Big skies

So much about this image is bang-on. The photographer has gone hunting for images at the right time of the day, there's plenty of foreground interest in the bathers along the shore, and the exposure and focus are both more or less what I'd have gone for if I was shooting the same scene. The Batman-circa-1962 dutch angle is a bit of a strange choice, though: I'm all for making up your own rules in landscape photography but this composition is a little too niche for me...

An unusual and brave shot to enter in what is essentially a landscape photography competition. This really stood out among more "classical" landscape images, and the composition, subject and processing are outstanding. The half-and-half horizon, off-centre model, motion-blurred clouds and water create a shot that if I were in the mood for clichés I'd describe as "ethereal". As it is it treads a line between "ghostly" and "creepy" and is one of the most unusual and striking images in this competition.

This is smashing. Proper astronomical photography is very, very hard, but the accomplishment here - to capture the fiery glow of a volcano with the solar system above it - is the meeting of a good idea with cracking execution. The composition works well and the foreground is impressively sharp, which is a challenge when working at night with long exposures, big apertures (2.8 in this case) and high ISOs. This is a nice example of the capabilities of modern cameras as well: show this to a time-travelling photographer from ten years ago and they'd never believe such a clean shot was taken at ISO 3200.

Photographing the northern lights is tough. My experience and that of some of my workshop clients is that it's possible to travel a very long way and come back with nothing like this; there are also the technical challenges of working with very long exposures, high ISOs and big apertures. This photographer has captured a cracking display, and what foreground there is is beautifully sharp - it's often the case that northern lights are about the foreground as much as the background. It would be interesting to see this shot with more foreground, though - you can see the snow in the bottom-left corner picking up a bit of reflection and it would be great to see more of it.

Landscape photography contests tend to bring out some fairly ambitious Photoshop efforts, with eyeball-busting HDR attempts and nuclear-tinged sunsets often the order of the day. This melancholic, blue-tinged effort stands out for its composition and simple processing. The sky leaks a very slight amount of light, and the clouds bending over the hills in the background add interest. The roads and town in the middle distance are nice extra details and the very dark foreground is foreboding - in a good way, if that's possible.

Good black and white photography is very, very hard: it's so easy to produce overwrought, high-key images. The fairly low-contrast background here is offset by the textured, high-contrast Thames Barrier in the foreground, which looks here like something from the era of 'War of the Worlds'. The composition, which doesn't include any foreground or background apart from the subject, is simple but effective, and this is a rare example of a shot that works, for me at least, better in black and white than in colour. Nice.

I really like the Shard in London, and some of the shots I've seen coming from the observation deck are truly cracking. This example, shot into the sun at the end of the day, contains plenty of colour and plenty of interest. I can - nearly - pick out the first flat I ever lived in in this shot. I'd be very interested to see the other images from this shoot. I'd also be interested to see this shot with a smack of noise reduction applied, as there's a fair amount of grain going on. A slightly lower ISO might have helped, but no matter: this is a smashing, evocative shot. Kudos to the photographer for smuggling a tripod up there as well.

This shot is a technical triumph. Perfectly sharp, nicely exposed, and processed just enough to make it sing, but not enough to over-saturate the colours or leave messy edge halos all over the place. The combination of shutter speed and aperture choice has produced nice starry light sources and the sky, city lights and reflections on the water have brought out the best in Frankfurt. Builders on the church at the left of the frame have rather inconsiderately left a load of messy scaffolding around, but it seems a trifle unreasonable to blame the photographer for that. A great, accomplished image.

I headed to the caption for this image expecting to see an expensive trip to Scandinavia mentioned, but this is actually a shot taken in the UK. Amazing, and it underlines something keen (nerdy) snappers have known for a while: the next few years are going to be incredible for northern lights hunters. Still, a spectacular display doesn't guarantee a spectacular shot, and the photographer has done an awesome job here. The silhouetted trees are a great, well-executed idea, and they're perfectly sharp as well. The natural framing on the left-hand side is nice too. A brilliant idea, nicely done, and all from the snapper's back garden. Nice.

I like this rather a lot. The shadows from the clouds are interesting on the ground and the small details in the middle distance give the audience plenty to explore. There's plenty to like from a technical perspective; zoomed-in the image is marvellously sharp, which is important with a scene like this. According to the photographer, the skies have had a dose of editing, but the result seems to be lovely punchy blues and slightly lacklustre foreground greens – another round of editing might even things out a bit.

This is a cracking image. The composition is nice and the light on the grass in the foreground has been made the most of. The sky is a belter with loads of interest and the seagull flying across the frame adds a bit of energy. Unlike with a lot of images in this group, the photographer has managed to resist over-processing this one and the result is a warm, sunny scene. A single criticism is the faux-film frames on the edge, but they're a minor detail.

I love photographing in Wales. The wildlife is amazing, the landscapes broad and fascinating, and the roads are jolly nice as well. This shot combines two of the three, with an interesting sky and sympathetic processing. I'd be interested to see what the same shot would look like once the clouds cleared a bit, in the name of getting slightly better light on the two hills that converge in the middle of the frame, which could be why landscape photographers never make it home in time for tea.

The bean in Grant Park in Chicago is one of my all-time favourite pieces of public sculpture. It's a three-story, stainless steel curve which is very reflective and very interactive: you can see it from all angles and walk underneath it. Because it's so reflective it's great on days with interesting skies, and the wispy clouds here are a great example. It's a great subject for abstract shots too - here, if the photographer had framed out the rather cluttered pedestrians at the bottom of the shot and gone for just the reflection against the sky the result might have been even better.