Amateur Photographer of the Year

Here are the top ten images uploaded to Photocrowd from Round Five, Landscapes, with comments by the AP team and our guest judge

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Round Five Landscapes

Landscape can be everything from an epic, breathtaking scene to a tiny, abstract detail in a rock; it can be a long exposure that strips back a composition to its basic elements; and it can be something that allows us to see the world anew. That’s why it regularly tops the charts of favourite genres among amateur photographers, and that’s why this round is always of such a high standard.

1 Matteo Strassera Italy 100pts Canon EOS R5, 100-400mm, 1/250sec at f/11, ISO 200

Very often, what makes a photograph memorable is its ability to conjure up an image of something other than that being depicted. In this case, Matteo’s stunning, minimal image of a desert in the UAE appears almost like a solar flare emanating from the sun. The beauty of this picture is that the viewer needs no more information at all than what we are given. The strip of ridged bright orange that takes the eye from bottom left to top right is more than sufficient, with the way the detail fades to black anchoring the composition top and bottom. But it’s about so much more than technical excellence – instead, it’s about the sense of vastness, peace and solitude that is conveyed with stunning clarity. An epic scene, beautifully captured.

2 Gary Hunter US 90pts
Canon EOS R5, 100-500mm at 100mm, 1/800sec at f/13, ISO 100