Masaki Ito; Highly commended, Beautiful Gardens; A Smell So Sweet, Aichi prefecture, Japan. “The many hanging blooms of wisteria smelt so sweet as they reflected in the pond at a garden near to my house. When the flowers bloom in April, it signifies my birthday has arrived again”. (Photo by Masaki Ito/IGPOTY)





Gianluca Gianferrari; Second place, Breathing Spaces; Veliki Slap, Plitvice Lakes national park, Lika-Senj, Croatia. “Also known as the Big Waterfall, Veliki Slap is the highest waterfall in the Unesco world heritage site of Plitvice Lakes national park. The waterfall is pictured surrounded by autumn-toned trees, and with the (enhanced/added) mist it almost feels as though you could breathe in the power of nature”. (Photo by Gianluca Gianferrari/IGPOTY)





Gigi Williams; First place, MPB Plants & Planet; Dune, Namib desert, Namibia. “I took this photo in the Namib desert, which is home to some of the highest sand dunes in the world; this one was particularly impressive with the tiny trees growing happily at the bottom. It is amazing where plants can grow and how life adapts”. (Photo by Gigi Williams/IGPOTY)





Jay Birmingham; Third place, Breathing Spaces; Misty Lochan, Glencoe Lochan, Highlands, UK. “In a week-long stay at Glencoe in Scotland, I got up each morning to take a sunrise picture, and each morning I was presented with rain; except for this one morning where I got a brief weather window to take this shot. I managed to get a 60-second shot, which helped to bring out the colour created by the mist and rain clouds”. (Photo by Jay Birmingham/IGPOTY)





David Townshend; Finalist, 7IM Abstract Views; Present Uncertain, Northamptonshire, UK. “This image symbolises the threat of climate change – the surface of a planet becoming out of control. I used in-camera multiple exposures to combine several elements in my garden”. (Photo by David Townshend/IGPOTY)





Claire Carter; First place, The Beauty of Plants; Fallen Orchid Flowers, Shropshire, UK. “I captured these dead orchid flowers after they had dropped, when they started to dry and take on a wonderful, paper-like texture. To complement this, I added the background texture layer in post-processing”. (Photo by Claire Carter/IGPOTY)





Caroline Piek; First place, Beautiful Gardens; The Stream Garden, Waspik, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. “The Stream Garden is an immersive naturalistic garden, designed by Noël van Mierlo of Van Mierlo Tuinen and landscaped by Totaaltuin Leende, and is shown here in all its glory in the first morning light using HDR. The meandering watercourse that runs through the garden is directly connected to the River Maas and is full of life such as small fish, crayfish and mussels. The garden has an irresistible appeal to children from the neighbouring marina”. (Photo by Caroline Piek/IGPOTY)





Stuart Chape; Second place, MPB Plants & Planet; Laponia II, Laponian area, Sweden. “Aerial view taken from a helicopter of the Rapa River delta in the Laponian area, a Unesco world heritage site in the Swedish Arctic Circle. It is a vast glaciated landscape with complex Arctic vegetation of conifers, dwarf birch and wetland species”. (Photo by Stuart Chape/IGPOTY)





Claudia Gaupp; Second place, Beautiful Gardens; Bedded on Asters, Höhenpark Killesberg, Stuttgart, Germany. “This double exposure shows a highlight of the perennial borders of the Höhenpark Killesberg: the asters flowering in autumn. A narrow path leads to a bench under a birch tree, and on this evening, there was no better place for me to enjoy this abundance of blooms. Just before the sun disappeared behind the trees, I grabbed my camera to capture this exuberant sea of flowers in all shades of purple”. (Photo by Claudia Gaupp/IGPOTY)





Tony North; First place, Breathing Spaces; Overall Winner; Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. “Echium thyrsiflorum is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island – from high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below, and the stars above. The Unesco La Palma biosphere reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos”. (Photo by Tony North/IGPOTY)