Weekly competition #355: Elements Competition

I was a bit disappointed with the low number of entries this week, I didn't think it was that difficult a subject. However, thanks to those who did enter, there's some great shots! It's been difficult picking a winner, but after much deliberation, here are my thoughts.

Baltic Sunset V by Prieni

I love the contrast between the dark, turbulent sea and the soft pastel sky with the setting (or rising?) sun. There's nice detail on the cresting wave, which is placed very nicely on a third. My only criticism is the blurred bit on the bottom left, no doubt caused by the glass towards the edge of the porthole, a problem I'm familiar with from aircraft windows. Personally, I'd probably have cropped this out.



Typhoon passing over the South China Sea by billyspad.

Gorgeous colours in he sky, and good processing to bring them out. I also like the composition, making the most of those brooding clouds and the orange of the sunset on the horizon. I find I wish I could see a bit more of the plants at the bottom right, but even as they are they give a great sense of scale to the image. I really like it.


Stormy day in Newbiggin bay by tyronet2000

The colour looks a bit odd to me on this shot, as if the WB is out. I'm also not keen on that white tubular frame, it draws my eye to it as it stands out so much. It would be quite difficult to clone out, however. I'd perhaps darken it instead to make it less prominent. The foreground is out of focus, and I don't think lends anything to the shot, so personally I'd crop it out. This image might work better in mono.



White Horses by JAK

I really like the detail in the wave. The colour has come out really well too. I think this image could do with a crop, the sliver of sky doesn't add anything to the image, the powerful wave gets all my attention. I'd perhaps crop it removing the sky and also the oof bit at the bottom, making a more panoramic image?


Sweet Thames runs softly by Perspicador.

A lovely tranquil river scene, not quite what I was looking for in this competition, but a lovely image nonetheless. I'd possibly crop the image, removing a bit from the bottom to move the horizon closer to a third rather than central as it is now. A very nice rural scene.


Homeward Bound by johnriley

This image really captures the power of snow in an urban environment, with the car struggling along the street and the snow swirling in the light from the street-lamps. A 5x4 crop would perhaps enable getting rid of those small bits of cars protruding into the right hand side without affecting the overall composition too much.


Storm at Loughros by Northgrain

I was a bit surprised there was only one mono entry in the competition, and it's been used to great effect here. The sheets of rain in the hills really capture the wild wet weather that's so common in Scotland and Ireland. I do find myself wishing there was a building or lighthouse to give a point of reference for the scale of the scene. I think it would turn this from a very good image into a great one.


Earth, Air, Fire, Water by Gamka.

Kudos for an image showing all four elements! The helicopter is a tad small, but that does help to give a sense of scale to the image. The image looks touch soft, especially the helicopter and the trees on the hill, I'm not sure if this is due to shooting hand-held or if it's a result of an extreme crop. I'm also wondering whether there could be a slightly better crop available from the image, ie any more space available on the left hand side?


Ice, water and sky by paulb531

I really like those chunks of ice, and a nice sky too. I find the central horizon a bit uncomfortable, but any crop and you would lose a bit os sky or a bit of ice, so I can;'t really see a better crop. I think this image would benefit with from a bit more processing, it's the type of image that personally I'd immediately think of using Topaz detail or a similar plug-in on, to enhance the lighting and add a bit more drama. It's still a very nice image though.


And not a drop to drink by ken2390

This really shows the power of nature to disrupt lives, and is very topical in regards to all the flooding in the UK recently. I can't see what the camera has focused on, as there is nowhere sharp in the whole image, so I can only imagine it was due to the lens, one that is wide-open at f4.5? With a shutter speed of 1/1600th, I would have thought that there was plenty of light available to stop down to f8 or f11.


Roaring Incinerator by GlynM

A well-captured shot of fire roaring out of the incinerator, but somehow the image doesn't really grab me. I think a crop getting rid of some of the dark areas top and bottom would give it more impact. Very well exposed, though, the flame is captured perfectly, and the lid of the incinerator too.


Fire by Oppenheimer45

A nice enough shot, and very well exposed. I find my eyes wandering around the image, looking for something to latch on to. I think cropping out a bit of the darker area on the right would help. The flames on the left looka bit like a face to me, and I'd perhaps crop the image to square to concentrate attention on this.

Thanks again to everyone who entered. After much deliberation , here are my results:

First place: Typhoon passing over the South China Sea by billyspad.
Second Place:Storm at Loughros by Northgrain
Third place:Baltic Sunset V by Prieni

Highly Commended: johnriley, paulb531 and JAK

Many congratulations Steve - what a sky that is - and all the other placings. Surprised but very pleased to be on the podium

And many thanks Jon for the interesting topic. I was astonished there weren't more entries, but your exceptionally informative comments on all the pics are appreciated and well worth the entrance fee . I for one will be sussing out Topaz now - useful tip !

No problem with your comments at all - they are better than mine and they only thing going for it is, as you say, all four elements. I only entered it because there were not many! I wanted to demonstrate the size that that sort of fire can get to and the damage caused. I said 3km, it could actually be further, maybe over 4km. There is something like 5000 litres or 5 tonnes or water in that drop.

Horizontally the image is actually full size, just resized down from 3104 to 1200, the only crop was to removed some power lines from the bottom.

The softness may be due to being hand held, some of the others I have are sharper but fail to have the water element!

Well done Jonathan for your expert analysis and interesting subject. Pity about the poor entry level - but the quality level was high.

Regards

paul

Congratulations to the Winner and other places. Thanks to to Jonathon for the interesting subject, judging and comprehensive comments.

Many thanks Jonathan for your interesting and original competition subject, detailed comments and excellent judging.

Congratulations to our winners and everyone else for another great set of images.

Glyn

Grats to the winners

@Aliengroove I'd agree it shouldn't be a difficult subject, I've been trying to enter the weekly as often as I can but somehow I had nothing

I meant to comment and forgot but wanted to say that this subject has produced some really outstanding images.

I find the sky to be often fascinating and the winner has produced one of the most amazing captures of this subject.

Tough competition and very nice of AG to do a top job of judging.