Selecting and Shooting Your Best Pictures for Competition Entries

Yesterday I posted about a number of photographic competitions that you might consider entering, not just because you might win but because of the learning process that you go through when working to a specific brief. I do believe that working to a purpose or particular subject matter improves your visual sense and eye so entering competitons is a good way to achieve that.

This article is written by D. Travis North who has his own blog. He writes that he recently acted as a judge for a photographic competition and this has led him to compile a list of tips and guides as to how you should approach entering a competition, all good information I think so have a look at his article here

Here is Marianne Majerus last year’s International Garden Photographer of the Year winner speaking to Miranda Gavin of f2 magazine about her experience of IGPOTY

If you are interested in learning more about garden photography here is a link to a IGPOTY masterclass and for a more hands on learning process join our Garden and Plant Photography  on June 12th

15 Digital Point-and-Shoot Cameras Used By Pro Photographers

This is an interesting article where the author has asked a number of photographers which point and shoot (compact) camera they use. Mine by the way is a Canon G10

“Do professional photographers really use point-and-shoot cameras? Surprisingly, yes.

Using Facebook and Twitter, I just completed a little of my own unscientific research. I wanted to find out which digital point-and-shoot is the camera-of-choice among professional photographers. Just over 50 professional photographers responded, and most of them are included here.

Some well-known photographers responded to my call, including: Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers David Hume Kennerly and Brian Smith; “Strobist” David Hobby; Washington DC photojournalist David Burnett; Outdoor/Adventure photographer Corey Rich; and Lifestyle/Advertising photographer Tom Hussey.

I asked each photographer the same questions: What camera do you use; what gadgets and add-on accessories do you use; do you have any pro-level advice for others using this camera; and I asked them to supply a picture they shot with the camera.”

If you want to see what is shot by who read on

Although not asked to contribute I would say I like my G10, I bought it because I wanted a compact camera with an optical viewfinder and with aperture priority controls and exposure compensation. Here is my picture

How to make your photographers better, to stand out from the crowd

“Digital cameras have completely revolutionized the photography industry. With more convenient, cheaper and higher quality cameras now available on the market, it seems everyone owns a point and shoot or DSLR. More recently, social media brought this growth explosion to the next level, encouraging many people around the world to share their work online. Popular social media sites like Facebook host over 15-billion unique images and with its current rate of growth, users are expected to upload 30 billion more images this year alone. These sites, whether primarily built for photographers or not, are growing rapidly. In such a huge network how can you differentiate your visual artistry from the rest of the pack? Here are some tips to make sure your photographs don’t get lost in the crowd.” writes Chase Guttman in this interesting article found here on the Lightstalking blog

What he has to say is the basis of our teaching at The Oxford School of Photography. Our courses teach technique but more importantly, that your pictures are better because of how you see rather than the value of your equipment. Learning how to use your DSLR is vitally important because without control of  your camera you are at the mercy of it’s automatic functions, but beyond that it is about how you see and respond to the subjects before you, we address these areas in our Composition course and in the new Travel Photography course which starts on June 9th. We also explore deeper into the motivations of photographers to understand why we take take pictures and how we can infuse them with more meaning and purpose on our Intermediate Course.

Chase also has a blog site that covers similar ground to that which we aim to highlight and you might like to have a look at his Photography Tip World you cannot get too much of a good thing and we try to bring you the best. As our family motto goes, “Too much is not enough”

Josef Koudelka

Edward Weston

Robert Frank