Voting has closed and Lisa Beskin’s remarkable underwater photograph of lilypads was the winner for the month of June! If you’re not already, follow us on Facebook to vote for the next “Facebook Fave” in July!
Have a great shot of your own? The contest runs through September 30. For rules and how to enter, visit massaudubon.org/picturethis.
The 2021 Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest is now open! We’ll be accepting submissions until September 30 of photos that highlight people in nature, capture the beauty of Massachusetts wildlife, and celebrate our stunning landscapes and habitats.
To get you inspired to hone your photography craft, we created a photography composition cheat sheet to go with our tips for taking a winning photograph. To help you visualize the different techniques photographers use to create a balanced, impactful shot, here are five photo contest winners that exemplify different compositional principles.
But remember, photography is a creative art, not a science—that means experimenting is strongly encouraged and rules are meant to be broken!
Rule of Thirds
To achieve a balanced-looking shot, try to imagine that the frame is divided into a three-by-three grid and place your subjects along the dividing lines and intersection points.
You can offset the “visual weight” of your subject by counter-balancing it with another focal point of lesser importance in the same frame. Here, the hummingbird is balanced by the jewelweed flowers it has its eye on.
As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” It’s amazing the complexity of stories and emotions you can capture in a single fraction of a second!
