Do these 5 things to make your photos stand out
ABOVE: “Jumbo Lookout” by Tess Duncan
Monday 9/21 is the very last day to enter the summer 2015 Capture Conservation Photo Contest, which means on Tuesday… judging begins. We usually end up with a few thousand entries, so if you’re hoping to win grand prize (a round-trip flight for two!), you better do all that you can to make your photos stand out.
Here are 5 things that you can do right now.
Use your caption to tell the story!
Have a great photo of some wild, mountainous landscape stretching as far as the eye can see? Tell us how you got there, who you were with, and what the experience meant to you! Have an awesome wildlife shot? Tell us a little more about the encounter! What kind of animal are we looking at? Where did you spot it? What were you doing? When?
Using your caption to respond to the four W’s (who, what, where, when) makes your photo a lot more meaningful, which gets our attention when we’re looking for winners.
Here are a couple fine examples (Saving the Bench, Honoring the Elder Shortleaf) of excellent photos made even better by great captions.
Take advantage of the categories!
Marking your photo with the categories we’ve provided will make it easier to find, plus give us some information that we’re interested in knowing. Did you take this shot in a national park? Let us know with a category tag! Are you an SCA member? Did you take this photo on a hike? Is there an animal in it? Was there dirt involved? How about biking? These are all things you can tell us by marking categories!
“On the Way to Work” by Sylvia Taylor
Let us know your Instagram handle!
As past winners can attest, being on instagram isn’t necessary to win the contest, but it might help! It’s just one more piece of information to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Plus, when we’re looking for photos to share on our Instagram feed (We’re @the_sca. Give us a follow!), we’re more likely to choose yours if we know your handle.
Share your photos on social media, and encourage your friends to share them too!
When we’re down to choosing between a few great finalists, we can’t help but see how many shares a photo has (or hasn’t) gotten. We’re not saying it’ll make the difference between 1st and 2nd place, but we’re not saying it won’t either!
Get Votes!
There can only be one People’s Choice winner, but we certainly notice all of the photos that are getting a lot of votes. Since getting noticed is the first step towards becoming a finalist, why not do all that you can to catch our eye? Share you photos on Twitter and Facebook to get more votes!
BELOW: “Bear on the Move at Lake Clark” by Aubrey Davis
