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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Advice on writing comments for comp entries 4 years 8 months ago #2144

  • Ian Wilson
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Images submitted to competition galleries may have requirements in addition to meeting the theme. For some time there has been an additional requirement in the rules asking members to provide the reason why the photographer has entered the image in the current competition. Most entrants satisfy the first requirement of meeting the theme, but many do not not attempted to explain why they entered the image in the comp. The intent of this additional requirement is to encourage members to think about the qualities of their image that make it worth entering in the comp. If you like, it is asking members to self-critique their entry and to explain why it is a worthy entrant. There can be many reasons why an image is a worthy entrant, for example it might show some interesting or unusual behaviour, it might have some special lighting effect that makes it particularly attractive, or the timing might capture some exquisite moment, and of course it might be multiple positive attributes both aesthetic and technical. If you ask yourself ‘what do I like about this image?’, then you will be on the right track. If your answer is that this image has merit because of A, B and C, then tell us about A, B and C in your comments. If you struggle to find any reason other than it satisfies the theme, then maybe you should reconsider entering the image in the comp.

If you are wondering what makes a good comp image then I recommend you read the judges responses to this question on the BirdLife Photo Awards website here. In general terms you need to think about the following: is the subject interesting, is it a pleasing composition, is the lighting special or attractive, and does the timing capture a special moment. All competition entries need to have some of these attributes and we want you to tell us about them in the comments submitted with your image.

I hope these remarks provide some helpful guidance for members contemplating the reason why they are entering an image in our competitions. The President in his email to members on 18 June indicated that entries not complying with this rule will be rejected.

Best of luck with your comp entries.
Ian Wilson
Competition Moderator
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Advice on writing comments for comp entries 4 years 6 months ago #2166

  • Bruce Terrill
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Hi Ian,
As someone who doesn't enter into photo competitions, I didn't bother reading this posting but it just got the better of me and I have now read your writings and believe that in that very short period of time that you have now made me a better photographer?
Silly statement, How, Why, Not possible????
After reading what is required to enter a competition and how I should look at my images and the questions that I should ask of said images, I now see myself and my images in a different 'light' and will definitely be thinking of different aspects of my photos from now on when I'm peering through the viewfinder.
I've always told myself to try and take 'different' pics to those that others take, but there's only so much that can be done when your subject just presents itself and you have to click away, but your questioning of activity, peak of action, differences in light and direction, interesting or boring, all make for a different perspective of your image and will now allow me to move forward with my photography. . .
Thanks for the tune-up mate,
Bruce
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Advice on writing comments for comp entries 4 years 6 months ago #2168

  • Ian Wilson
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Thanks Bruce, your feedback is much appreciated.

My intention was to provide some help for members struggling with the question of what makes a good competition photo and how to make an intelligent comment about their image. In competition photography, comments are an important adjunct to the actual image and can make a difference to how an image is judged. All the big annual competitions around the world like the BBC Wildlife Awards, Audubon Society Bird comp, the UK-based Bird Photographer of the Year and our BL national comp require competitors to provide a 'back-story' or other relevant comments. In our BLP comps we have been a bit too laid back in this regard and the President has quite rightly asked me to tighten up on what is an acceptable comment. We had reached a point where some competitors thought it was OK to just put the name of the bird in the comments field even though there was a special place to put the ID of the bird, in other words, they were telling us the species name in two places! How stupid is that?

My hope is that by asking competitors to provide meaningful comments about their images that they will be better prepared for entering serious competitions like our BL national awards competition. It would be very gratifying to see one of our members win a national or international competition. On a more down to earth level, I believe that intelligent comments should be required for images submitted to any of our galleries including New Images. I find it frustrating when a member posts a very interesting image without comment - it happens far too often! On a related matter, some members even post images without taking the trouble to enter any keywords which are essential for searching our galleries for specific kinds of images like looking for pictures of females or birds in flight.

Kind regards, Ian
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