NOVICE LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHER

• (Overall max of 4 images)

• Submit color entries (max 2)

• Submit monochrome entries (max 2)

Competition 2025-2026  - Themes and descriptions

(This is a work in progress.)

• High Key / Low key

• While Low-Key photography plays with deep shadows and selective highlights, High-Key photography is characterized by bright, nearly shadow-free atmospheres. These two techniques form a strong visual contrast but are often used for similar subjects—such as portraiture, still life, or even architectural photography.

• Negative Space / Minimalism

• Negative space in photography is the area surrounding the main subject of an image, often used to emphasize the subject and create a sense of balance or mood. Examples include a lone bird in a vast sky, a building against a clear sky, or a subject in a blurred background.

• Shooting Through Something (“Framing”)

• 1- Prism

• Hold a prism that you can use to shoot through and get really interesting light You can find cheap chandelier pendants on Amazon and the different shapes will help create different effects.

• 2- Glass Orb

• You can buy a glass orb and shoot through it for some really distorted effects.

• 3- Drinking Glass

• You can shoot through an empty transparent drinking glass, or you can can fill it up with still or carbonated water.

• You can push it even further by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water for very creative color effects.

• 4- Bottle

• Similar to drinking glass, you can shoot through a glass or plastic bottle. Try for example a Perrier bottle at one of the edges of your lens.

• 5- Glass Pane

• If you happen to have a glass pane available from something like the glass that covers some coffee tables, that can also be interesting to shoot through.

• On top of that, you can play around by rubbing some oil or butter on certain areas of the glass, for interesting in-camera smudge effects.

• Sometimes you don’t have to find a glass pane that’s just floating around, but instead you can make creative use of windows from buildings or cars by shooting your subject from the outside through the glass. It creates an interesting distance between the camera and the subject.

• 6- Plastic Wrap

• Similar to shooting through a glass pane, try shooting through some plastic wrap.

• 7- Leaves / Foliage / Bushes / Trees

• Grab one of more leaves and shoot with them at the edge in front of your lens. The leaves add some nice colored blur-up effect to the final image.

• Instead of loose leaves, you can also shoot through leaves or foliage that’s still on the tree or you can shoot through bushes. Or try shooting through ferns that are in your environment. This can really help give a personality and a story to your images.

• 8- Branches

• Similar to leaves, try shooting your subject through some branches that are already in the environment, or branches that you’re holding yourself in front of the lens.

• 9- Fence

• Shoot through a fence for both an interesting pattern on the subject and give a feeling of separation/distance/coldness.

• Floral

• Abandoned

• Pan or Zoom Motion (or ICM)

• What is ICM?

• ICM, or Intentional Camera Movement, is a technique that combines the use of a slow shutter speed and intentional movement of the camera.

• Panning:

• Definition: Panning is a camera movement technique where the camera is moved horizontally (or vertically, though less common) to follow a moving subject.

• Purpose:

• It's used to convey a sense of motion and speed, often in sports or wildlife photography, by blurring the background while keeping the subject relatively sharp.

• Technique: Requires a slower shutter speed and a smooth, consistent movement of the camera in sync with the subject's velocity.

• Example:  capturing a racing car with a blurred background, while the car itself remains relatively sharp.

• What I did This Summer

• My Best Picture of the Year

• Peer critique (back-up)