Every year a myriad of photography contests are created, in different genres, photographic styles, modalities, locations, etc. If you’re one of those concurseiro photographers, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The photography contest is that you can always learn new techniques, meet new people and improve your work whenever possible, but your main goal is to win, right?
On the other hand, almost the entire photography contest has its judgment blocked, that is, you hardly ever know why your image does not reach the final and much less what factors led to the choice of the winners. In most of them, you only get an answer when you’re one of the winners, otherwise you’re adrift without any advice or advice to improve your work.
- Also.
- Every time your image is selected for the next step.
- You receive nothing but congratulations and nothing else.
- So you can scratch your head and wonder why your photo was selected or why not.
- Frustrating.
- Especially if you’re planning to participate in another photography contest.
- Not knowing where you were wrong or your best points can be hard to bet on new challenges.
With that in mind, I’ll share some tips below to give you an overview of how photos are selected or deleted in a photography contest and how you can mentally prepare for new contests and increase your chances of winning the grand prize. The following thoughts are personal, things that are part of your own investigation into what most affects the decision-making power of the judges of the photography contest, so some things may be different for each person.
Anyway, it’s worth knowing some of the key points that will help you get the best result in a photography contest.
The best advice to win in any photography contest is to start with the obvious, I mean things like blurry images, poorly lit photos, blurry (unintentionally) shots and other basic problems of photography techniques and mechanics. The organizers project the photos that participate in the photography contest before presenting them to the judges, at which time images that are not approved in this screening are discarded.
To have real possibilities in a decent photography contest, you must be your worst critic, tell you when your image is useless or simply not worth participating in these contests. this analysis for you without hurting your feelings, and giving you as many tips and suggestions as you can constantly improve your work.
When it comes to photography contests, a small detail in your image can wipe out all your efforts to win the contest, so make sure your photo composition is as qualified as possible and keep your image sense up to date.
What I mean is that depending on the contest, your photo must be flawless to reach the final, otherwise it can be rejected in the first stage The biggest problem with photographers in the photography contest is to think that any photo can enter the contest and return it to the prize, take the time to compose your winning photo and do not hesitate to do it again if necessary.
Another interesting point is to pay attention to the small details of your image, sometimes a little irrelevant takes all your composition down the drain and eliminates all your chances of winning the photography contest. In other words, be careful with your subject’s framing, itchy dots, red eyes, etc. , you won’t want to spoil your photo contest by carelessness.
Sometimes an excellent photograph has its finale defined in the photography contest because it falls into the wrong category. Personally, I saw several times that this was going on in a photography contest and caused the photographer to lose his chances of winning the contest.
Make sure that when I say that the judges won’t let you go, I tell them the truth completely, if they don’t think your photo reflects exactly what you’re suggesting, they’ll probably disqualify you, especially a photograph, it must convey a message so that everyone can understand its meaning without explanation.
The best way to avoid this is to know all the rules of the photography contest and pay close attention to the description of each category to make sure you have properly registered your photo. Another way is to understand your own message, you can ‘Don’t explain anything to anyone if you don’t know what you mean.
I don’t mean that at any time you can’t be inspired by the work of other photographers, it is possible to obtain excellent images using the same photographic style as another artist. However, there is a big difference between imitating someone’s photographic style and simply copying it.
The most experienced judges of the photography contest have seen many images, especially when they participate in many photography contests, this means that they will perceive plagiarism from afar and will not take it to the next level and when they encounter a copy, they will surely do so. reject it quickly.
You can study other images without any problem, in fact it is the best way to learn and perfect your techniques, but if you want to win the photography contest and receive the right to recognition, you have to use common sense, avoiding making copies of any kind Remember that photography is an art and that, as such, you have to be creative!
Trends and fashions come and go. I hate fashions of all kinds, not just those belonging to photography. Fashions can be themes, techniques and places. But in any case, fashions are easy to recognize and are bad for anyone who wants to participate in a photography contest.
With the ease of communication and the easy flow of information on the Internet these days, it’s particularly easy to know the latest trend. There’s nothing wrong with being attentive, going to the last destination, photographing the popular animal, or trying to use the newly launched one. Digital camera, but keep in mind that when everyone visits the same place, photographs the same animal or uses the same tool, it’s hard for their image to stand out from the crowd, because by definition, the modes aren’t original, just copies of something that worked.
There’s no point in taking a tool and using it intensively on your images or taking advantage of a location to take thousands of photos, all your photos will look the same and won’t necessarily pass a photography contest, experimentation is the key to success, so do it!
It’s not easy to make your viewer feel, but if you can do it, you’ll definitely get great results in your photography contest, the photo is a sensation, so everything you do with it has to convey emotion and awaken the best of people.
Some photographers turn their image into black and white simply because the original image looks bad, don’t do it, just change the tone of your image, composition or anything else if it makes sense and adds emotion to your image, otherwise keep it original.
Audacity won’t always take the top spot in the photography contest, unless it adds an emotional differential to your photo. Whatever you do, add excitement to your images whenever you can to mark any photography contest on your way.
The photography contest is mostly quality photos, when you can’t offer quality images, it’s just not worth participating in a photography contest, obviously it looks like a take on a photo contest or how you should have taken photos, but we can’t put that trick aside.
Some photographs appear to have been taken with the image theme in mind, but the quality of the photo was not important to the photographer. Large animal photos fit this description, but this also applies to rare animal photos or amazing events.
Large animals have charisma and presence, as well as most of the photography subjects that stand out, but people cannot identify with sharks and whales, such as small crustaceans, for example, but there is no automatic hierarchy that determines that large animals are better than small ones.
Instead of placing a photo of an imposing animal, focus on a surreal, striking image of above all of sufficient quality to attract the attention of the viewer and the judges of the photography contest.
Until now, the criteria were participation, and photos that did not match were deleted by each judge. From that moment on, the critics have to choose a winner for the photography contest, so the thing got a little more serious.
We have already talked about the importance of originality in your photos. But, in a way, it’s the opposite of tip 4 we talked about earlier. There is no easy way to define originality, but every time you see it, you will know how to identify a photo with originality. Look at the winning photos from the last photo contest you entered or any decent photo, and there will be a very original quotient.
Simply put, the originality of the photograph gives a different perspective to the image. Other photographers may even take the same photo, but they may not look the same on the scene as you do.
It is totally difficult to describe this attribute, no judge is able to define what differential you are looking for in photos of the photography contest, however, this is perhaps the most important ingredient in a winning photo.
The quality of an image makes you stop, take a second look and murmur every time you admire the photo. The differential of the image of a photography contest is usually an intangible quality, which is not attributable to any of the other factors, is something that is transmitted throughout the photo in question.
Again, take a look at the winners of any photography contest, and you should experience a series of moments with great difference in images and you will understand what I am saying.
It should be noted that each photography contest has different judges, each of them will have a different point of view for your image, each of them will probably make a different selection of the winning images for your photography contest.
That’s because people are different, so they have different opinions on the same subject, that’s normal. Finally, it’s a personal choice.
As a result, in a photography contest, judges have the opportunity to chat in groups/discuss with other critics, which is useful and fun, as it allows to exchange opinions and share observations about photos that deserve to be recognized.
Listen to why someone likes a photo can change perspective in some cases. As in many aspects of life, listening is as important as talking about a photography contest, if not more.
That’s all. Not all the points of the photography contest are discussed in this article, but writing about some of the tips will help shed light on what’s going on behind the scenes of a general photography contest.
Although the above list does not have the same impact for all judges, most reviews go through a similar mental process. You may have already understood, but the selection process is usually by elimination because it’s about choosing the winners.
Therefore, when deciding which photos to participate in a photo contest, it may be convenient to do so as if you were a judge and edit, crop or select the photos accordingly.
A final note is always to keep in mind that if your photo wasn’t chosen, it doesn’t necessarily mean your photo wasn’t good or even excellent. The best contests are those that receive a lot of awesome tickets, which often makes it impossible to recognize every photo you deserve.
What do you think of the photography contest? Leave your comment below and share your personal tips on the topic.