Judging the landscape photography contest organized by Light Stalking has proved to be no easy task due to the formidable quality of the entries. The winning three photographers were to receive a copy of my Creative Landscapes: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques courtesy of the publisher, Wiley Publishing.

In reviewing the massive numbers of images submitted,  I looked at the photos with creativity, technical qualities including exposure and composition, uniqueness, originality, and interest of the landscape as the judging criteria. Over a period of several days I was able to whittle the original entries down to 45 images in the following three Flickr galleries (the reason for three galleries is that there is a maximum of 18 images per gallery on Flickr):

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/harold_davis/galleries/72157627022914116/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/harold_davis/galleries/72157626898018857/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/harold_davis/galleries/72157627022541986/

If you look through these galleries, you’ll see that I had quite a task to pick the final winners. Obviously, it is to some extent subjective. In any case, here (in no particular order) are my three winners, and some of the reasons I chose them from this extraordinary pool of imagery.

Chris Gin’s Relics. Chris is a New Zealand photographer who is particularly skillful with seascapes. What I like most about Relics is the evocative and unusual shapes of the driftwood on the beach, and the dramatic lighting as well as the overall clarity of the image.

Relics, © Chris Gin. All rights reserved.

Helminadia’s Cape Kiwanda. Helminadia says that she is not a “professional photographer. I just enjoyed traveling around, seeing different countries and places and taking photos with families or friends. Photography is always an amazing hobby!” In pursuit of her hobby, Helminadia has photographed around the world in places as diverse as California, Bali, Qatar, and Indonesia.

Cape Kiwanda was shot along the Oregon coast on the second of two visits: “The first time I did not get any shots from there because of the Tsunami warning. So I went back, and I was so lucky, because just after the rain the light was so beautiful.”

I am awarding one of the prizes to this image because of the lovely light, and because of the perfect rendering of the surf in partial time-lapse due to the 1/2 second shutter speed.

Cape Kiwanda, © Helminadia. All rights reserved.

The panorama Brighton by Bryce Hughes is my third choice. This wonderful image has it all: technical chops as a panorama, great composition and cropping, and very nice saturated colors. Most of all, it is both humorous and tells a story about human foibles, as each beach cabana is decorated differently, reflecting the tastes of the different owners.

Brighton, © Bryce Hughes. All rights reserved.

Thanks everyone for submitting your wonderful landscapes to this competition!