For competitions

• Pay attention to what judges say in competitions. Notice what they like and don't like.
• If you research the judge, you may find what they like or don't like. Be careful when putting images in of their specialist subjects -- they may be rather critical of these.
• Judges see the same photo again and again. Be original and they may reward you for this. You could hedge your bets with one creative and one original image.
• Judging is half objective and half subjective. If the judge criticises your images or gives them a lower mark, this does not at all mean these are not good.
• A good score in one competition doesn't mean a good score in another. Apart from subjectivity, scores are given relative to others in the same competiion.
• When judges say things you don't like, bite your tongue. After all, they're human. Really.

Judges will often comment (and give or deduct marks) about:

• Intent: What is your intent within the image. Is it clear to a judge?
• Subject: The primary subject in the image should be clear.
• Impact: Pictures that grab you and stir emotions often do well.
• Story: It helps if your picture suggests a 'story' or theme.
• Contribution: Everything should contribute towards the story and intent of the image.
• Composition: Arrangement of items within image. Guides eye locus.
• Distraction: Away from subject and intended eye locus. To light areas, people, text and other attention-grabbers.
• Background: Should not be distracting -- often best darker and defocused.
• Complexity: Simplicity is often better -- avoid the unnecessary.
• Creativity: Not just a 'record' shot or something the judge has seen before.
• PoV: Point of View that engages with subject (often at their eye-line).
• Aspect: Deliberately use portrait, landscape or square with appropriate aspect ratio.
• Cropping: Often could be tighter (remove what is not needed), but don't crop little bits like fingers.
• Burn: Avoid over-exposed white-out unless it's deliberately creative.
• Noise: Often in shadows or darker areas. Denoise before sharpening.
• Banding: Areas (often sky) of similar colour with distinct edges between areas.
• Sharpness: Eyes and key areas should be very sharp. Avoid halos and jaggedness from over-sharpening.
• Blur: Distractions and where you don't want the eye to go may be suitably blurred.
• Spots: Often in the sky, caused by dust on the sensor.
• Tonal range: Fill the histogram, from dark to light.
• Colour: Colours that work together are good; fix colour cast.
• Contrast: Tonal and colour, to separate items and give impact.
• Saturation: Don't be too enthusiastic with the sliders.
• Overprocessing: Beware excessive editing and effects that do not appeal to the aesthetic sense.
• Attention: The eye is grabbed by reds, brightness, closeness, size, text, people, danger, motion, interest, etc.
• Eye locus: The path the eye takes should be clear, eg. along lines and between attention objects.
• Title: That helps judge understand your intent.
• Outline: Outline digitals with 2px white (or image key colour) line (assuming 1400px image).
• Print: Put effort into ensuring print looks good. Use different papers as appropriate.
• Mount: Mount print carefully. Use proper mounting tape only (never sellotape or masking tape!).
• AI: OK for removing items, not for generative effects.

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