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Have you ever tried using your photography skills to win money, flights, and other fantastic prizes? If not, it's a perfect time to take a chance.

Photography competitions are a perfect way to have fun when practicing your picture-taking skills and win prizes while you're at it.

Best of all, you don't need to use specialized equipment or be a coach to succeed. Here are few tips to please the judges and improve your likelihood of being a winner.

Go Through the Rules
If you're motivated to take part in photo contests, you may be tempted to just dive in and start shooting. Hold on a second, if you want to win, it's worth reading the rules carefully.

Many contests have special conditions that restrict the types of images they can allow. For instance, they do not allow applications containing brand names or logos other than their own. This suggests that the wrong t-shirt or logo in the context of your shot might disqualify you. You will never know if you weren't going through the rules

Explore How Winners Will Be Chosen
Before you start shooting, verify how the winners of the contest will be selected. Many photo contests specify the requirements that the judges will use to determine the winner. 

When you know what the judgment requirements are, you can customize the photos to make sure that you give the judges just what they need.

Enhance Your Technique
You don't need to become a professional to win photo contests, but there are some easy ways to improve your photography skills.

To become a good photographer, take some time to learn the fundamentals of a perfect shot. For instance:

•        Avoid shaking the camera
•        Make the best of golden hour photography

Look for Your Background
Have you ever taken a picture that you think would be great, only to discover that something in the background makes the photo unusable?

If you want to win a photo contest, don't get so carried away with your subject that you neglect a background that's dirty, disgusting, or unacceptable. Before you press the shutter button, make sure that everything in the picture looks right.

Play with Distance
A typical beginner's mistake is to take a shot from too far away, having too much context that dilutes the effect of your subject.

A lot of times, getting in close and letting your subject fill your shot will give you a more moving picture. If your original shot is too distant, the same result may be obtained by cropping a frame.

Experimenting with distance allows you more selections; it's a perfect way to come up with something new.

Look for Your Relative Height
Are you taking photos of kids, dogs, or items shorter than you are? Get to the level of your subject. For example, a closer, more intense look, even though it means crouching or lying on the ground.

Shots captured from above often make the subject appear tiny and blurry. While in some situations, this may be just what you want, much of the time, if you look at the angle, you'll do better.

Experiment to see the angle that makes you the most visually fascinating shots.

Consider Lighting
Proper lighting will make a difference between winning and losing a photography contest. Shadows or the brightness of lights will ruin the otherwise perfect image. Try shooting photographs early in the morning, right before dusk, or on a gloomy day. 

Narrate a story with Your Picture
Many of the contests have some sort of theme. It could be a one-word theme like "gold" or something more philosophic like "the meaning of life." Make your entry stand out by not only sticking to the theme but narrating a story with your shot.

You can do this by using props, searching for an unusual juxtaposition like a flower growing in a junkyard or an oasis of peace in a busy city, or by engaging with the true feelings of your subject, not just a cluttered-on smile.

Shot lot of pictures
Don't settle for a single shot, no matter how secure you are. Take hundreds of images. Try to shoot the same subject from various angles, with different lighting, and at different times of the day.

You want to show an image that stands out from the others, so look for pictures with eye-catching shades, unique composition, and fantastic expressions.
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Go get ‘em! With a little preparation and planning, you can start to win photo competitions and have some fun while doing it.