Photo contest - tips on how to capture those winning shots?...how come we always read those familiar names over and over again in the the winning circles? hmm let's find out from them. Do they have formula or "anting-antings" hehe. Paging Anton Sheker, Richard Larrios, Manuel Librodo, Edwin Loyola, who else?:)

My personal criteria in choosing the best photos in any contest:

For "themed" contest:

Visual impact 70%
Relevance to the theme 20%
Uniqueness or originality 10%

For "open"contest
Visual impact 70%
Originality 20%
Style 10%

Hi folks, we will be discussing a series of "tips in winning photo contest". I'm a veteran of 40 art contest, 30% is photo contest which i participated and won. Have been invited to judge in different camera clubs ( camera club of the phil's, zone V camera club, prize photo club, ayala alabang camera club, eArt Philippines, IDn Club, AAP and the prestigious Reader's digest World print competition which i represented the phil's).
For this topic to take off and inspire others to produce winning shots, we will be using the EPix06 as starting point, let's roll:)

For "themed" contest:

Visual impact 70%
Relevance to the theme 20%
Uniqueness or originality 10%

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for theme relevancy, why only 20%? why not 40%? 50% for impact and 10% for originality.

images "out of the theme" can win those competitions, if image impact is 70%.

For "themed" contest:

Visual impact 70%
Relevance to the theme 20%
Uniqueness or originality 10%

------------

for theme relevancy, why only 20%? why not 40%? 50% for impact and 10% for originality.

images "out of the theme" can win those competitions, if image impact is 70%.



You are absolutely right Aris. But for judges point of view...the starting point to start "choosing" and "eliminating" their best bet is through quick browsing along hundreds or thousands of entries....in artists' lingo- "yung sumisigaw na image". Your photo entry must get first the judges attention...your entry must "moved" them. If you measure the distance between the judges and the print? around 1 meter or more if the prints are posted in the wall...so with preliminary selecting- "visual impact" counts most of the votes:)

[QUOTE=Rosscapili]My personal criteria in choosing the best photos in any contest:

For "themed" contest:

Visual impact 70%
Relevance to the theme 20%
Uniqueness or originality 10%

For "open"contest
Visual impact 70%
Originality 20%
Style 10%


Hello Rosscapili,

First I would like to say that it is a privilege being able to communicate with someone of your stature on a great forum like this. I have read most of your threads or posts and they always are interesting and have merit.

I hope I can throw something out here that has not been mentioned in your judging criteria. I agree basically in what you say about the percentages. What I don't notice here is the quality of the print. I've seen many images with strong visual impact potential but just ruined because of a lousy print. Sometimes I got the feeling that if the image was somehow printed differently, it would have made a stronger visual impact. I guess in this age of digital, people tend to store their photos in the computer and not put it on paper. There are even contests judging images from the monitor and not final output. I guess I am a traditionalist. I believe an image is not worth anything if it can't be printed properly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aris Guerrero
For "themed" contest:

Visual impact 70%
Relevance to the theme 20%
Uniqueness or originality 10%

------------

for theme relevancy, why only 20%? why not 40%? 50% for impact and 10% for originality.

images "out of the theme" can win those competitions, if image impact is 70%.



You are absolutely right Aris. But for judges point of view...the starting point to start "choosing" and "eliminating" their best bet is through quick browsing along hundreds or thousands of entries....in artists' lingo- "yung sumisigaw na image". Your photo entry must get first the judges attention...your entry must "moved" them. If you measure the distance between the judges and the print? around 1 meter or more if the prints are posted in the wall...so with preliminary selecting- "visual impact" counts most of the votes:)

IMV, the work deserve better judges. While visual impact plays a large part, the work should be first evaluated for sticking to the theme. This should raise the bar as it challenges the photographer to create work for a particular subject/theme. Evaluating for less than that is, IMO, a disrespect for the craft, the sponsors, and the photographers.

Impact is very important to me as well. However, I do agree that relevance to the theme should be a priority as well. Example, photo contest is for landscape and there is an entry of a fantastic, mind blowing portrait standing by a tree. Is that a landscape entry? Should I pay attention to it while scoring or do I totally eliminate it since it is irrelevant? I also pay particular attention to the quality of the print. What a waste to see a beautiful image "half baked" due to bad printing...... Just my 2 centavaos

When I choose to enter a photo competition, I first look at what I have and work on something new that I think has a better chance of being accepted. It is needless to say that the photo should be relevant to the theme and of course technically sound. But while relevance and technicalities are important, I believe that Mr. Capili's criteria of "visual impact" is the most important since it gives you the edge of getting noticed right away in the initial judging. But we must not forget that there is the later stages of judging where relevance and techniques become more critical. I was a chairman of the FPPF contest committee for a couple of years and even before judging begins we screen-out all irrelevant and unacceptable (based on established FPPF contest rules) pictures right away to avoid later discussions.

Hi all, good points, let me state further (coz i just emphasize the first stage only)...again, First stage of judging (entries are viewed from a distance: applying the "visual impact criteria" (color scheme- colored or b&w, composition, metaphor, sometimes "originality and style" comes into play here) that's why i gave this high percentage.
Second stage of judging : establishing the relevance to the "theme" of the photo entries, this is where the judges closely view the images in terms of adherence to the theme and the quality of prints (plus post processing techniques)
Third stage- Deliberation among judges is very important that's why there should be one "chairman of the board of judges" (elected on the spot by the invited judges )which i don't see in all camera club photo contest's judging. This chairman should give the final verdict or put the process in order.
As they have now in their hands the short listed entries, the crucial decision now to determine the winners must be deliberated by the board of judges- this is where all concerns will be raised and voted upon like theme, originality, etc.:)

very informative... keep them coming :)