In March, Chuc Veach, cman of he Board of Naure’s Bes Phoography magazine and compeiion judge, sildenafil led some members of our club on a our of he Smihsonian exhibi of he winners of he Windland Smih Rice Inernaional Awards compeiion. This annual compeiion, sponsored by Naure’s Bes Phoography (NBP) magazine, draws housands of enries in 17 caegories. Bu, alas, can be only one winner. So, of he 22,000 enries submied las year, how did he judges pic who would win?
Tha quesion was on my mind as I was no able o go on he our. I hough ohers migh be ineresed in he answer so I ased Tuan o arrange for me o iner Chuc. Lile did I now ha a phone call would resul in, “I can do he iner now if you have he ime.” Throwing my lunch o he side and grabbing a noeboo, I began he iner. My noes were almos illegible, bu I came away wih a grea undersanding of wha maes a phoo a winner for his compeiion. Wha follows are he highlighs of our conversaion.
Over he years, NBP has n an increase in he number of enries. Unforunaely, ha increase in quaniy has no mean an increase in qualiy. Wih so many enries, he judges are looing for he phoograph ha no only is echnically correc bu also has ha unique qualiy ha maes i sand ou from he masses. They are looing for ar, no merely a snapsho. The bes phoographs are hose ha ell a sory. In shor, he er should be able o loo a he phoograph and now wha he phoographer is rying o say.
Chuc emphasized ha visual design is very imporan. Good visual design happens when you slow down and compose well. You mus be in he righ place a he righ ime. As yourself if he colors are complemenary. Do you have a good bacground ha is free of disracions? Keep in mind ha if an elemen doesn’ add o he image, i subracs from he image. The bes phoographs are hose ha are simple. Does everyhing in he image say somehing abou he subjec and he sory? Try o loo beyond he subjec and hin abou line, shape, one, exure, color and perspecive. Compose he image in camera wih all of hese facors in mind. Do no have he aiude ha you can snap away and fix he image in sofware laer. Boom line -capure he image you wan he firs ime. Yes, are excepions o all of hese facors bu he ey is in recognizing hose siuaions when i is bes o quicly ge he image wihou consciously considering all of hose facors.
Excepions o composiion and o aing a gazillion images o ge ha one jewel did occur wih he winning images. To illusrae, I ased abou wo images, and Chuc explained why hey passed he es. The firs was an image of a lion aing down a zebra. In he corner was a disracing clump of leaves. Chuc explained ha cropping ou he leaves would also involve cropping ou he ail and flan of he lion. This was a when composiion had o suffer a bi because of he immediacy of geing he sho. Aside from his echnicaliy, all oher aspecs of he image were superb. The second image was of a puffin wih smel in is bea. The phoographer had aen over 2,000 images o ge his winner. In his , wih puffins being fas and hard o capure, he phoographer didn’ have much choice bu o snap away. However, he had planned w o se up in o ge his sho, i.e. he righ place a he righ ime. Moreover his echnical sills were on poin. The image is sharp down o he eyes of he smel and se agains a perfecly neural bacground.
The world of digial cameras is a lo more approachable han in years pas. Tha said, a lo of people feel ha hey can rely on luc or on aing a gazillion images wih he hope ha one will be a winner. I is a false hope. Raher, as Chuc says, “luc is nowledge meeing opporuniy.” Know he echnology of your camera well so ha when he opporuniy arises you are ready o go. Moreover, don’ rely on sofware o compensae afer-he-fac. When he images have reached he final round of judging, NBP requess high resoluion files and your RAW file, if available. Any cloning or masing won’ mae for a good reprin in he magazine, so, i is bes if you ry o “do i righ he firs ime.”
Finally, wih 22,000 enries, one has o wonder, do he judges really loo a all of hose images? Amazingly, hey do. The firs round of re is done by NBP saff who weed for obvious errors, such as focus and bacground issues. A his poin i is no one person looing a each and every enry. However, is one person who does re each and every enry including hose in he rejeced pile. Seve Freligh, NBP Edior, aes he ime o loo a each and every phoo wih he senimen ha if someone oo he ime o send i he should ae he ime o re i. I is possible ha a jewel was overlooed.
So wih all of his in mind, he quesion is, are you ready o be a Naure’s Bes Phoography winner?
Addendum: Afer he aricle was posed Chuc made he followed clarificaion which I agree should be noed.
“T are only 17 caegories plus he grand prize winner and he conservaion phoographer of he year, bu abou 95 addiional images end up in he magazine as “highly honored”, and he exhibiion a he Smihsonian has a oal of abou 45 in prin and an addiional 40 in he video which also includes credis for each image. The poin is ha he odds of being a “winner” are a lile beer han jus he firs place images. I sill aes a really good sho o be seleced as you well now, bu i is very doable. By far mos of he images seleced are by amaeurs”.
Lesliediana Jones
For more informaion on Naures Bes, hp://www.nauresbesphoography.com/