Summer time is here which means it's time to see your best outdoor images! For our June contest, we want to see your best images taken outside, and the winner will be rewarded handsomely.
With school now out and everyone itching to get those summer trips planned, we thought it would be great to open up this month's critique the community to any image taken outdoors. This theme is up to your interpretation but in a perfect world your image would be outside, or look to be outside, and should definitely incorporate nature or a busy city scene in some way. Although the featured image is an eye catching image of a dog, your subject could be anything from a friend, your family, a professional model, or just a beautiful landscape. Each community member can submit up to 3 images for this contest.
Rules
- All images must be submitted from now until June 30th at 2am Eastern Time.
- Every image submitted must include a short story on how you took the photo, what were the challenges, how you used natural or artificial lighting, what gear you used, and any other interesting insight on the image itself. Photos that do not include some backstory on how it was taken will not be picked to be featured in the Critique the Community episode.
- Each image needs to incorporate something related to the Outdoors. This is a subjective theme but do if an image does not appear to fit the outdoor concept, it will not be picked.
1st Place Prize: Godox AD600 Pro II
We are happy to have Godox sponsoring this month's contest. With the recent release of the brand new AD600 Pro II, this powerful 600ws strobe is the perfect companion for adding beautiful light to any photograph. This new update to one of the industry's most loved studio strobes offers a greater power range from 1/1 down to 1/512 power, an improved bi color LED modeling lamp, and even faster flash durations for freezing fast moving elements in your photos. (Prize Value $899)
Recently Lee Morris of Fstoppers reviewed the top studio strobes for photographers and the AD600 Pro II ranked as one of his favorite strobes on the market today.
2nd Place Prize: ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2025
The second place winner will receive a lifetime license of ACDSee's flagship photo editing and organizing software Photo Studio Ultimate 2025. This software doesn't just let you edit your raw files but you can also do some really exciting editing and organizing using AI and advanced masks. If you've wanted to break away from the grips of Adobe's subscription model, ACDSee's Photo Studio Ultimate is a great way to get the most out of your photos without the extra monthly fees. (Prize Value $149)
3rd Place Prize: Photography Tutorial from Fstoppers
As always, the third place winner of this critique the community contest will win a full photography tutorial from the Fstoppers Store (Prize value $300)
Good luck to everyone who enters and we look forward to seeing the best outdoor photos from the Fstoppers Community!
Featured Image by the talented Chris Van Riel
I almost always enter at least one image into the contests. I tend to eventually delete photos from older contests and posts... not sure why. I just do.
Here is case in point about why below 3-point comments should not be required, as Bobby above has clearly asked for, but then at the same time can't accept them. See here: https://priceloom.info/entry/703383%3C/a%3E and https://priceloom.info/entry/703385%3C/a%3E Then he continues to make personal attacks on different photos of mine. One I just had to remove in an earlier contest. See here: https://priceloom.info/photo/691251#comment-782505%3C/a%3E Is my comment on his above photo ridiculous? Call it what you well. One thing I mentioned was the noise in his photo. Ok. As Ed mentioned, he asked for comments above here, as I'm replying to that very comment. I've said many times, that many don't want to hear comments on their photo. As this case clearly demonstrates. If you can't take the heat, than stay out of the kitchen.
I don't care all that much about the contest itself, I already own most of the ACDSee tools, and I don't use artificial lighting. I can't even remember what the 3rd place prize is. I'm looking for honest feedback on how I'm doing in the eyes of other photographers, so there is no reason for. me to give anything but my honest opinion.
So far, my votes have been all over the place. I admit, I am a "tough grader". To get a higher vote from me, a photo needs technical excellence less than it needs content. I want something more than a sharp, pretty, picture. I want that photo to reach out and grab me in some way.
Pretty pictures get 2 stars from me. Photos that are "near misses" when it comes to content get 3 stars. 4 and 5 stars are reserved for how strongly the photo reaches me. There are likely times when some or even many people will disagree with me. But that's how things work, I guess.
Does pretty pictures mean sunrises and sunsets.
Taking a photo is all about timing. where and when the photographer and the subject to be shot shot come together at the right time - BAM!
Wow, this theme is going to get TONS of images! I don't envy them going through them all.
I submitted a few, but I totally don't expect to get picked, let alone win anything because there are some incredibly talented landscape photographers out there.
Instagram - This use to be the go to for online photographers. It's not a place to just post pictures anymore. Glad I left years ago. Everyone has 20,000 or more followers now as well. really? The algorithm wont even look at newbies until a certain amount of followers. It seems to promote video now. Still images don't get any attention, unless you're already established there. When you're new, the only comments you will get are from pay to promote scams. (I think those are part of Instagrams cut, because they do nothing to stop it, and its rampid.
I left when they started with stories, then reals and so on. A tactic to keep you on there site all day long. The only other places to go are Twitter ( never liked it), Facebook - The place to get all your personal info and all your friends info stolen, (never liked it) Bluesky seems to have the most opportunity these days, and not full of Pork. If they find out I voted for Trump, I would probably be shadowbanned - shhhhh
Was shadowbanned from Linkedin two years ago because of a street image with Trump tower in it. Before that, I had a huge following for their standards . It was my little secret. If you are good at this profession and do as your told, Linkedin is a place you can get a huge following the old fashion way, and fast. Your followers usually have money and will buy your work as well.
What are your thoughts?
Bobby, if you only saw my photography, beautiful photos are definitely not my thing, but this site as you say, likes the beautiful ones. I started using ai as a kinda protest to where photography is these days. I no longer care what others think of my work new or ai or past works. Photography has changed greatly from what it once was. It's the only profession I know of where a person could go out and buy a camera one day, put it on auto, shoot thousands of images, and post them on Fine Fart America the next for day for sale as a photographer. All that said, I think there are many young ameture photographers out there who have a great body of work. They won't have an easy time being found though, unless they have a niche, or do traditional photography.
Thanks for the reply.
Bullying and negative comments are two very different things. Go find a dictionary and tell me if you honestly think you're being bullied. I would like to remind all Fstoppers members that it was you, in one of your earlier posts, who suggested that anyone who rated a photo 3 stars or less should have to justify their vote with a comment.
You said:
"I agree that in order to rate anything 3 or less, whould require the rater to leave a comment, as well as to be able to hyperlink them to their profile, to be able to see how 'world class' their work is."
However, I think you should have been more precise to say that anyone who leaves a comment should only be permitted to leave nice feel-good complimentary praise for your images. Anything negative simply can't be true.
At this point, approximately 30 people have cast votes on your pictures. Two of your images are rated slightly below 2 stars. Virtually everyone else is thinking in their mind something along the lines of what was said by someone "audacious" enough to articulate their thoughts in the comments... your images "need work."
So tell me how we should comment on your photo without sounding negative? Or are we suppose to score your photo a 1 or 2 star and go on to tell you how great we think the photo is? Of course any comment is just one person's opinion, and you are free to ignore it. You can go on to defend your pictures as fine art, and criticize the Fstoppers community for its preference of modern, clinically perfect digital images. But don't ask for comments if you're going to harangue those of us who do so.
The continuation of this argument has nothing to do with the initial critique of your images. Nobody is continually berating your photos. At this point, it's solely one person's response to another person's reaction to the initial comments, and on and on and on.
One last thing: I don't take accusations of bullying lightly. If you think that's the case, please report any comments to the Fstoppers moderators which you feel are of that nature. If they think that I'm bullying you or anyone else, I'll willingly leave Fstoppers so as to not be a bad influence on the integrity of the community.
Locally to Atlanta, IG is still the best place for the photography community here in Atlanta. Nationally, or world wide, I agree that IG is video centric. I think Atlanta is unique though with some of its photo meetup groups and the help other photographers give each other. Photo meetups will have 2:1 photographer to model ratios and everyone follows everyone and passes jobs along to everyone else if they can't do it. There's competition, but nearly everyone is friends with each other, or at least friendly. This is where IG comes into play as the main way to connect, then there is a local Discord as well for one of the larger groups.
My experience was using Instagram 8.5 years ago before I deleted my account, This was pretty soon after stories started. Another way to keep you on their platform longer. it was manageable just posting your own new works once a day, 15,000 followers was considered pretty good back then. Now as I decided to join again, I see everyone has at least 15,000 to 20,000 followers. even as startups. It's become fake in my eyes even though I can only see out of one, lol.
I think you hit it on the head. When I was a avid user back then, they had meetups each month, PODs that many photogs belonged to. They did pretty well, as they all collaborated with likes and comments on each others posts. Wasn't for me. Actually I know some of that style goes on in these contests. It is what it is. Gotta have thick skin.
I did however enjoy getting invited by lots of my followers to go out in their boats on Lake Michigan to photograph the city. Invited to go on private city rooftops and other places to shoot. It definitely had its perks with a larger following. Now as I just joined again it's not for newcomers. You're forced to pay for a shout out, join the same ole collaborations and such, or sit idle The structure and algorithm will not help you until your following gets larger . That is why most say it sucks.My opinion is it does suck now. I don't blame AI for this either.
Oh if someone starts out with 15k followers, they're paying for them. Even if they're posted half naked women, they're not getting 15k followers for weeks to months of consistent posting. I shoot with a regular model and one of our recent shoots got over 100 likes and 2500 views from my 2000 followers, her 900 followers, and possibly hitting the algorithm "right." That's about as viral as I have gone.
I'm just there to share photos with my local photographer community and connect with other models. If I get followers, great, if I don't, I really don't care.
I dont use it much at all.
Probably his last comment...he left.
I joined F'stoppers to read and learn from others. I began my photolistic journey many many moons ( 1965 ) ago while stationed overseas. I have made some very good and interesting shots for someone that knows only the basic "how to's ". Auto was and still is to some degree my best friend. Is that really that bad? At 81, I have gave up on any intention of showing perfection in a photograph. I want my shots to be good - as in clarity. Photo edtting certaily has come a long way! So, IF I do submit a photo in this contest - I have absolutely no expectation of winning anything and a rating is meaningless without a comment on why it was rated as such. I'd like to just to show what I did and receive any suggestions how I could have improved the shot. FYI: I shoot with two cameras: A Nikon D-3300 with a 300mm lens and a Canon PowerShot. The Nikon seems to do better below 300mm and the Powershot has pulled in some amazing shots for me both close up and far away! I can hear someone saying: It's time for you to upgrade. Hahha That's all folks... See ya in the funny papers. Oh, Is a beautiful photo in the eye of the beholder? Just because I like it you may not and just because you like it I may not.
I would just enter, you never know if you'll get picked. There are some that Lee and Patrick have picked that I wouldn't have since I thought other photos were better. But its not just your photo, its the caption you post with it too.
No competition editing rules? These leads to anything AI generated being submitted. Open anyone around the world or only USA based?
The rules are at the top of the page. I don't know the fine print at winning, but people from all over the world submit.
People submit photos and sometimes they don't put very much information about where or how they took the photo. I have outright accused one person in the past of submitting AI pictures, albeit they were awesome. But when you just drop an image, and you just say where you think its supposed to be, and the sky looks all weirdly replaced and dazzling, and the landscape is amazing... And then you look at the profile, and they are from all parts of the globe. Every photo was just tagged with a 'place name'... I began to put two and two together. I'm not going to mention names. Of course I could be wrong. But at least you could mention camera settings and follow the rules about how the photo was taken. Even so, Lee and Patrick our fearless Judges for these contests, sometimes pick photos, that do not follow the rules exactly. Btw... I will replace a sky, I have no problem doing that. Lee has said he replaces his skies all the time. But obviously there is a difference, if you completely generate an image, and you never picked up a camera. Then if you submitted such images, you would be just using this forum to get accolades for something that a computer made. Unfortunately it is hard to tell the difference anymore right.