I have recently served as a judge for a few different photo club competitions (in addition to being a judge for five award seasons with international photo competitions) and continue to see the same issues pop up. Some of the issues are really basic, like dust spots and tilted horizons, while others are far more subjective. With these experiences in mind, I share some advice to consider when you prepare your next competition entry (or magazine submission, gallery show entry, portfolio, or even your next social media post). This article represents the perspective of exactly one judge—me—so don’t consider it a checklist but instead a single point of view on a complex topic.
SOME CONTEXT: MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT COMPETITIONS
Before sharing my very subjective advice, I should mention that I have mixed feelings about photo competitions. On the positive side, I appreciate competitions as a forum for showcasing excellence in photography and providing recognition for hard work. Some competitions, like the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, are also encouraging practices that I see as positive for the field of nature photography.
On the negative side, turning a creative pursuit into a competitive sport can encourage conformity. If you regularly view the results of major photo competitions, you can see the ebb and flow of trends with locations and subjects. In photo clubs, certain “rules” often permeate a group’s culture and result in a narrow band of winners anytime the club has a competition. On a more personal level, I also know from many conversations that poor performance in a competition can be incredibly discouraging for individual photographers. If your photos do not do as well as you hoped in any competition, keep going. You have no idea what the judging process looked like behind the scenes and in all cases, the results simply reflect the opinions of a small group of people at a single point in time.
I have entered one competition on a single occasion, the Nature’s Best Photography awards, and had two photographs appear in their magazine (the spiral aloe and winter sedum photos in this post). After that experience, I decided that participating in competitions encouraged me to pursue a certain type of photography and focused too much of my attention on comparison with others. I decided that I wanted to be free from this sort of influence and motivation. While I am occasionally tempted to enter a competition because I think that doing well might help my career, I always return to that decision from years ago.
Conversely, when I am invited to judge a competition, I usually say yes for a simple reason. The type of photography I generally prefer—quieter, more subtle interpretations of nature—often does not do very well in competitions and I want to take every chance I can get to elevate such photographs if I think they rise to a high level of excellence. I also like the opportunity to undermine some of the conventions in this field that I consider ridiculous. For example, in one recent photo club competition, I happily selected a winner with a centered composition, one with direct light on a subject, and one without any central point of focus. These are all things we are told to avoid and yet I think all three of these winning photographs were visually compelling.
An example of visual hierarchy applied to a smaller scene. The composition and processing suggests that the three central corn lily plants are the most important, with the rest of the leaves serving as secondary subjects. This photo is relevant to the story directly below.
A Diversion with a Point (So Stick with Me)
A few years ago, a photo club invited me to give a presentation about composition. I included a section on visual weight, explaining that some compositions rely on the idea of visual hierarchy. With visual hierarchy, you make composition decisions in a way that suggests a higher level of importance for some elements of the scene. With this approach, some subjects are main characters and they draw your attention first while other elements are meant to play only a supporting role. This approach to composition is often considered the “right” way because visual hierarchy helps the viewer know where to focus their attention. If you are familiar with my photography, you will know that I often rely on a different approach, which I call visual equality. With visual equality, every element of a scene or subject (like a pattern or repetition) is of equal importance or close to it.
In my talk, I shared my reasons for taking this approach: my mind is quite busy and so I seek out visually harmonious compositions because they help me feel relaxed and at ease. I feel joy and excitement when I find patterns in nature and that feeling is a big part of my motivation to get outside. During the Q&A session at the end of my presentation, one of the club leaders criticized this approach to composition and informed me that most of my photos could never win if I entered them in the club’s competitions. Despite explaining my long-considered and personal reasons for approaching my compositions in the way I do, this person needed to put me in my place and not-so-subtly remind everyone listening that they should not follow my advice.
This experience is one reason why I approach competitions with some skepticism. Judges too often place all the emphasis on following some set of arbitrary rules about what makes a good photograph instead of considering how well a photographer expresses their own creative ideas or personally interprets a natural subject. If this feedback had been directed at a newer photographer, it could be quite damaging in terms of that person feeling a lack of confidence in continuing to follow their own path or becoming discouraged. If you are part of a photo club with this kind of pernicious culture, participating in the club’s competitions could have a detrimental effect on your development as a creative photographer.
Corn lily leaves composed with visual equality in mind. All of the leaves contribute equally to the repetition in the composition.
ADVICE TO CONSIDER
With this context in mind, I’d like to offer a few very subjective pieces of advice for you to consider if you plan to enter a nature photography competition. This is not offered as a checklist but instead as a peek into the decision-making process I have used in reviewing thousands of photos as part of photo competitions over the last few years.
SNAP JUDGEMENT
One of the most important things to consider when choosing which photos to enter in a competition is the judging process. For most competitions, especially those with a large number of entries and a small number of judges, each entry will receive only a few seconds of initial attention during the first pass of consideration (maybe a bit more with in-person judging). If a photo does not have a clear message, it is unlikely to make it through this initial pass. Even though I always look at all entries twice, I find that my initial impression almost always sticks. For subsequent rounds of consideration, I’ll spend more time with each photo and more deeply consider its nuances but for the first round, the snap judgement is the thing that matters. As you are considering which of your photos to enter in a competition, consider how they will be received in this context.
INITIAL ASSESSMENT: YES OR NO?
In addition to an unclear or muddled message, I have a consistent list of things that attract my attention in a negative way during this snap judgement phase. If I see any of these things, I’ll immediately give a photo a low score and move on:
TECHNICAL COMPETENCE: A photo does not necessarily need to be technically perfect to rise to a level of excellence but technical flaws will add up. Some examples include: a horizon that is not level, dust spots, unintentional vignetting, excessive uncorrected chromatic aberration, exposure issues like overly bright spots or totally black shadows, and a lack of sharpness or depth of field issues that do not seem to be related to a creative choice. In one recent competition, one of my favorite photos had a tilted horizon and I did not move it forward in the judging process for this reason alone.
COMPETITION GUIDELINES: Photos that do not conform to the competition guidelines. It seems like a lot of photographers a) either do not read competition guidelines before entering or b) think their photo will receive special consideration. It will not. If the guidelines for a nature photography competition say no manmade objects, that means no manmade objects, even if they are small. If the category is intimate landscapes, look up that term and then decide which photos from your collection might fit the criteria best. Same with abstractions in nature: not all photos taken with a telephoto lens are “an abstract” and unless a photo has some mysterious qualities, it likely does not fit the guidelines.
This photo could do well in some competitions because of the dramatic, colorful light. Although this photo has a place in my portfolio, I personally wouldn’t consider it as a potential winner for a competition. Anyone with basic photography skills who was standing at this fairly accessible spot on this morning could have taken a similar photo. I love it and it brings back all sorts of positive memories but I do not think it represents excellence in photography.
QUALITIES THAT HELP A PHOTO STAND OUT
After the first round, I try to spend more time with each photo to see how its more subtle qualities might come forward with repeated viewing. In narrowing down a selection of finalists to a collection of winners, these are the things I consider, with positive attributes in each category moving a photo in the direction of winning and negative attributes moving it away from winning.
The list that follows is very subjective because it focuses on the things I think represent excellence in nature photography. Other people serving in a judging role will have very different ideas of what makes a good or impressive photograph. This is one reason not to take photo competition results personally: they are incredibly subjective.
PROCESSING THAT LOOKS NATURAL BUT WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH. If a processing technique attracts attention to itself, I’ll likely consider it to be a negative. This includes things like heavy Orton effect (or a heavily saturated glowy look), contrast issues (too little without the atmospheric conditions that would suggest a low contract situation or heavy contrast that looks unnatural), color issues (overly saturated, unattractive color casts, overly cyan blues, very yellow greens, purplish blues in the sky), overly bright shadows, halos from processing, and overly heavy vignettes that do not seem creatively intentional or carefully applied. Unnatural blends are an almost immediate no, as well (for example, gold light on the landscape with pink clouds in the sky). If a well-known mountain looks extra perky, I’ll quickly move past it, too.
POPULAR LOCATIONS. Unless you experienced once-in-a-lifetime exceptional conditions at a popular place—and approached these conditions in a personalized way—I am unlikely to move a photo of such a place forward during the judging process. From my perspective, photo competitions are all about elevating excellence and such photos usually do not show off the skill of the photographer. In the larger context of a full portfolio, these photos often deserve a place but I personally do not see them as aligning with the purpose of most photo competitions. (Important note: This is likely where a lot of judges diverge from my opinion since some competition winner galleries are full of common scenes and subjects under nice light. For bigger competitions, you can usually tell from the previous year’s winners which direction a competition leans in this regard, although it can vary from year-to-year as judges change. If you are entering a competition with consistent judges, consider the previous winners when deciding which of your own photos to enter.)
CLEAR MESSAGE AND CONCISE COMPOSITION. Since composition is one of the most challenging aspects of photography to master, I consider it one of the most important points in deciding on competition winners. There are many ways to get to a solid composition and the overall effect of how all the elements work together is generally most important. If there are too many diluted ideas within one scene or prominent visual distractions, I’ll likely move past a photo pretty quickly.
The winter sedum photo, referenced in the text above.
FLATTERING LIGHT. All different kinds of natural light can be used to create compelling nature photographs, not just colorful light around the “golden hour.” A concise, compelling composition with flattering light can sometimes elevate a simple or mundane subject to a level of excellence. Thus, flattering light that is interacting with the photo’s subjects in a compelling way often stands out much more compared to colorful light alone. As an example, this photo from Hans Gunnar Aslaksen was among my favorite photos in the 2022 NLPA competition because the beautifully shaped subject, concise composition, and flattering light all come together perfectly. In a competition, this combination of elements often shows off the skill of a photographer and impresses me more than photos that are visually striking because they are boldly colorful.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL. I place a lot of value on the craft of photography when assessing excellence. Little things like clean edges and corners, careful framing, and attention to other small details indicates a commitment to the craft of photography. Conversely, anything that shows sloppy composition or technical habits will likely encourage me to quickly pass by a photo unless it really stands out for some other reason.
PERSONAL INTERPRETATION AND ORIGINALITY. It is increasingly easy to stand in an impressive place and take a technically competent photo of a visually stunning scene. It is also increasingly common to copy the ideas of notable photographers and enter the resulting photos into competitions. I’m personally not interested in elevating such photos in any competition. Instead, the photos that stand out to me the most are those that tell me something about the creative mind of the photographer. While I can never know the full context of the situation in which a photo was created, I gravitate toward the photos that seem to have a creative spark behind them, offer a surprising take, an insight into the landscape, or a compelling observation of the natural world—in addition to technical competence, an effective composition, and flattering light.
Final Thoughts
While I strive in this direction, I certainly do not think that all of my photos meet these criteria so I am a bit uncomfortable judging other people’s photo in this way. Competitions, though, are all about judging so this is how I go about that challenging task when invited to participate in a photo competition. This approach can feel harsh, especially the snap judgement step at the beginning. Considering these aspects of the judging process in conjunction with your entry choices can therefore increase your chances of success so I encourage you to think strategically if you do enter competitions.
Please, though, do not let the results influence your feelings of self-worth. Participating in a competition can be motivating, offer an opportunity for self-reflection, and ultimately propel you forward. Just do not let the results get in your head in a negative way or derail you from creating work you love just because it is doesn’t appeal to a small collection of judges.
Sarah Marino is a full-time photographer, nature enthusiast, and writer based in southwestern Colorado. In addition to photographing grand landscapes, Sarah is best known for her photographs of smaller subjects including intimate landscapes, abstract renditions of natural subjects, and creative portraits of plants and trees. Sarah is the author or co-author of a diverse range of educational resources for nature photographers on subjects including composition and visual design, photographing nature’s small scenes, black and white photography, Death Valley National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. Sarah, a co-founder of the Nature First Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography, also seeks to promote the responsible stewardship of natural and wild places through her photography and teaching.