Validity of Subject
The Core Principle
If you are entering exhibitions, enter your best photographs. "Best" in this context means those most likely to score high marks. The guidance below will help you identify images that are strong choices for exhibition.
Points of Choice
What Adjudicators Look For
- Simplicity
- Impact
- Strong narrative
- Good technique: exposure, focus, light temperature
- Presentation: images free of dust specks or blemishes, prints mounted and matted cleanly
Subjects to Choose
A partial list of subjects that tend to perform well in exhibition.
Strong Subject Categories
- Strong, clean graphics
- Strong colours in simple designs
- Easily read mood pictures
- Spectacular lighting on familiar subjects
- Exotic subjects with spectacular lighting
- Children: with mood, cute and cuddly, annoyed, pouting, or covered in mud
- The young of nearly all mammals
- Sports with strong, easy-to-read action
- Sports with strong colours
- Still life: strong, simple, interesting colour or tone
- Close-ups of wild animals
- Wild animals with exciting lighting
- Wild animals showing exciting action
- Wild flowers and plants: good specimens that fill the frame, with spectacular lighting, good background, and colours that sing
- Portraits: beautiful women, handsome men, character studies
Image Presentation Considerations
Colour Exhibition Images
The emotional impact of colour can complicate or complement the choice of images for exhibition. Adjudicators may not respond to colours in the same way as the image maker. A strong colour can also draw attention away from the subject or theme. As a general rule, subtle colours and statements do poorly under the time constraints of adjudicating. Always remember: impact!
Monochrome Exhibition Images
Tonal quality substitutes for colour in black and white images. In some respects this is an advantage, as colour tends to dominate design in colour images. In monochrome, mood often becomes the defining element of a strong image.