New and improved photography competition themes.

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hi all,

Ok if you haven't read it read this first.

So for the first 2 rounds, can we have some theme suggestions please, then I'll bitch slap a passing don into turning this into a poll.

So my suggestions...

  • Landscapes
  • Portraits
  • Seascapes
  • Curves
  • Depth Of Field
  • Expression
  • Colours
  • Time
  • Materiality
  • Abandonment
  • Sorrow
  • Joy
  • Glory
  • Ground
  • Historic
  • Power
  • Flow
  • Mugs - (bonus points for OCUK mugs, heh)
  • Music
  • Computers
  • Technology
  • Light painting
  • Pets
  • Sunrise/Sunset
  • Night sky
  • Motion
  • Seasons
  • Architecture
  • Black & White / Monochrome
  • Creative Photography
  • Macro's
  • Shutter Speed
  • Water
  • People/street
  • Why I love Photography

Lets give it till Saturday Midnight to get the suggestions in and a Don can then create the suggestions into a poll for one week. The top 2 choices will be the first 2 rounds.

I'll collate them in the first post as we go.

Jake
 
Last edited:
I would like to see some emotive themes as well, for example;

Time
Materiality
Abandonment
Sorrow
Joy

etc, etc.
 
Interesting structure :p
Here are a few random themes I came up with a while ago - some of them may have been done before in the old competitions (haven't checked):

Glory
Ground
Historic
Power
Flow

I think all of these are open to multiple and totally different interpretations, e.g. Ground may be the ground, or ground pepper or whatever.
 
Circles!

In all seriousness I'd like a couple of generic categories, things like mugs/plates something most people have around the house and will have a better change to shoot regardless on if they work days/nights that might help stir up some informative threads on technique and composure for capturing the said image.

Here's some of the things I'd like to shoot:

1. Mugs - (bonus points for OCUK mugs, heh)
2. Music - (pretty broad but allows for some nice variations)
3. Computers - (This is a comp forum after all :p )
4. Technology - (Everyone will have some form of tech they can photo)
5. Light painting - (Great fun for starters to play with)
6. Pets - (Cats, Dogs and all things pet like)
7. Sunrise/Sunset (Might be better towards the summer)
8. Night sky (Can include astro deep space, wide field and moon shots)
9. Motion (Anything that moves be it a train, car, person or bird)
10. Seasons (Wildcard subject to capture seasons, be it autumn leaves or spring blossoms)

Well that's all I can think of for the moment.
 
My first vote would go with landscapes as that's what I have most experience in. But stepping out of your comfort zone is what this is all about in my opinion so I'll offer these suggests as well:

  • Architecture
  • Black & White / Monochrome
  • Creative Photography
  • Macro's
 
I'm of the opinion that under the new format the ideal choice for the first two rounds would be Shutter Speed and Depth of Field.

That way you're giving people a nice broad topic to work with but focusing on a technical aspect - the old hands should be able to nail that without a second thought and the newcomers can learn useful technique for the future.

It should also level the playing field somewhat. Everyone can choose to either shoot the subject matter they enjoy or step out of their comfort zone a little, but still have to ensure that creative use of shutter speed or aperture is prevalent within the image and has been used appropriately.
 
Looking forward to a new competition. I never entered the old competition, just when I'd built up the courage/motivation to it stopped.

My 2 cents on those categories: Seascapes is actually pretty restrictive. I'd say a fair chunk of people don't live near the sea/large body of water and probably wouldn't be able to visit on in the competition time window.
 
Depth of field would be difficult for people with compact cameras.

I like quite a few of the ideas so far. To help beginners it'd be good if themes like motion and night sky linked to a short tutorial on the basics.
 
TheAlex said:
Depth of field would be difficult for people with compact cameras.

I like quite a few of the idecourse I would love a landfar. To help beginners it'd be good if themes like motion and night sky linked to a short tutorial on the basics.
Click to expand...

Agreed things like DoF constrain people by hardware.

I would go for things like "spring", which work well for landscapes, cities, portraits, wildlife, still life, macro.
 
Yes, as generic as possible would be best. Possibly even with a detailed write up/description to get people started?

Hell, for the first round you could have something like "Why I love photography" with the entry having to include the reasons and thinking behind the shot? Everyone shouldn't have any problems thinking up an entry for something like that?
 
Whilst I want to compete. I fear if I suggest any themes I will suggest those that appeal to me and thats NOT what I want to get out of the competition.

So 1 from the top 1'ish from the middle'ish and another from near the bottom
 
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