Woodwind and Brass Musical Instruments

I have chosen your photo as number 1 because its beauty is in its simplicity. There are many other amazing images, but I find this one quite compulsive to keeping looking at. The deep black background ensures the focus is on the player and her instrument. The bell of the instrument has lovely reflections of the player's uniform (or other player perhaps) and the sheet music. The face and hat and instrument are tack sharp yet there is some slight blurring of the focus of the fingers on the valves that gives a feel of movement while playing. The negative space has been perfectly judged in the cropping process. What lovely sounds are emerging from the bell of the instrument? We can only imagine! Congratulations for producing my winning photo!

I find this photo immediately draws attention because of the bright red colour of the uniforms and the repetition of the marching musicians. We are drawn to the eyes of the musician at the front of the column and the tuba or euphonium is central. The bell has a lovely reflection of surrounding palm like trees and of people. The fingers of the front musician are poised over the valves of te instrument. Other brass instruments are visible in the background. The edge of the big drum on the far left provides a feel for the band as a whole. Player number 1 is sharply in focus and further away, the pleasant blur increases, providing a good sense of perspective on the marching column. A lovely composition.

This gorgeous photo of a saxophonist at sunsrise has been cleverly composed with the sun just above the bell of the instrument and the sun's reflection in the sea below. The player is not quite in sillouette, as we can see basic details of the face and clothing. Also, the clothing is coloured dark red. The shine of the reflected sun on the back of his right ear is beautifully crafted. The saxophone itself provides the main focus of the picture, with sufficient light upon it to show off its brilliant golden colour and details of the keywork. The sky and the sea are an amazing colour and the small boats in shade in the right background adds further ambience. Thank you for this amazing image!

There is something mesmerising about this photo that stems from the creative lighting across the player’s face combined with the swirling ‘smoke’, which, presumably, has been artificially created during editing, or caused by cigarette smoke in the air. Either way, it is very effective and creates a mood that is empathetic with the sound we imagine is emerging from the instrument. The source of light is very bright, and seems to emulate natural daylight coming from above. And the white light seems attractively natural. This is surprising as the impression from descriptors is that this is a night time event. The patterns on the player’s shirt add further interest. These features, combined with the lovely reflections in the bell of the trombone, provide a feeling of intimacy that draws the viewer into the atmosphere of the event. I also like the dark background that enables the viewer to concentrate one hundred percent on the player and his instrument. This is a great photo!

I find this photo striking because it shows the detail of the trumpet with its player alongside other players in the group. In the near background is another trumpet, out of focus with pleasant bokeh and at the same angle as the main subject. The embuchure of the player is generating a note and the hands are poised over the valves. It's great to see such detail in the instrument, together with reflection of a nearby player. When present at a live performance it is rarely possible to see such detail. Such is the wonder of photography - and it works really well in monochrome. Thank you for an excellent image!

I think it is the brilliant red and yellow colours of the performers' shirts that bring the joy of the occasion alive. The player is concentrating on producing the sound and she is in perfect focus whilst the background has a pleasant blur but we can still make out the shapes of the people, presumably audience. Like some of the other close-ups of musicians, I am fascinated by the role of the player's hands that are central in the picture and ready to move the trombone slide. The player's hat and her earring, also in gold, complementing the glory of the golden trombone, all add up to make this a cracking photo. Well done!

I think this is a great photo because the young woman is sharply in focus in the context of a slightly blurred poster. The colour of the player's blouse and pinafore dress go really well with her blond / golden hair and these complement her shiny saxophone. Her jewelry both on her righ hand and the earring also go really well too. Even the colour of the sunglasses match her clothes and the pale blue poster provdes a pleasing contrast. The colour skin tones are perfect to my eye and the player's poster is typical of a saxophonist (perhaps she's playing jazz?). A good turn out for the young player and congratulations to the photographer for presenting all these attributes in the photo!

I really like this photo because it captures the sense of moment of the woman playing the flute. You have been bold in centring the focus of he image on the footjoint of the flute, rather than the player's face. Yet, the depth of field still enables us to see the face. The exposure of the photo is correct, where is it in focus and the head and face appropriately darker. I love the symmetry of the hands and the 'cradling' of the flute.. Interestingly, the thumb of the right hand is portruding quite a long way underneath the flute which, presumably, the player finds most comfortable, although less conventional. I also like the way the whold of the background is black, so it enables us to focus totally upon the subject. Congratulations on producing such a good portrait showing the serenity of the flute being played in all its glory!

Wow, we can almost hear the wonderful sounds emerging from this saxaphone! The posture and demeanour of the player, combined with his interesting dress and headdress provide a sense of reality and emotion that trasports into the performance. The background is sufficiently blurred to allow us to focus on the pin sharp subject, both the shiny golden instrument and the player. The natural and low sunlight from late or early sun provides that golden light which complements the colours of the saxophone and the orange shade bottom right. A great shot!

I play the piccolo but when I first saw this photo I didn't recognise it as a piccolo. The keys seemed to big but not the right shapes to be a flute. It's a clever macro - type shot showing the key-work to great effect and especially with the music score reflected in the keys. I like the idea of the background with out of focus music score and the foreground very in focus. The music passage looks very 'piccolo like' too. Very nicely composed photo. Thank you!

This is a fascinating image of musicans with recorders that are often so under-rated as a musical instrument! I wondered whether you had inadvertently under exposed the photo or had deliberately chosen to do so. Either way, I love the way the software has enabled portrayal of a charactature of the players. The angles of the players' heads give a sense of communication between them and the audience. Almost cartoon like in in the way the faces come through to the viewer. The music stands seem to have character of their own and complement the players. I love the back of the heads in the front row of the audience just appearing at the bottom. Overall, the photo is so clear and dynamic with the white against black. I'm not sure about the bit of red at the bottom right (does it detract or add?). I would have placed this photo in my top ten if I had been bold enough to allow the software to take so much credit even though I fully support your atistry in using the software appropriately! Also, the instruments themselves, I feel are not quite so central to the image as I would have liked for this particular competition. Even so, congratulations - I love it!