We're happy to announce the winner of May's competition, “Mood And Atmosphere.”
For those who don't know, the Light Stalking Monthly Photography Competition carries a $100 People's Choice Award and a $100 Overall Winner Award. The People's Choice Winner is selected by a vote of the community, whereas our guest judge selects the overall winner.
The “Mood And Atmosphere” Photo Contest
When capturing photos of locations or subjects, you are generally capturing the mood and atmosphere. Mood in photography can refer to certain emotions or feelings one can feel or witness in the scene and it can be varied depending on the situation. The lighting and environmental conditions along with the weather can create a certain atmosphere in the image also depending on the time of the day. In many cases, the atmosphere itself can be responsible to evoke a certain mood in the image.
Mood and atmosphere can be captured in a photo in various ways – you can create portraits that evoke a specific mood or atmosphere using lighting and color tones, capture landscapes enveloped in fog or mist, or low lying clouds using long exposure to enhance the ethereal atmosphere, explore and capture the mood of night scenes, using high ISO settings that induces some noise to add texture, photograph scenes that capture the mood of different seasons or use post-processing if needed to enhance the atmosphere.
When looking at the submissions for May's competition, a huge range of creative ideas is clearly evident. Participants have used a variety of lighting situations, atmospheric conditions and subjects in their photography – landscapes, nature, portraits, etc., shot in atmospheric conditions like fog or mist, sunsets, midday, etc.
When choosing the winning photos, we wanted to make sure that the decision process was based on a good interpretation of the theme, followed by other factors like light, composition, story, details, creative vision, etc. The results are entirely subjective and there are no losers in any competition as we all know.
Here are May's Winners:
First Place: “Misty Morning” by Emily K
Emily submitted this atmospheric photo of a horse grazing by a water feature, early in the morning. Early mornings are the best times to capture foggy and misty atmospheric photos since the light can be soft and illuminate the scene making it look magical. Emily did not miss the opportunity to capture this stunning photo that shows the mist rising, the reflections of the rising sun in the water feature with the horse making the scene and photo very compelling.
The composition is quite unique with the horse moving out of the frame, but the tree at the edge of the frame reduces that tension. Also the tree branches beautifully frame the horse, making the composition more powerful. The other elements in the frame complement the subject and the scene while also adding to the mood and atmosphere in the photo. The soft light and the softness in the entire image makes it very pleasing and visually appealing.
Congratulations Emily K for submitting this winning shot!
Second Place: “The Drinking Tree” by Jean T
Jean's submission is a beautiful fall landscape with all the colours that contribute to the emotions in the photo. The water flowing in the river, adds a nice dynamic mood while still keeping the frame look calm and peaceful. The moss covered tree trunks, the coloured foliage and the boulders by the river bank, all these add a little bit more mood and atmosphere to the photo – a very nice location to spend some time in solitude.
Jean has beautifully composed the image with all the types of lines in there, without making the scene look busy or chaotic – verticals, horizontals, diagonals and even curves. The curved branch leading to the river is a very powerful inclusion in the frame and Jean's humorous title also deserves appreciation.
Congratulations Jean!
Third Place: “Into the Mist” by Glenn Pine
Glenn's submission to the contest was a photo of a pier that leads into a lake. Although the manmade structure occupies a large part of the frame, the image has a certain bleak mood and atmosphere that depicts a melancholic feeling – loneliness or emptiness perhaps? The soft light gently illuminates the entire scene and adds some depth to the structures.
The leading line and symmetry work well together as powerful compositional guidelines, transporting the viewer straight into the scene. The lamp at the end of the pier is an interesting place to stop, but it does not take away too much attention and the atmosphere itself leads the viewer further into the scene where the layered hills add interest.
Congratulations Glenn!
People's Choice Award Winner
Our monthly photo contests also come with a People's Choice Award. The winner of this part of the contest receives $100 worth of store credit on Light Stalking which they can spend as they please on our blueprints, drills, courses or Presets.
The most popular photo for May, voted by the contestants was “Cypress Trees in the Morning Fog” by Emily K.
Emily chose to capture this landscape at the right time for this beautiful atmospheric shot. The structure of the trees, patterns, textures and the symmetry work very well. Emily has captured the details in the scene perfectly even though the scene is backlit. She has also made sure that the highlights are preserved in that process. Congratulations on the win Emily !
We are almost two weeks into this month's photo contest and still have two weeks left to submit photos to our June's monthly contest. This month, our theme is, “The Intersection of Nature and Technology” in photography.
If you would like to join and enter some images into our monthly contest then take a look at your options here.
