Early this year, after dropping the kids off at school and picking up some coffee, I made my way to the City of Richardson's Community Events Center to begin what proved to be a really fun day.   

I was a judge for their annual photography contest.  This contest is one of the biggest around, with several hundred entries each year.  There are three classes:  student, adult, and proficient.  The categories were numerous, from architecture to people, with both color and black and white categories for each.

And many of the student ones were every bit as good as the proficient ones.

There were three judges and three staff members who were helping set up the photographs for us to judge.  Our task was to choose 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd places plus honorable mentions (if we deemed there were any).

Much of the time, we judges agreed on what the best photographs were, though we did not always agree on the order.  At that point, each of us would state our individual case, trying to persuade the other judges, and then we would settle on what we, collectively, thought was best.

I really enjoy judging photography contests because I enjoy looking at other artist's work, seeing the creativity, and viewing the world through someone else's eyes.

After a long (visually stimulating!) day, I reflected on some ways to help you, my readers, do well in contests such as these:

• Read and obey the rules.  If it says there is a minimum size for your image, make sure your image is big enough.  If it says no borders on your image, then no borders.

• Don't put anything on the image that would identify you as the photographer.  There is a reason the artist information is on the back. Often, judges know the local artists and we don't want to be biased in any way. 

• Presentation is important.  Your image should be securely mounted and not peeling off at the corners.   

• Enter in the proper category.  Look carefully at the categories and descriptions.  There were a few images that would have placed if they had been in the proper category.   

• Learn what goes into making a great photograph.  It was obvious that many people knew nothing about the art of photography.  They simply took a snapshot of, say, a flower in their backyard, and entered it. If you don't know what goes into making a great photograph, post your image on a critique forum or read critiques of other images on forums.  Or ask a trusted photographer to judge it for you.

• Do not oversharpen your image.  Every digital photograph needs sharpening but a little goes a long way.  And do it yourself instead of letting the lab do it because most consumer labs tend to oversharpen. 

• We looked at the images as a group and noticed which ones stood out the most.  Then we looked at each one individually.  The ones that stood out usually had more impact.  Create impact in your images with color, composition, contrast, lighting, or emotion.

• Be interesting.  For example, use a different camera angle than everyone else would.

• Make sure your subject is in sharp focus.

• Photograph during the right times of day.  There were many images with blown-out white skies. This happens when photographs are taken during midday.  Golden hours are usually best (one hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset).

• Don't try to pull a fast one on the judges by manipulating your image in a category where image manipulation is not allowed.  There was one image where, when looking at the shadows, we determined some important compositional elements had been pasted in during post processing.  

With these items in mind, I believe you are one step ahead of the crowd.  Good luck to you on your next contest!   

Don't hesitate to e-mail me with photography-related questions!  Thanks so much for reading.

Dawn