Monthly Competition #24 - A Black and White Landscape Competition

Firstly, thank you for entering – its fascinating viewing peoples work. There’s been some great stuff submitted making a decision difficult. Secondly, I am not a politician so if I offend anyone let me apologise in advance. There is no doubt you will be able to get your own back. Mastering Black and White photography isn’t easy but when it comes off it can make a big impact and that is what I am looking for.

Countryside Canal – GlynM
A nice composition - my eyes are led up the locks. Good contrast of textures between bricks and vegetation. My only minor criticism is the loss of detail in the shadows. But a very nice shot.

Tattershall – John Riley
Technically a very good photo – loads of texture and detail. It has a model village look. I have to admit it isn’t to my taste – but it doesn’t stop it being an excellent shot.

Over the sea to Skye – andymat
A classic theme – with some big stones in the foreground, which leads your eyes into the rest of the photo. The dramatic sky makes this a good shot - I just wondered why you went portrait though. A bit more contrast would make the shot even better. Try ‘equalise’ in the adjustments of PS. It can be a bit much sometimes – you may have to take the contrast down a bit after.

Tropical rain cloud – daronl
Even from the thumbnail this shot has a massive impact. What a sky – what a contrast? It is a pity you haven’t included any data. I would be interested to know how you achieved this effect. There is just enough sea and foreground to give this sky some context - a great shot.

Muncaster Castle – Ellida
A very nicely composed shot which has plenty of detail in the vegetation. Too much of the castle is in the shadows which spoils it a little though. Perhaps you could have used a grad filter to darken the sky and then you could have lifted the shadows a bit.

Down the track – Darlene
I like your idea of the track. I’m led into the picture but then I feel there is something missing. The picture is in need of a focal point to grab the attention. But then that’s only my opinion.

After the storm – DanielH
This is excellent. The lines in the corn lead my eyes up to the mountains. Those billowing clouds look menacing. This picture has impact – a great shot.

Knaresborough viaduct – fritzthedog
The quality and clarity in this shot is outstanding. The detail is pin sharp. The tones and textures are superb. This shot wouldn’t look out of date in a calendar or hung on a wall. If I were to make one small criticism I would say they there was too much detail – but it is really very good.

London from Epsom downs – gartmore
Ken I have looked at some of your B&W work and it is excellent - Beeches for example. This for me isn’t great. The sky isn’t interesting enough to occupy so much space in your photo. I would have cropped out the dark area in the extreme corners.

Westwood ho – gabby
This is an interesting study of a seaside town but not one that will have holidaymakers licking their lips. Personally I would have avoided the light in the foreground. I’ve looked in your gallery at some of your work and Exmoor is a stunning piece of work and this one isn’t - I’m afraid it’s not for me.

Old meets new - ken2390
These pieces of architecture are big and bold – definitely not pretty. The photo perhaps lacks a bit of detail and texture. If you don’t have Photoshop it makes manipulation of settings difficult. Also without a reference it makes it difficult to understand the scale of these structures. Perhaps if you got in closer with a wide angle lens might help. Perhaps some Cokin filters would help darken the sky and give you more foreground detail

View over Wastwater – Hullman
Wow! This ticks all of the boxes for me. It captures the mood of the place, and takes you there. The foreground interest, the reflection of the clouds in the water, and the detail in the mountains is excellent - a stunning piece of work.

The Peaks of Snowdon – Davidtrout
This is nice panoramic shot of Snowdon. It has enough detail to satisfy the interest. I feel that the sky and the sea are burnt out a bit which stops this good shot being a winner. I love your website by the way – especially the steam engines.

Beach scene – Billyspad
I have to admit I am not a fan of HDR on the whole. This is a good shot and nicely processed. It has nice tones and textures. Unfortunately this type of work is wasted on me.

Rocky Outcrops – Noelcmn
It’s a nice shot. My criticism is that it lacks impact. There isn’t enough contrast between the sky and vegetation - that’s where the filters are used in PS. Create a black and white layer in Photoshop and then move the sliders until you get the effects you want. Again a ND filter would have darkened the sky a bit to give you a good starting point.

Old buildings suddenly appear in the landscape – drofmit
I must say Tim I am very envious of your location. Technically your picture is good with lots of texture and contrast. It is also pin sharp but not very interesting subject matter.

Decision Time
I picked out in my opinion, six exceptionally good shots. To sort them out in order was difficult but here goes:

Winner: View over Wastwater – Hullman
Joint Second: After the storm – DanielH and Knaresborough viaduct – fritzthedog
HC: Tropical rain cloud – daronl, The Peaks of Snowdon – Davidtrout, and
Countryside Canal – GlynM

Over to you Andy!

Thanks for the competition Paul, it attracted some fine landscapes.
Congratulations to Andy for his excellent winning shot and to the other podium placings and my fellow HCs.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Wow, thank you so much Paul

I'm chuffed to bits that you chose my image as the winner, especially when it was set against such quality competition. Congratulations to Daniel, Carl, David, Daron and Glyn for the HCs and Second placings, you guys have some great shots.

It's the first time I've won one of these competitions and if I can do half as good job as Paul at setting and judging the next one then I'll be very happy. Thank you Paul for your interesting comments and posting the results so quickly.

Now to this month's competition, I hope you guys will allow me a couple of hours head scratching and I'll post the new one during my lunch break today..

Andy

Thank you Paul for setting a great competition. It has produced some wonderful photography and I pretty much agree with your judging.

And thanks too for the constructive comments and tips. I'm still struggling with all the buttons and knobs on the modern software so any help here is very welcome.

As for my "Over the sea to Skye", I realised very quickly after I had uploaded it that it needed more contrast but I now think also that perhaps something with a lot of hazy distance toning perhaps wouldn't make the best B&W conversion. And why portrait? I'm not really sure myself now. I must have just had my 'get a good lot of foreground interest' hat on!

But many thanks for a very enjoyable competition all round and congratulations to the winner(s).

Well done everyone. Black and white certainly seems to be having a resurgence, all over the web. There are also some excellent Facebook pages and groups that can be joined, and the pictures can be quite amazing.

Many thanks to our prompt, efficient and very fair judge!

Many thanks Paul for an excellent competition. I thought it was a well chosen subject with great reviews and judging.

Thanks also for the HC .

Congratulations to Andy for the well deserved winning image, the runners up and everyone else for such a grand set of pictures.

Glyn

Many thanks for the positive feeback. I am glad you enjoyed the challenge - there was some great stuff submitted.

I hope I wasn't too hard on some.

Best regards

paul