simple arrangement of two bands of colour makes for an image without distractions and the inclusion of the lonely worker, dwarfed by the size of the ship (and the size of his task) provides interest and a storytelling aspect. Thanks for entering my contest, and well done.

Congratulations for this excellent image. There were a lot of air display images in this contest, and many of them were of high quality, but this one ended up being my favourite. In the high precision routines performed by the red arrows they spend 99% of the time in a formation of perfect symmetry - by capturing a moment from the other 1% you have managed to create a much more dynamic and interesting image in my opinion. The image perfectly demonstrates the most critical kind of moment in such an activity, safely breaking out of a tight formation while still putting on a spectacular show is where all the skill and practice is most needed. Almost every pixel in the image is red, white or blue so it was a perfect fit for the topic. It is difficult to find any criticism for such a strong image but one thing which came to my mind as a possible improvement. The thin vapor trails coming from the wingtips of some of the planes are the least attractive part of the image and would be possible to remove in post-processing - doing so could make the image even stronger (albeit slightly less authentic) in my opinion. Well done for creating this exciting image!

Congratulations for this image, a great fit for my red white and blue challenge. Like a lot of my favourite abstract images, I knew that liked it despite the fact that I had no idea what it was. The irregular pattern reminded me of old fashioned farmers fields (as you might see in the English countryside), planted with different crops, when seen from the air. Reading the description I can see that it is the walkway to your house, you did a good job of spotting the potential in your everyday surroundings. Well done!