Winter wonderland

This is a stunning macro shot, whatever the weather. It is, however, especially successful in the context of the Winter Wonderland-themed competition. The image is well composed, framing the half-descended bubble in a square crop to reinforce the notion of a full circle suggested by the vignette. The cool hues capture the winter chill perfectly, and the subtle toning and contrast adjustments make the details pop – especially the pin-sharpness of the icicles engulfing the bubble. An exquisite shot, expertly captured.

This image has all the right ingredients for a great shot: it’s well composed, the exposure is balanced, the lighting sculpts the scene and landscape, and there is narrative interest in the window lights. It would definitely benefit from some simple post processing to lift the brightness the image, as well as some more advanced retouching to peak or dodge some of the highlights and deepen or burn some of the shadows. We would really love to see this image again after a little processing!

When an image is “commended” in a competition, it is usually a mark of a photograph that is good and deserves recognition despite not quite making it to the podium. In this instance, however, we feel that the photographer should be commended in the most literal sense for the effort and execution required to take this image under very trying circumstances.

Considering the challenges faced by the photographer – shooting not with a dedicated macro lens, but with a “nifty fifty” on a reversing ring and three extension tubes; shooting with an on-camera flash, in lieu of a ring light or external flash; shooting freehand on a Canon EOS 800D, without the aid of a tripod or any stabilisation, and not being able to focus stack – to achieve a macro shot with this level of sharpness and success is as deserving a commendation as any photo we’ve seen!

The more you examine this photograph, the more you realise what a great shot it is. Firstly, the age old problem of exposing a pitch-black subject against brilliant whiteness – to maintain the tones with a static scene is one thing, but to do so while also trying to capture an erratically moving subject is something else altogether. Likewise, just trying to focus on a darting horse is hard enough, let alone with falling snow trying to trick the camera into focusing elsewhere. And then, to top it off, to get that magic moment where the horse is so beautifully posed – this image represents a triumph of both timing and technique.

This is one of our favourite entries! It’s a narratively interesting photograph that’s full of personality in its own right. On a technical level it combines the “groups of three” rule with perfect composition of the three subjects in height order, creating pleasing order to the frame and again reinforcing the human (and canine!) interest of the image. A wonderfully captured moment.