What Kind of Photos Stand Out in Photography Contests? - Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 8 Review

Thomas Chu Photo

Thomas's photo-editing mini-contest has reached its 8th episode. Thomas himself has participated in quite a few photography contests and served as a judge in some. Today, taking this opportunity, I'll talk about a question everyone cares about: what kind of photos stand out in popular, mainstream photography contests?

First, let's review the originals from the 8th contest: 2 photos taken from hot air balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey (original download address in "Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 8 - Taking You to Romantic Turkey" (《修图小赛第8期 - 带你去浪漫的土耳其》)).

Original 1:

Original 2:

This contest provided 2 different compositions. Everyone can choose the one you think is best to process, or even work on both.

Topic discussion

What kind of photos stand out in photography contests?

Of course, the discussion here mainly covers popular, mainstream and commercial photography contests, focused on single images, excluding themed or academic contests.

For example, the scoring criteria of the National Geographic photo contest are:

(1) Creativity 35%

(2) Photographic quality 35%

(3) Composition 30%

Other similar contests also have their own judging criteria, but Thomas sums them up as two points:

1) A personalized perspective

2) Visual presentation

Photography is not only an objective record of the real world but also a form of personal expression.

By combining your own experiences, knowledge, and ideas to produce photos that are distinctive rather than echo others, you can truly unite the objectivity and subjectivity of photography, making the photographer a creator rather than a mechanical recording machine.

In photography contests, judges often face thousands of submissions, and only photos that bring a sense of freshness and unfamiliarity, with a personal perspective, have a chance to catch the judges' eyes.

The first judging criterion of the National Geographic contest - creativity - actually refers to a personalized perspective: how to shoot ordinary scenery differently, with more depth or breadth?

Or how to use your own experiences, profession, or other advantages to capture stories or scenes no one has heard of? This requires continuous thinking and expansion - the real work lies outside the photo itself.

Of course, as flat visual images, the second important judging criterion is visual presentation. What we usually mention - tonality, color, composition, texture, detail, layering, and even light, environment, scene, people, and so on - are all part of visual presentation.

Visual presentation doesn't have to be shocking or beautiful, but it must be highly unified in relationships; the composition, tonality, and color of a work should echo each other rather than being completely disconnected.

The atmosphere and emotion expressed by the visual presentation also need to be highly unified with the photographer's personality, the theme of the shoot, and the characteristics of the scene - only then is it a highly completed single image.

Selection Award winning works

Photographer: waiting451 (Tuchong)

Review:

In this edited work, both the composition and the tonality reflect the author's creativity and personalized perspective.

The author skillfully discovered a point of interest in the original - a stone town built against the mountain - and refined it in composition, decisively discarding the distant peaks and other irrelevant scenes.

The tonality and texture of the finished image also present the scene's characteristics well, echoing the new composition.

The bright, golden town bathed in sunlight is waking up from the dark, neutral-colored land - an interesting story leaps off the frame.

Photographer: A'Jian阿建 (Tuchong)

Review:

The visual presentation of this photo beautifully conveys the atmosphere of sunrise.

The warm-leaning white balance conveys the feeling of sunrise. The blue tone in the shadows is moderate in intensity, natural and comfortable. The light-left, dark-right tonality distribution also strengthens the photo's layering.

Photographer: 九御要吃肉 (Weibo)

Review:

The color grading of this photo is distinctive, fresh and natural, presenting a cartoon-world feel that matches both the scene of balloons flying and the craggy, rocky terrain.

The author excels in both personalized perspective and visual presentation.

Photographer: 从笙月晕 (Weibo)

Review:

The color grading of this photo is also distinctive, belonging to the dark, magical style.

But the original's wide perspective and the scene of balloons flying actually don't match this dark style very well.

Therefore, the author cleverly recomposed the image, focusing the frame on the part with the most jagged rocks. The prominent scene of sharply standing strange rocks fits the atmosphere brought by this dark tone very well. The author achieved excellent completion in visual presentation.

Selection Award prize

The same model Thomas uses

Haida NanoPro 8-stop ND filter

Other featured excellent works

Besides the above works, the following ones are also quite distinctive:

Photographer: 摄影师Bo (Weibo)

Photographer: 郁闷de番茄 (Tuchong)

Photographer: джеймс_ци (Tuchong)

Photographer: rolland (Tuchong)

Photographer: Mr_Whale鲸鱼先生 (Tuchong)

Photographer: longgaohuai (Tuchong)

Photographer: 路过风景Met_你 (Weibo)

Photographer: 纪毅翔 (Weibo)

Photographer: JamesAslan (Weibo)

Photographer: 顾问9527 (Weibo)

Photographer: dczzsy (Weibo)

Photographer: jason_hcs (Weibo)

Photographer: StarryN0128 (Tuchong)

Photographer: 旅行摄影一米九三的厨子 (Weibo)

Photographer: toootooto (Weibo)

Photographer: oyzajamie (Tuchong)

If you have different views or ideas about Thomas's opinions and the way the selected works are presented, you're welcome to discuss them in the comments.

Past episodes:

"So Many Effects from the Same Image? The Winning Works of the First Photo-Editing Mini-Contest Are Out!"

"Can You Imagine Editing It Like This? Thomas's Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 2 Exhibition"

"How to Control Color Combinations in Photos - Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 3 Review"

"Post-Processing Should Go from the Whole to the Parts, with Selection and Omission - Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 4 Review"

"Overcast Days Can Be Edited Like This! Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 5 Review"

"How to Give Photos a New Atmosphere Through Post-Processing - Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 6 Review"

"Spectacular Landscape Masterpieces Need Visual Guidance Even More - Photo-Editing Mini-Contest, Episode 7 Review"

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