Now Accepting Twilight Shots For January 2013 Photographer of Month Contest
January 6th, 2013
OK, we’re ready to launch another year of PFRE photographer of the month’s contests.
For those not familiar with this series of monthly competitions take a look at the Contest page that describes all the rules and the process. An for a look at last years monthly winners and all the yearly winners go to the best-of-the-best page (on the top menu bar click “Featured”). There was a period between 2008 and 2011 that we didn’t run the contest in it’s present form.
This contest is a juried contest. The list of jurors is on the contest page. The primary purpose of being recognized by your peers in the real estate photography industry.
The theme for January is twilight shots and we will be accepting entries through January 15. The winner will be picked by the jury between Jan 15 and Jan 23.
As usual the submitted images are available for viewing in the PFRE Photographer of The Month flickr group. I post them there as they are submitted. Also for people with devices that won’t display flash the left-sidebar has the submitted images. This sidebar display lags the flickr group display by several hours.
2 Responses to “Now Accepting Twilight Shots For January 2013 Photographer of Month Contest”
David Eichler January 7th, 2013 at 9:56 pm #
After looking over the submissions to date, I have to say that I am very disappointed. It is clear to me that many people do not understand how to do twilights really well, and furthermore what subject matter is appropriate for a really successful twilight shot. Twilight photos, especially exteriors, can provide the opportunity to create exceptionally dramatic photos that can do far more to draw attention to a property, and enhance its appeal, than just about any other. However, not every home is suitable material for a great twilight photo, even some very expensive ones that look great in the sunlight (although one can sometimes remedy this with a substantial amount of supplementary lighting and/or extensive Photoshop manipulation). It seems to me that this is the type of shot that, if you are really trying to show off, you need to do really well or not bother. In my view, none of the submissions to date nails it, though one comes very close and one gets there but actually goes too far. The rest show more significant weaknesses, such as being shot too late or too early, very uneven interior or exterior lighting, mediocre processing, or good technique but an uninspiring subject or awkward composition. Aside from one or two that come very close, there are a number of very good shots so far that are certainly useful and no doubt reasonably effective for marketing purposes, and I know people need to practice this stuff, show their work and get critiques, to help them improve; however, I think the goal here should be to really show that you can do it right and impress the hell out of everybody you possibly can. Otherwise, back to that woodshed.
Dylan Darling January 8th, 2013 at 9:50 am #
I’ve only tried twilights a few times, and my results were not outstanding. One of my real estate resolutions this year is to shoot more twilights of my listings, using methods I’ve found online. I look forward to seeing the submitted shots. 2013 should be a great year for real estate agents and photographers!