I’m pleased to be returning to one of my favorite local photo clubs, the Bay Area Bird Photographers, next week. I’ll be giving a presentation (which I first gave at B&H in New York last October) on Creating Award-winning Photography – with a focus on wildlife and bird photography. If you enter contests, or have thought about it, there will be plenty of advice. Even if you just shoot for yourself, there will be lots of pointers to help improve the quality of images you capture.

The talk is free and open to the public. If you’re in town I hope to see you there (the Lucy Evans Nature Center in Palo Alto) at 7:30 on Wednesday the 6th. –David

Event Announcement from BABP:

The Bay Area Bird Photographers Meeting
Wednesday February 6 7:30-9PM
Location: Lucy Evans Baylands Interpretive Center on East Embarcadero Rd., Palo Alto

February's program will be "Creating Award-winning Photography" by David Cardinal.

Photo contests are a great way to get feedback on your images, and see how they compare with images taken by others. They can also be a good way to focus your creative energy and time in the field. If you're also hoping to win, it helps to have a plan and understand what it takes to have images that stand out when judged.

Fortunately, almost anyone has the tools to start winning recognition in photo contests -- if they are willing to use them. I'll walk you through some of the techniques, and the images, that have helped me win recognition in several major contests, as well as demonstrate the difference between potential winning images and "also rans."

Topics covered will include:

Nature Photo Contest basics:

--Typical rules
--About judges
--Categories and considerations

Creating award-winning images:

--Technical considerations
--Composition
--Communication
--Post-processing, dos and don'ts

Award-winning images:

I'll take you through some of my award-winning images (including my 1st place in Mammals NWF 2011 and Grand Prize Winner NWF 2012, as well as Finalists in the NHM/BBC Photographer of the year) and explain some of the reasons they stood out in contests among tens of thousands of entries.

David has been leading photo safaris for over a decade, specializing in North American and African wildlife and Southeast Asian peoples and cultural sites. He has written about photography for Outdoor Photographer, Photoshop User, PC Magazine, and many other magazines and websites including Extremetech.com. He co-authored one of the first books on digital photography with colleague Moose Peterson, and has taught workshops for DLWS and NANPA. He is also one of the judges in the upcoming B&H Wilderness Wildlife Photo Contest.

2775 Embarcadero Rd. From 101, take Embarcadero Rd going East (towards the Baylands). At the stop sign at the very end of Embarcadero, take a left (staying on Embarcadero). The Interpretive Center is on the left along the jetty path after the Duck Pond. Parking is on Embarcadero, in the lot on the right (just as the road bends again).

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David Cardinal
February, 2013