How To Win Photography Competitions

Entering photography competitions are a great of improving your skills as a photographer. There are also great ways of making more money if you win and will help to build your name as a great photographer. But many images fail to meet the grade because of simple things.

The first and most important tip to follow is understanding the rules. Many photographers enter great images but seldom get placed. All competitions have a theme and the image that you are entering must follow this theme. To win any competition you must try to connect with the judges

The reason that companies hold so many different photo competitions is quite simple; they are looking for images that portray their business. So the first step is to do research on the company holding the competition. Find published material that the organisers are using.

We will all agree that reading material and competition rules will be very boring, but knowing the rules down to the final detail may help you in selecting what images to submit. Also some completions will have small print stating that images cannot be used by other companies. Lots of photographers get caught out and

The second most important item is that your image should be perfectly exposed, with vibrant colours. Lots of photographers submit images that are technical poor. These images have no chance of winning. If your image is poorly focuses or is lacking in colour it won’t be placed.

The third item on the list that should be taken in consideration before you submit is the composition. Make sure every part of the image is perfect. Distractions in the foreground or anywhere else in the image will be ranked poorly.

The forth item and I would think the most important thing to do is to think outside the box. Be creative. Most competitions will get hundreds of well take images. Take a look at previous images that won the same competition as see where you can add an extra bit of something.

Remember that if you image is chosen as the wining shot it will be used by the orginazers for marketing. Your image should be capable of representing the company orginazing the photography competition.

Now you need to find photography competitions that are suited to the type of photography that interests you and start submitting. Photography competitions can do a lot for a photographers career - some say it’s the taking part that counts - but with the large amounts of cash on offer, I think they are worth taking seriously.