Competitive photography principles

Expo –Expose: Winning Techniques

Dave Shafer

I. General principles

II. Flower and Landscape examples

III. Questions

Make yourself comfortable while

we go over some general principles

of competitive photography.

We all have

our dreams

Some

dream of a

home run at

the annual

Y’s Men

EXPO

competition

Let’s take a close up look at some techniques that can

help you enter winning photos. There is no need to take

notes since this talk has been posted to the internet.

This talk is also available as a full body tattoo.

First we have to pop some illusions you

may have. The quality of your photos is

important, of course, but even more so are

the EXPO competition judges you get.

Who are the judges for our EXPO competitions?

They are a

diverse lot

and it helps to

know what

they like and

don’t like.

We have the same 3 judges every year.

No names will be given.

One of our judges is a purist and does

not like any hint of digital manipulation

That judge would not like this image of mine.

One of our

judges prob-

ably most

appreciates

creativity

and would

like this

match and

knot-hole

photo.

Also this

“rainy day”

image made

with brooms

Another of our judges likes us to show him the familiar from

a different perspective or slant. To see something new.

Finding a new way to look at the familiar

is hard to do, but is much appreciated by

this judge.

He also might like an image that surprises

Many judges do not like to see print in a

photo, so it is best to avoid that.

Print is really considered by many to be a

different genre of image than photography.

Best not to mix the two.

It is hard to combine all the preferences

of the judges in one single picture, so it is

best to enter several different types and

hope that something clicks with them.

You can’t please everyone all of the time.

It is probably best not to load up a pic-

ture with too much excess ambition -

one simple idea executed perfectly is bet-

ter than several ideas together in one

photo that are not done as well. This

will be shown later with flowers and

landscapes.

You want to expose your ideas to the

judges but not all crammed into a single

image. Usually in photos, less is more.

With men, less is less.

This lily looks

like a hooded co-

bra. It might be

too simple an

image to win a

prize but it

shows my think-

ing, of aiming

for simplicity.

Extreme closeup of African violet cen-

ter. You don’t have to show the whole

flower and fine detail like this presents a

new way of looking at flowers.

This photo is brilliant! It captures an abstract

idea in a profound way and yet it could not be

any simpler. A work of genius!

You need to

take an ax to

all extraneous

elements in

your composi-

tion and sim-

plify.

Try to look

at your photos

as if you were

a judge who had never seen them before.

What would your impressions be?

The judges will not necessarily see

what you saw when you took the photo.

Try to imagine a perspective that is

different from your own and then look

at your photos again with new eyes.

I think that this is a cute photo, but I can’t

see it objectively, because 2 of my grandsons

are in it. If I try to imagine that they are some-

one else’s then I see that it is probably not

something that I would enter in a contest.

Humor in photos is risky. The judges

might not get the joke, or appreciate it.

Squirrels,

flamingo

cat and

bee

Humorous photos are usually suspected

these days of having been digitally ma-

nipulated. I did this one of squirrels af-

ter my bird feeder. One of the EXPO

judges would probably not like this.

I did no digital trickery with this one -

just a set up in my back yard. This com-

bines humor with a mini-story, which is

hard to do. But the photo is not that in-

teresting just on its own terms. Not a

good EXPO candidate.

Some judges do not like the use in a photo

of commercial objects, like these toy ducks,

so this humorous photo, “Bundled Up”,

that I set up would probably be a bad EXPO

choice. In general, humor is risky in com-

petitive photography.

The effective use of color can be very

important in creating a photo with impact,

but color alone is not enough. This com-

position here is just not that interesting,

with its repetitive horizontal lines. Gener-

ally speaking, horizontals are dull.

Diagonal lines in print and images are dynamic

Here I combined color and sinuous shapes to

create a photo with high impact value.

In my nighttime photo of Munich I also have col-

ors and interesting shapes, making a good image.

“Concept” photos

Illustrating an idea

This car is a non-starter and is not going

anywhere, and neither are most “concept”

photos. It is hard to have the photo title do

all of the work in explaining the “concept”

you are trying to show.

Next I show a flower example of a

“concept” photo.

I entered this in the recent EXPO and did not

win with it. It is a pretty picture but lacks any

center of interest. I knew that so I gave it a ti-

tle—”Bud’s Evolution” to indicate that it shows

the progression of the buds from unopened to

their full glory. That makes it a “concept” photo

and it fell flat with that. The photo has to be

strong enough without the concept and it wasn’t.

It takes too long, in my “A Long Marriage” photo, for people

to realize that the reflections are switched. A bad choice.

This picture of mine—”Dancing Orchid

Ladies” is a concept photo but it is strong

enough on its own to do well even without

the title and the concept.

Here is a “concept” photo - ”The Critic”

which is pretty strong without a title. I

took this in Nuremberg and like photos that

have a mini-story to them.

This “concept” photo - “The Gossips” has a

nice composition, with the diagonal lines, and

the open “mouth” of the flower stamen on the

right looks like it is talking, but the photo by it-

self may be too simple and the title of the photo

has to carry too much. Probably a risky EXPO

choice.

Here my title of “Punk Flowers” gives the concept

but the photo is pretty strong even without it.

This “concept” photo - ”Bug Sex”, which

I found on the internet, is interesting even

without a title or the sexual interpretation of

the photo.

Backgrounds

You and the judges will probably not

see eye to eye about the merits of your

photos. But you may have some will-

ful blindness to some of your image’s

defects. Try, especially, to notice

weaknesses in your photo’s back-

grounds.

A simple background highlights the main subject

Homeland Security

The sky silhouettes the man and the nose

A bad photo—very confusing

background.

You can ignore this advice but

your EXPO results will suffer.

This photo of two cats has a very

distracting background to them -

just what you want to avoid.

The use of black or a single color for the

background brings attention to the main subject,

reduces clutter and gives the photo more impact

A solid color background allows you to con-

centrate on these seed pods without distraction.

A very simple background highlights the

main subject, in “Orchid Man”, a past EXPO

1st place.

Black felt makes a good background for flowers

Flowers are all about color and shapes, so

you don’t need anything else in the back-

ground. Black makes an excellent back-

ground that sets off the flowers very well.

The black shadow gives extra emphasis

to the snowy white swan.

1881 painting by Manet shows dramatic

use of black in an image.

In this Swiss night scene the black sets off

what we want the viewer to focus on. That,

the big ring of tiny lights, and the woman

studying the window display all direct our

attention towards the glowing scene inside

Hasta leaves, set off by black background.

The liberal use of black in a photo allows

for more color contrasts, simplifies the

composition, and focuses more attention on

the main subject. Some examples follow

Morning glory, vine and single leaf

Very simple composition—three colors

and three shapes.

Calla lilies

More Calla lilies, with sinuous

shapes and an interesting composition

“This Bud’s For You” - a very simple

composition and an unobtrusive background.

The back of a daffodil is interesting as

well as the front.

Iris and leaves

“Flower Fireworks” - an EXPO 1st place

Too symmetrical Too flattened down

Just right, and an

EXPO 1st place.

Every spring skunk cabbages explode into amazing shapes. It

is hard to get the best combination of shapes and background.

Some examples here are followed by an EXPO prize winner.

“Skunk Cabbage Ballet” - an EXPO 1st place

A dark background is useful with people

photos too, to concentrate our attention on

the main subject of interest.

Composition

Usually it is not good to have the main center of in-

terest be exactly in the middle of the photo, but some-

times it works well, like here. Every “rule” has ex-

ceptions.

A good composition—the bull leads us into

the picture and the man leads us out. Ouch!

You know that the judges will be critical of

your efforts, so try to be critical yourself first.

The judges will

be casting a

critical eye on

your photos.

What you may

find fascinating

(Clinton’s cat

Socks here)

may be just a

cat to them.

I like this photo and think that it is interest-

ing, with the different shapes and textures.

But two objects do not usually do as well as

three. A better composition would have been

to have a 3rd pinecone added or something

else in the background.

A good rule is that three of anything is

more pleasing to look at and makes a better

composition than two of the same thing. I

wonder what they are smoking.

A single blossom, or three of them, is a good

composition but two or four don’t work as well.

The Japanese, with their rock gardens, and Zen

Buddhists figured this all out many ages ago.

Who are we to dispute this?

If you do go with just two blossoms at least do not

have them on the same horizontal line

Two blossoms don’t work as well as three (the next slide) and

here they are on the same horizontal line—which is boring.

An EXPO winner

Three blossoms in a vase—much better than two

Three Calla lilies. When I took this

photo I could see that the bright light-

green shoot in the background definitely

distracts from the main subject. It needs

to be toned down quite a lot to be less

obtrusive.

Original

Improved

back-

ground

I took this photo in Edinburgh, Scotland, and

it is marred by the trash can, the distant build-

ings, and the near foreground—all detract from

the natural beauty of the scene. It is quite a lot

of work to alter the photo to remove these ele-

ments. A better taking position might improve

the shot. The curves and diagonals make a nice

composition.

Are you still with me?

Landscapes

Landscapes that also feature people or

evidence of people, like this photo I took

in the Czech Republic, are more interest-

ing to look at and do better in contests.

The people can be in the far distance but it still

makes for a better landscape photo to have them.

A landscape with-

out people tends to

make a static picture,

even with dynamic

shapes like here.

In some cases, however, a landscape

would be improved by removing people

from it.

These Swiss

landscapes are

more interesting

because of the

trails that can be

seen, showing a

human presence

Human

presence

makes

for a

more in-

teresting

land-

scape.

Gondola

(top) and

distant

barns

(bottom)

An interesting landscape, evidence of people,

and water make a nice composition in this color-

ful Swiss photo I took from Lake Luzern.

The intense greens in these Swiss photos are almost not credible,

but they are pretty accurate. The bottom image did well in EXPO.

Original photo above. Below is cropped version plus brightened up

I liked this Swiss photo but wanted to focus more on the church.

This “Swiss Church on the Edge” did well in the

EXPO contest, with its combination of dramatic

landscape and the human element. The tiny white

dots on the right middle edge are sheep. I wanted

to show more of the steep drop, as in the previous

photo, but by backing off more there would be a

smaller church.

A vertical landscape, like this Luzern quarry, will set

you apart from most other EXPO landscape entries.

Too cluttered a scene—Heidelberg house plus

landscape. There is just too much going on here

The house on the lower right is distracting

and should be cropped out.

Simpler Heidelberg scene—house plus landscape

Landscapes can be semi-abstract, like these autumn pond reflections

These principles of competitive photography are not

that difficult to learn. The result may be photos that will

appeal to the judges in the next contest that you enter.